Last time we looked at the brand new campaign of the Ben and
Jerry's Ice Cream Pint Slices. We found qualitatively the Pint Slices had what
looked like a great reach and following. People were excited and happy about
the new product. Quantitatively, we did not find the same results and suggested
that could be due to the fact that it is still very new, and that maybe Ben and
Jerry's following does not include many Creators.
Well now the Pint
Slices have been out for about a month and a half, so let's see if anything has
changed.
Looking at Google
Trends we still see that after the initial release of the product there was not
much talk about it. It started off really high and then after about the first
week stayed low and then the excitement never returned.
Social Mention:
On the left is
Ben and Jerry's (the brand) and on the right is Ben and Jerry's Pint Slices.
The overall strength of Ben and Jerry's (the brand) has stayed pretty
consistent in the past month. The strength for Ben and Jerry's Pint Slices has
increased. Now that the campaign is a little more established, that is probably
why. Ben and Jerry's as a brand has a higher strength because it has been
around longer than the particular product.
I think it is
also important that we realize that this product is food; therefore it is
difficult to have a continuing passion for the product itself. However, the
brand does do a great job of always revolutionizing itself and its
products which keeps the overall passion for the brand high.
Ben and Jerry's
is always coming up with new campaigns. Since we looked at Pint Slices, new
flavors for their original line, new flavors for their non-dairy line, their
free cone day, and Splashback (cereal flavored ice cream). That's a lot in
about a 4 week timespan.
I went back to
check their main social media channels and see how they balanced all of this advertising.
Twitter:
The last time
there was a tweet about the Pint Slice campaign was February 17th...The
campaign only came out February 1st, so that is only a little over two weeks of
publicity time.
Also, it is
important to note that there were only 2 replies, 6 retweets, and 43
favorites. Ben and Jerry's did not respond to the two replies. The initial post
about the new product had 28 comments (some of which Ben and Jerry's did
respond to), 127 retweets, 394 favorites.
I want to focus
on the difference of the retweets. Retweets are a company's best friend because
they allow their tweet to reach a wider audience. The more retweets= the more
people who see the tweet. It's word of mouth of their followers and
groundswell helping them to spread the message. The retweet shows that the
groundswell is excited about it and want others to be excited too.
Facebook:
And on Facebook,
8 days of publicity, and that was it. This post had 242 likes, 40 comments, and
24 shares. Whereas the initial post had 64 thousand likes, almost 11,000
comments, and over 18,000 shares. Ben and Jerry's did remain very responsive to
the 40 comments on this post like they had tried to do with the
initial post (obviously harder since there were SO many more
comments).
So the latest (if
you can even call it latest) post had only 24 shares versus the over 18,000
shares on the original. The amount of shares has a huge impact on the number of
likes and views. Similar to retweets, the more shares, the more people who will
see/ like/ and or comment on the post. Retweets and shares are the perfect free
word of mouth advertising for Ben and Jerry's.
Instagram:
Okay, this
picture is on the computer version of Instagram so it does not show the actual
date, but I looked it up and it was February 10th. So 10 days. This post
had over 68,000 views, over 8,000 likes, and 85 comments. The original post had
over 200,000 views, over 16,000 likes, and almost 1,500 comments. With
Instagram you don't really share, or retweet, but you tag your friends that you
want to see the post and that is how the word of mouth advertising would happen
with Instagram.
What's
happened and what it means...
From the point of
the initial release to the time of the latest post on the Pint Slices, the
reach decreased substantially. Ben and Jerry's relies on its followers to get
more views, likes, favorites, or retweets. They rely on their followers to
spread their messages (through word of mouth on Social Media). So what happened
between the initial release to the latest post?
First let's look
at how long the campaign lasted. We see that the it did not actually last very
long. For Twitter: 17 days, Facebook: 8 days, and Instagram: 10 days.
This just seems
like such a small amount of time. This isn't just a release of new flavors
(which don't get me wrong, is really exciting), but this is a whole new
product. It was extremely innovative they should use that individuality and
uniqueness to really market the product.
I mean I get it,
it's still food, and like we discussed, it's hard to have a continuing passion
for the food... but maybe the campaign could have lasted at least the month of
February. If not that maybe just bring it back every once in a while. It's been
over a month since the last posting of Pint Slices, and I think that's too
long. Without seeing a post as a reminder, their followers/customers could lose
interest. But, maybe it only lasted as long as it did because the it was no
longer being received at the rate that they had hoped? Or is it possible that
they know word of mouth outside of social media will continue even after the
campaign is done?
We learned the
last time that the main place that Ben and Jerry's responded to the groundswell
was on Facebook. That remains true even with the fewer comments on other social
media platforms.
So here they are,
answering questions and just energizing the groundswell to keep the excitement
going.
There were only
two replies to their tweet on Twitter, and they did not respond to either one.
With only two replies that seems like an easy way to continue generating the
excitement with those people. Generally, I have seen when big companies respond
to people on Twitter, those people will retweet that tweet- adding to the
spread of the company and the campaign.
There were no
responses on Instagram.
Target Audience: I would say the target audience of Ben
and Jerry's as a whole is young adults. How many of you think of, or have been
the stereotypical sad/stressed/ or even happy person that eats the entire
pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream? I know I have. When I did some research, I
found this to be a true representation of the market (see Slideshare).
Ben and Jerry's
knows this, and I think the Pint Slices actually expanded their audience. Now
these Pint Slices are on the same playing field as ice cream sandwiches (except
more innovative). Who are generally the audience of ice cream sandwiches...
ding ding, children. Pint Slices became shareable, (as there are three to a
box) and family friendly. The best part about it is they didn't lose their
general audience, I feel they just gained more of an audience.
Expanding more on
the shareable aspect of this product... when you think of a pint of ice cream,
you generally think of it as belonging to one person, right? You can't have two
people eating out of the same pint at the same time (unless you transfer it to
separate bowls...) So with Pint Slices coming individually wrapped, and
three to a box, they are much more shareable and more of a group activity when
multiple people can be eating them at the same time.
They need to
market this shareable aspect! A quick video of parents and their child, or a
group of friends all taking out a Pint Slice and enjoying it together. They
expanded their audience whether they meant to or not, and now can use this to
further advance their product. If they don't want the actual people in it, you
may have noticed they have a lot of just hands with their products and in their
videos. So they could have a one hand taking out a Pint Slice, they pass down
the box to another hand that takes out a Pint Slice, and they pass it down to
another hand (maybe a smaller hand to further promote the child friendly aspect
of the Pint Slices).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
The campaign was
innovative and created a new unique niche.
The groundswell
was excited about the campaign.
Reach new
audience.
Good at
responding and energizing on Facebook.
Weaknesses:
Once a new
campaign was introduced they did not advertise as much about the Pint Slices,
and now I did not see it advertised at all this month.
Not responsive to
excitement on Twitter or Instagram.
Opportunity:
Keep the
excitement going by energizing the groundswell when they comment on Twitter and
Instagram (already do that on Facebook, but expand to other social media).
Ben and Jerry's
was asked questions that they can use to help expand the product's scope (to
new regions, in new flavors, in non-dairy).
Threats:
Since they are
constantly having new campaigns, it is possible that the older campaigns will
only remain popular until the next campaign begins.
If they stop
posting about the Pint Slices (which they have), it will be difficult to reach
their newer followers and ones who have not seen the older posts (for example,
if a follower gave up social media for the month of February, they may not know
about the campaign, and now Ben and Jerry's is not advertising for it
anymore).
Moving Forward:
Goals:
Ben and Jerry's
has done a good job of creating a new, unique product and expanding its
audience. Now they can use the feedback from the groundswell and show they are
really listening and expand the product to reach the needs of the groundswell
(more flavors, dairy free, other countries).
Ben and Jerry's
has done a good job listening, engaging, and exciting the groundswell on
Facebook, but could take this to their other social media platforms (Instagram
and Twitter) to keep it going. There are people who do not have Facebook but
have the other two, or one, and they want to see that Ben and Jerry's is
listening.
What to do next:
As mentioned
above, I think a way to market the product in a new way would to really grab
onto the sharable and more kid friendly aspect of the Pint Slices. Ben and
Jerry's should really try and grab this new audience through their advertising,
like the video idea I mentioned earlier.
Another idea is
to try and energize the Creators of their following. They could do this by
making a contest of the best way to eat Pint Slices. Whether it's how you eat
them, where you eat them, or who you eat them with... there are many ideas that
the creative Creators could likely tap into. With the videos and posts for the
contest, that will continue to market and advertise the product. Plus, this
will give them the opportunity to really engage their followers.
Conclusion:
Overall Pint
Slices are a huge success. They are innovative and unique and people love them.
The actual advertising has come to a stop, and it was not even a month later.
Ben and Jerry's can take breaks, but should keep reminding the groundswell of
their product (it does not have to be on a daily basis, but it should not just
be forgotten). Ben and Jerry's does a great job of listening, responding, and
energizing the groundswell on Facebook, but can do a better job on Twitter and
Instagram. Finally, Ben and Jerry's can use this product to broaden their
audience and really should market to this new audience.
