BEN & JERRY'S - Free Cone Day
Intro
Ben and Jerry, the founders of the beloved ice cream brand, came up with the most delicious way to thank their millions of fans. Since 1979, every year on the 4th of April, they treat their fans all over the world some of the most popular B&J’s tastes.
Challenge
Free Cone Day (FCD) already running 9 years in Greece and each year, up to now, the event was communicated mainly through social media posts. Yet this year we wanted to give it … a twist.
Solution
Pre – event:
The event’s announcement was made with a dedicated Instagram activation, where users were asked to discover the spots that FCD would take place. The IG activation was sort of a “treasure hunt” and although it run for just 5 days, the organic results were more than expected. Selected influencers communicated the event in their social media accounts and gave an extra boost to the whole activation.
Finally, the actual event was communicated through social media posts and a dedicated FB event gathered in just a few days more than 15.000 participants.
Event Day
During Free Cone Day, a very popular TV and radio presenter, Katerina Zarifi, took over the brand’s Instagram account and uploaded content from FCD from her perspective. During the event, Katerina motivated the brand’s fans that visited FCD to share their experience in their social media.
Social Mission Launch
According to Ben & Jerry's a perfect world is a result of people with equal rights. This year the brand’s social mission was to support the European Antibullying Day, in collaboration with «Το Χαμόγελο του Παιδιού».
Inspired by global practices i.e. Ice bucket challenge, milk campaign etc. the main objective was to create a simple gimmick for the campaign’s launch. The campaign was named «Do Me A Flavor» and the way someone could take part was very easy :
Step 1: put a little ice cream on one’s nose
Step 2: upload a selfie on Instagram using the #Domeaflavor
Step 3: sign the petition in the dedicated microsite www.ben-jerry.gr/whats-new/do-me-a-flavor
8 popular influencers, from different fields, took part in the challenge by taking a selfie and then by inviting a friend of theirs to do the same. The result was more than 40.013 instagram likes.
During FCD a tailor made counter, counted the uploaded photos. Every uploaded photo doubled the products offered to the NBO “Το Χαμόγελο του Παιδιού”.
Outcome
This innovative use of social media made hundreds of people join the event, in order to taste a scoop of their beloved Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
