Concepting PlusModel: ‘Marry Me’Company: Ben & Jerry’s

By: Simon Onbelet 2171981 Fabiënne Puts 2176226 Sherelynn Reijnen 2181644 Luuk Vos 2187252

Lecturer: D. Hens 2259XADV37

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Introduction 4

Model: ‘Marry Me’ 4Theories used 5Visualisation ‘Marry Me’ 6

About Ben & Jerry’s 8Implementation on Ben & Jerry’s: Column 1 10 Column 2 13 Column 3 14 Column 4 16Conclusion 17

Personal advice Fabienne 19 Luuk 24 Sherelynn 29 Simon 35

Sources used 42

Index

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In the following conceptbook you will fi nd a theoretical framework. This theoretical framework is commissioned by Fontys ACI for the fourth year students who take part in the Advanced Course “Concepting Plus”. During the lessons of this course, the students are extending their knowledge and developing new skills to succeed in this assignment. We had to do some desk research about different theories and had to present this in a workshop. These theories are very useful to apply and improve our theoretical framework.

This theoretical framework will be used to analyse and strengthen an existing international con-cept in order to give recommendations for implementation. We have applied our model on the company Ben& Jerry’s. By using our model on the company we saw some pain points that the company could improvement. we used these pain points to come up with a fi tting advice and recommendation.

Introduction

Model: ‘Marry me’

Our Theoretical Framework: ‘’Marry Me’’ is based on theories we discussed in class. We thought all of the theories we choose had one thing in common; engagement.

There are multiple defi nitions of Engagement:‘’Consumer engagement is a context dependent, psychological state characterized by fl uctuating intensity levels that occur within dynamic, iterative engagement processes. Consumer engage-ment is a multidimensional concept comprising cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioural dimensi-ons, and plays a central role in the process of relational exchange where other relational concepts are engagement antecedents and/or consequences in iterative engagement processes’’ (Brodie e.a., 2011)

‘’Engagement is unlike traditional relational concepts, including participation and involvement, is based on the existence of focal interactive customer experiences with specifi c engagement objects’’ (e.g., a brand)

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LovemarksOur theoretical Framework: ‘’Marry Me’’ is linked to the theory of lovemarks because we want to focus on engagement with our model. When you are engaged, you are bonded with a brand. You feel connected and emmersed. You will choose this brand over another and that makes it a lovemark too. Because every brand wants engagement with their target group, our theoretical framework helps to make a brand a lovemark. We have linked a few important values of the theme lovemarks, we learned in class, to our model: - Passion for your company - Emotion - Bonding - Experience - Listen to your target group/ Wishes and Desires

Experience MappingNowadays customers choose only products and services based on the quality of the experience that they get from using it. Experience mapping is a strategical process to capture every interacti-on moment the customer has with the organisation and to communicate with a model. To captu-re al of these interaction moments you create knowledge and insight as a company and that map helps you to keep a fl owing experience with your customers. Engagement is all about interaction and experience because you want to create a relationship with the target group. We have linked a few important values of the theme experience mapping, we learned in class, to our model: - Talk to your target group - Design & Story - Experience - User journey - Interaction

Golden CircleFocuses on the WHY, HOW and WHAT of a company. Why do you do what you do? What are you?How are you going to do it?Why are you going to do it?

We thought the why is very important because we want engagement between a company and their target group. And because every brand wants a good relationship/engagement with their target group too, the ‘’WHY’’ is the outcome of our model. Our why in our model is to be engaged. We have linked a few important values of the theme Golden Circle, we learned in class, to our model: - Mission - Satisfaction - Goals - Passion

Theories used

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Visualisation ‘Marry Me’On the right page, the fi nal visualisation of the ‘Marry Me’-model is pictured. The functional part of the model consists of the table on the top. The model compares the Company’s checkpoints to those of the Target Group. If a signifi cant difference - or fl aw - is found between these two groups, a main solution is given underneath.

Every fl aw that is found takes 5% off the total of 25% of the column that the fl aw is made in. On the bottom of each column it states what the company should do to take away the fl aw and reach the full 25%. If the full 100% is reached, it means you reached the highest level of engage-ment with your target group.

The visual part of the model consists of the two rings at the bottom. Each ring represents a group, the left ring represents the Company and the right ring represents the Target audience. The dif-ferent columns are visualised at the overlapping part of the rings; representing the 4 columns at the top of the model. The way to increase the overlapping part of the rings, the rings must move closer, increasing the percentage. The only way to do this is by using a Solution which is visualised at the top and the bottom of the overlapping part.

The higher the total percentage of engagement, the more the rings overlap. If the full 100% is reached, this means the rings are fully overlapping which means there is a perfect match.

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Max 25% Max 25% Max 25% Max 25%

- Values- Mission- Vision- Identity

- Interests- Way of thinking- Norms- Values

- Marketing- and Communi-cation means

- Media usage

- Trends & Developments- Tone of voice- Allowing dialogue

- Tone of voice- Allowingdialogue (emotional)

- Maintaining/Strengtheningrelationship- Positive/Negative reactions

- Word of mouth- Behaviour

Identity Research

Review yourcommunicationgoals

Review yourcommunicationgoals

Create an experience

Interests Visibility Liking Loving

Company

Target audience

Solution

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About Ben & Jerry’s

Mission.Ben & Jerry’s dived their mission in three missions with a different theme, they have an economic mission, a product mission and a social mission.

Economic MissionTo operate the Company on a sustainable fi nancial basis of profi table growth, incre-asing value for our stakeholders and expanding opportunities for development and career growth for our employees.1

Product MissionTo make, distribute and sell the fi nest quality all natural ice cream and euphoric con-coctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingre-dients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the Environment.

Social MissionTo operate the company in a way that actively recognizes the central role that busi-ness plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally and internationally.

Ben & Jerry’s board.Ben & Jerry’s is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever, but they have an independent board of directors. The board of directors protect the equity, integrity and product quality of Ben & Jerry’s.

The staff of Ben & Jerry’s has their own common mission.

Staff Mission.Preserving and expanding Ben & Jerry’s social mission, brand integrity and product quality, by providing social mission-mindful insight and guidance to ensure we’re making the best ice cream possible in the best way possible. All in all, they’re an enterprising group of mover-shakers and difference-makers who really know their stuff.

Physical appearance.Ben & Jerry’s has a very typical style that mixes pictures with drawings. Their product uses a real picture of ice on which they add some drawing. Furthermore they use very bright colours, mainly blue, white, green and yellow.

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What differs Ben & Jerry’s from other ice-company’s?The biggest difference between Ben & Jerry’s and other ice-company’s is the fl avours they use. Ben & Jerry’s use a lot of different fl avours, for example: cookie dough, peanut butter cup and cho-colate fudge brownie. Also they give their fl avours funny names like: Phish food, Karamel-sutra and All or Nut-thing. Besides those differences in fl avours and names they also tend to use really big chunks in their ice-cream.

Newest productBen & Jerry’s is currently promoting their new product “Ben & Jerry’s Greek style frozen yoghurt”. For this new style they use Greek Style Yoghurt. This new style has the same swirls and big chunks as all the other Ben & Jerry’s styles.

Different stylesThe newest style of Ben & Jerry’s is Greek style frozen yoghurt. The other styles are ‘Core’ and ‘Sa-tisfy my bowl’. Core has a core center of fudge, caramel or real raspberry jam5. Satisfy my bowl has a Bob Marley style fl avour. Target audience: students, Middle age group people

StudentsThe target audience of Ben & Jerry’s are very environmentally aware and they care a lot about their health and off course they really like desserts.

The average students are between the age of 18 and 24. Around 90% of this age group uses social networks like Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest. A big part of the students is living away from home. Students mostly have a low income around 500 euro’s a month.

Also students like to go out on Thursday and Saturday. Because a lot of student that live away from home go home on Friday they tend to go out on Thursday and then they go out again on Saturday in their hometown. This is where students spend most of their money (around 40%) according to “Is jouw maand ook altijd iets te lang?”.

Students don’t have a big budget so they can’t always afford to buy Ben & Jerry’s.

Middle Age group peopleBetween the age of 25 and 35. They fi nished school and have a full-time job. They have a bigger budget than the students because they work a lot. Their budget is between 1500-2000 euros a month according to CBS (Gemiddeld inkomen; personen in particuliere huishoudens naar ken-merken). Also around 90% of this age group uses social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. They are young professionals that are mainly focused on their carrier.

They live on their own and they don’t depend on their parents anymore, they don’t go home in the weekend like students often do. Because they have their own housing their costs are higher.

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They are very ambitious, creative and authentic. They want to be young entrepreneurs and start their own company.

They grew up with the internet, they are revered to as the Google-generation. They will look-up everything they want to know on the internet. They are very mistrustful, it’s hard to keep a secret as a company these days.

Implementation on Ben & Jerry’s

Column 1

Mission.Ben&Jerry’s dived their mission in three missions with a different theme, they have an economic mission, a product mission and a social mission.

Economic Mission To operate the Company on a sustainable fi nancial basis of profi table growth, increasing value for our stakeholders and expanding opportunities for development and career growth for our employees.

Product Mission To make, distribute and sell the fi nest quality all natural ice cream and euphoric concoc- tions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the Environment.

Social Mission To operate the company in a way that actively recognizes the central role that business plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, natio- nally and internationally.

Interests

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Physical appearance. Ben&Jerry’s has a very typical style that mixes pictures with drawings. Their product uses a real picture of ice on which they add some drawing. Furthermore they use very bright colours, mainly blue, white, green and yellow.

What differs Ben&Jerry’s from other ice-company’s?The biggest difference between Ben&Jerry’s and other ice-company’s is the fl avours they use. Ben&Jerry’s use a lot of different fl avours, for example: cookie dough, peanut butter cup and cho-colate fudge brownie. Also they give their fl avours funny names like: Phish food, Karamel-sutra and All or Nut-thing. 3 Besides those differences in fl avours and names they also tend to use really big chunks in their ice-cream.

Newest productBen&Jerry’s is currently promoting their new product “Ben&Jerry’s Greek style frozen yoghurt”. For this new style they use Greek Style Yoghurt. This new style has the same swirls and big chunks as all the other Ben&Jerry’s styles.

Different stylesThe newest style of Ben&Jerry’s is Greek style frozen yoghurt. The other styles are ‘Core’ and ‘Sa-tisfy my bowl’. Core has a core center of fudge, caramel or real raspberry jam5. Satisfy my bowl has a Bob Marley style fl avour.

Target audience: students, Middle age group people

The target audience of Ben&Jerry’s are very environmentally aware and they care a lot about their health and off course they really like desserts.

The average students are between the age of 18 and 24. Around 90% of this age group uses social networks like Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest. A big part of the students is living away from home. Students mostly have a low income around 500 euro’s a month. Also students like to go out on Thursday and Saturday. Because a lot of student that live away from home go home on Friday they tend to go out on Thursday and then they go out again on Saturday in their hometown. This is where students spend most of their money (around 40%) according to “Is jouw maand ook altijd iets te lang?”.

Students don’t have a big budget so they can’t always afford to buy Ben&Jerry’s.

Middle Age group peopleBetween the age of 25 and 35. They fi nished school and have a full-time job. They have a bigger budget than the students because they work a lot. Their budget is between 1500-2000 euros a month according to CBS (Gemiddeld inkomen; personen in particuliere huishoudens naar ken-merken). Also around 90% of this age group uses social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. They are young professionals that are mainly focused on their carrier.

11

They live on their own and they don’t depend on their parents anymore, they don’t go home in the weekend like students often do. Because they have their own housing their costs are higher.They are very ambitious, creative and authentic. They want to be young entrepreneurs and start their own company.

They grew up with the internet, they are revered to as the Google-generation. They will look-up everything they want to know on the internet. They are very mistrustful, it’s hard to keep a secret as a company these days.

Match percentage: 20%

FlawsThere are a lot of matches. Ben&Jerry’s is very creative and environmentally involved, something students can easily identify with. They are mostly on the internet and on TV, there aren’t a lot of Ben&Jerry’s posters because their target group is mostly on the internet so that’s where the main focus is. You can also fi nd Ben&Jerry’s at a lot of events, this is where a lot of students spend most of their money. The mismatch is that Ben&Jerry’s is very expansive and the target group doesn’t have a very big budget.

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Implementation on Ben & Jerry’s

Column 2

CommunicationBen& Jerry’s has a broad assortment when it comes to communication means. Ben&Jerry’s uses the following means to communicate with their target group:

- TV commercial- commercials in cinema’s- advertisements - their own website- social media

The locations where Ben&Jerry’s enters dialogue with their target audience are their website and facebook. The website has an interactive setup, and is visualised in Ben&Jerry’s distinguishing style. The website is transparent and clearly shows the companies values.

On their social media page, Ben&Jerry’s frequently asks for the audiences opinion regarding fl avours of ice cream. The social media page is also visualised in their style and clearly shows the companies values. The amout of likes on their Facebook is 7.808.482

The means of communication most frequently used by the target audience are:- Social Media/internet- TV- Events- Smartphone/apps- Films

Percentage: 20%

FlawsApps, the target audience uses their smartphone almost 24/7. Ben&Jerry’s doesn’t make use of this mean, missing an opportunity to reach their target group.

Visibility

13

Implementation on Ben & Jerry’s

Column 3

Trends & DevelopmentsBen & Jerry’s responds to the current activities like politics. They had ice fl avors named after politics like Cameron Chew Chew and they printed the faces of these politic leaders on their packages.

Ben & Jerry’s employees get three free icicles every day. Ben & Jerry’s actually is unhealthy, so employees are motivated to exercise. They get a free fi tness subscription and there is a sports section in the offi ce.

Customers can give their feedback about the fl avors and eventually submit ideas new fl avors. For example there is a new fl avor called ‘Cherry Garcia’ launched in stores based on customers feedback.

They respond to trends like; MVO, Fair Trade, Health, GGO. For example their products are biolo-gical, recyclable, environmentally healthy, durable, the co-operating and sponsoring of charities.They’re very interactive. They’re asking their target audience to undertake things as; placing photos, respond and share. They also participate in experience marketing by doing guerrilla marketing stunts.

Tone of voiceBen&Jerry’s approaches the target audience in a simple, direct and friendly manner. This is a suitable way, since their product is available to everyone. The information the company pro-vides should be relatable to anyone. The way of communicating is in the same style one every platform.

The way of communicating is often combined with an exciting, triggering part to ensure the au-dience takes action. Especially when Ben&Jerry’s launches a new product, it is important to make their audience become curious.

The values Ben&Jerry’s promotes are relatable to everyone, which is the only way to reach the target audience.

They show everything they do to everyone. Ben&Jerry’s communicates very transparent, they have nothing to hide because they don’t do anything wrong.

Liking

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DialogueBen&Jerry’s leaves a lot of room for dialogue. The target audience can get in touch with Ben&Jer-ry’s in various ways, with complaints, questions, feedback or ideas.

Target GroupTone of voiceBecause of the broadness of the target audience, the way of communicating should be applica-ble to everyone. The target audience itself communicates in various different ways. Adults fre-quently use Facebook, while children are more used to using Twitter. When Ben&Jerry’s is found, the information should be understandable and easy to read for whoever fi nds it, no matter the age or background. This means the target audience wants to be triggered at a friendly, joyful way.

The only target audience outside of the area of communication are the elderly. The elderly rarely use the internet, causing them to rarely get into contact with Ben&Jerry’s.

DialogueDoes the target audience feel like the company is open to dialogue? The target audience reacts to questions asked on social media, comes with suggestions for new fl avours and is able to write a letter or an e-mail.

Despite these possibilities, the amount of interaction between the company and the target audi-ence is still relatively low. This could be a point of improvement.

The majority of respondents to questions and social media outings are women.

Percentage: 10%

Flaw:Ben&Jerry’s anticipates on the trend health, but there still isn’t any pure, healthy ice cream which is low in calories also Ben&Jerry’s does not communicate with the elderly. By doing so, they miss a target group since the elderly often buy ice cream for children.

Although Ben&Jerry’s puts a lot of effort in interacting with their target audience online, there is practically no possibility to interact in an offl ine manner.

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Implementation on Ben & Jerry’s

Column 4

Ben & Jerry’s uses a lot of ‘like-and-share’ promotions to keep their target audiences triggert on social media. Besides that they ask their follower for their opinion a lot and they publish a lot of new items.

They are present at events where their target audience is present so they can communicate with them in a direct manner. Via these ways the target audience has the opportunity to give feed-back.

Ben&Jerry’s also have the possibility to send in new fl avours. They also use their fl avours to anti-cipate on trends, for example the Frozen Yoghurt fl avour.

Positive /negative reactionsOn the website of Ben&Jerry’s there is the possibility to respond. There is a choice of complaint or question, besides that you can call them or write them. This offers the chance to respond either negative or positive.

Word of mouthNew fl avours are discussed via Social Media and direct contact and Ben&Jerry’s uses guerrilla marketing, this creates word of mouth and sharing on social media. Women more often make use of worth of mouth then man.

BehaviourBen&Jerry’s is in most cases not a one-time-only purchase. And their ‘like-and-share’ promotions have a big respond.

Percentage: 20%

Flaws:Instead of just talking, the target audience should be triggered to tag Ben&Jerry’s in their mes-sage. This Works best when there is a reward attached to it. In this way Ben&Jerry’s will have a better view of who is talking about them.

Loving

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Total engagement is 70% Every column has some fl aws. At the end of each column you can fi nd a recommendation how to improve on that column in order to reach the 100%. The fl aws that are found are:

- The price of Ben&Jerry’s is relatively high for the student target audience because they don’t have a really big budget.- The target audience uses their smartphone almost 24/7. Ben&Jerry’s doesn’t make use of this mean, missing an opportunity to reach their target group.- Ben&Jerry’s anticipates on the trend health, but there still isn’t any pure, healthy ice cream which is low in calories- Ben&Jerry’s does not communicate with the elderly. By doing so, they miss a target group since the elderly often buy ice cream for children. - Although Ben&Jerry’s puts a lot of effort in interacting with their target audience online, there is virtually no possibility to interact in an offl ine manner.- The target audience isn’t triggered to talk about Ben&Jerry’s online.

The students don’t have a really big budget, so you have to make the ice cream worth its money by value creation. This is done by a community only for students that buy Ben&Jerry’s, this way they don’t only buy ice cream but they also buy a tool to help them get through school.

The target audiences of Ben&Jerry’s uses its smartphone the entire day, but they don’t have an app. Ben&Jerry’s could make an app to keep in touch with their target group. An app is an extra communication mean that they can use to reach their target audiences.

Ben&Jerry’s could introduce a line of super healthy ice cream that is low on calories. Maybe they could also change the sugar into stevia to make their products even more healthy.

When children visit their grandparents, the grandparents like to give their grandchildren some sweets. This target group is forgotten and Ben&Jerry’s could try to reach this target group so they will buy Ben&Jerry’s for their grandchildren in the future.

Conclusion

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In a lot of countries it isn’t normal that everyone has a computer at home, nevertheless it is al-most impossible to interact whit Ben&Jerry’s in an offl ine matter. Also a lot of the older target groups don’t own or know how to use a computer, but they should have the change to interact with Ben&Jerry’s as well. Ben&Jerry’s products should contain an address where you can send a letter to as a consumer.

Lastly, Ben&Jerry’s are very visible only but they don’t get mentioned a lot by others on Fa-cebook. By rewarding people who ‘tag’ Ben&Jerry’s on Facebook, more people start tagging Ben&Jerry’s and become ambassadors of the brand.

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70 %

Personal Advice

Fabienne

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FlawLooking at the point trends, Ben& Jerry is doing a good job but there is still some room for im-provement. When looking into the costumers of Ben& Jerry , the biggest group who buys Ben& Jerry are women. Women are crazy about Ben& Jerry, just not so crazy about the calories that it brings with it.

Nowadays we can see a positive improvement when it comes to healthy food. Women are star-ting to care more about their health and what they eat. When you are scrolling through food blogs or fi tness pages the words clean eating and superfoods are trending.

Clean eating basicly means: to replace processed foods that come out of a box with fresh and natural foods.

The term superfood doesn’t really have a defi nition but a superfood is a food that is loaded with nutrients that play a role in promoting health and preventing disease. Some examples of super-foods are: almonds, avocado, chia seeds, cacao, blueberries and there are some more I can add up to this list.

People are watching what they eat not only for dinner but are also looking for a healthy way to have a snack or dessert.

After doing a little research I noticed that Ben& Jerry is not doing anything to reduce the added sugar or fats in their ice cream. Ben& Jerry can take this opportunity to produce a healthier ice cream line experiencing with different superfoods for different fl avors and using natural non processed foods.

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Concept:Ice Dream

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CHOCOLATE FUDGEALMOND CHUNCKS

ICE DREAM

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For my concept I picked the name Ice Dream. Instead of saying ice cream, where the word cream refers to a not so healthy product, I replaced it with dream because for a lot of women it will be a dream to spoon out a whole Ben& Jerry bucket without feeling guilty. The concept will be mainly based on women, but this will not be a problem since 60% of the costumers are female. Women should start feeling more engaged with the brand because they are offering them a product that improves their way, to offer them something they crave for without feeling bad about their eating habits.

Why does Ice dream fi t with Ben& Jerry?Ben& Jerry has the following mission on social level: To develop and initiate new ways of im-proving the quality of life locally, nationally and internationally. They can use the health trend to amplify this statement. Health is an important part of improving the quality of your life. By offering an icecream that is actually good for your health is the perfect way to fulfi l this mission.Then the second mission on product level they say that their goals is to make 100% natural ice cream, with 100% natural ingredients of the highest quality and to respect the earth and the en-vironment in the process. This mission will fi t like a glove on the clean eating trend. By using non processed products to shape into an ice cream is the literal translation of clean eating.

Communication meansWhen Ben & Jerry releases a new fl avour of ice-cream, they are doing it with multiple commu-nication tools. To communicate about the ‘Ice dream concept’ they will release a new fl avour that is made of healthy product. The will communicate this new fl avour with the following tools:- Food bloggers- Social media- Website- Events.

1. Food bloggersFood bloggers have a big community nowadays with a lot of followers. People trust the opinion of a food blogger, so when they recommend something their followers are more likely to try so-mething new. Next to this, food bloggers are always looking for new trends to share. Ben& Jerry could get in a Co-Creation with some popular food bloggers, together they can come up with different fl avours that each food blogger can promote on their blog. This will lead to a wide ex-posure for the new fl avour, since popular bloggers have around 300.000 fl owers.

Ice Dream

Zzz Zzz Zzz

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2. Social mediaOn social media Ben& Jerry’s have over 7 million followers. They can design a new poster in the style of the new fl avour and share this one on their social media, so all their followers will know about the release of the healthy fl avours. The people who do not follow any food blogger will also get the change on this medium to share their thought about new fl avours. On social media they will also start the conversation about the new concept. They will share in-formation here that they are working on a new ‘project’ and every week give some several hints and ask some mysterious questions that involves around the concept.. In this way the concept will arouse some attention and the target group starts to get interested. Even when the Ice dream is sold in the shop, on social media will be asked what they think of it and keep asking the audience to give their input about new fl avours.

3. EventsBen& Jerry’s has their own stand on some events. With the new fl avours of Ice dream they can target some new kind of events. There are a lot of events that focus on a healthy lifestyle and biological foods, Ben& Jerry can promote Ice dream on events like this. On these events they can also start having some interaction with the audience. They can design their stand in a way that people can make and create their own Ice dream using different fl avours and toppings.

There will be several touching points to see the new concept. 1. the fi rst one will be on social media. This is the place where Ben& Jerry fi rst starts to communi-cate with their target group about the new concept. They start to raise the attention what the new project will be. Eventually they will tell about the new concept and ask the audience what they would like to see.

2. The second touching point one will be on the food blogs and events. This is the area where they concept start to grow and get its form. They target group and food bloggers are creating a new fl avour together.

3. The last touch point will be the shops. The Ice dream that has been created will be sold in the shops.

Touchpoints

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Personal Advice

Luuk

24

One of Ben & Jerry’s fl aws was their lack of originality in direct contact with their targetgroup. This direct contact is mainly based on events, on which Ben & Jerry’s sells their ice-cream. If their way of selling would be transformed into an experience, the target group would feel more engaged with Ben & Jerry’s.

Ben & Jerry’s current way of communicatingFlavour releaseWhen Ben & Jerry releases a new fl avour of ice-cream, they make sure the release is noticeable by using radio, television, social media and an event. These events are completely moulded into the concept of the new fl avour of ice-cream. For example, the release of Greek style Frozen Yog-hurt was celebrated in a full Greek style. Besides these events, new fl avours are often handed out for free on public places such as het Vondelpark in Amsterdam.

FestivalsWhen Ben & Jerry’s is present at a festival which is not organised by themselves, they don’t seem to put in effort to bring out their concept. The way Ben & Jerry’s present themselves on other festivals is by using a green freezer to store their ice-cream in an environmentally friendly way.

Given the facts that Ben & Jerry’s main target audience is students and that most festivals are visited mainly by students, festivals could be an important mean of communication for Ben & Jerry’s.

Flaw

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Concept for new eventsUp to a few years ago, Ben & Jerry’s did put effort into their communications at a Dutch festival. In 2006, Ben & Jerry’s was present at Pinkpop, where they had their own area fi lled with fatboys, cappuccino and ice-cream. Creative themes such as this example should be integrated in every festival Ben & Jerry is present on. To come up with a new concept for Ben & Jerry’s, there are two compartments which should be taken into account. First of all the company’s values; Ben & Jerry’s is all about being good to the environment and durability. Second of all their product; Ben & Jerry’s sells ice cream.

Considering these 2 milestones, a new concept is born: Chill for Charity. This concept combines relaxation, ice cream and action for charity. With these three words in mind, a different way of interpreting the concept can be used according to the event or festival Ben & Jerry’s is present on. For example; at a dance festival Ben & Jerry’s could provide a space to relax in hammocks, eat ice cream and at the same time, raise awareness of the charitable organisations Ben & Jerry’s is connected to.

The entire concept should be shaped in Ben & Jerry’s distinguishing style; with lot’s of illustrations in joyful colours and the well known cow at the centre of each image. This could be combined with an inspiring quote which is connected to the issue Ben & Jerry’s is representing at the event. As with lots of creative concepts on festivals, the main focus is to have people share pictures onli-ne. If the pictures are shared by using a certain hashtag, Ben & Jerry’s can give an extra reply or ‘thank you for sharing’ note.

Eventually, the target group will feel more engaged to the brand Ben & Jerry’s because they’ve given them an extra experience. At the same time, Ben & Jerry’s spreads their message and in-forms their target group of their values.

VisualisationA visual example of the concept can be seen on the next page. In this example the fl avour of ice cream called Baked Alaska is used on a poster to stress the environmental issues. The money raised by the sales is used to help conserve the polar ice. The extra action to raise awareness in this case is the spoon; in stead of a regular spoon, the ice cream comes with a spoon shaped like a thermometer.

Concept:Chill for Charity

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Save the icewith ice cream

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If this concept is used correctly, the target group will have multiple touchpoints with the concept. First of all, lots of festivals and events have a map where the different areas are indicated. Ben & Jerry’s area will be located on the map, giving the target group the fi rst touchpoint.

The second touchpoint is at the event itself. It could be visiting the area, buying the ice cream or participating in the action for charity.

The third touchpoint will be after the festival. The pictures taken are shared online and Ben & Jerry’s can react to the picture.

x Touchpoints

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Personal Advice

Sherelynn

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In the second column of our Theoretical Framework: ‘’Marry Me’’, we analyse the visibility of Ben & Jerry’s. We looked at the communication means of the company and the communication means of the target group. We found one gap/pain point. The target group uses smartphones nowadays. It is the most-owned and most-used device since 2012 in the world. Apps are a great importance for smartphones. Apps create the love that the people have for their smartphones. They only download those apps, which they fi nd interesting.

Ben & Jerry’s Current way of communicatingI’ve researched relevant information on Ben & Jerry’s, so I could create a concept that connects with the current ways of communicating and the target group. Peace, Love & Ice-cream Three words which summarize where Ben & Jerry’s stands for

Target GroupThe target group of Ben & Jerry’s is very big and wide. They are focussing on people who love ice-cream and who think that Ben & Jerry’s contributes to a better world. The followers/likers on So-cial Media are mostly young adults and teens. I think that despite of the price, most teens/young adults (students) will still buy Ben & Jerry’s, because it is a trendy, creative and modern brand. Ben & Jerry’s: For the trendy, imaginative and confi dent young adult, who wants to make a dif-ference in the world. Ben & Jerry’s is also often found on party festivals. They will have their own sales stall. Mostly young adults (students) visit these festivals. Teens and young adults (students) are very active on their smartphone. They are chatting/tex-ting with friends, playing games, listening to music, watching videos and are using a lot of social media. When they can win a price by doing something in return, teens/young adults become more active. They want interaction. Brands need to stand out. (CBS, 2014)

Flavour releaseFlavour releases are very important to Ben & Jerry’s. These are the campaigns where they get the most attention from. Their different tastes of ice-cream with a unique name is their trademark. Ben & Jerry’s announces their new fl avours of ice-cream, with the use of various communication means. They make the new fl avour noticeable on the internet (their website and social media), the radio, television and at events. The visualization of the marketing campaigns around the new fl avour is also in the theme of the new fl avour.

Flaw

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Ben and Jerry’s Product MissionTo make 100% natural ice cream, with 100% natural ingredients of the highest quality and to respect the earth and the environment in the process.

Ben & Jerry’s economic missionTo operate on a sustainable fi nancial basis of profi table growth, increasing value for our stake-holders and expanding opportunities for development and career growth for our employees.

Given the fact that fl avour releases are the main thing to advertise for Ben & Jerry’s, the target group’s most using communication mean is the smartphone, the target group is looking for in-teraction and Ben & Jerry’s is not responding on that, I created a new concept. Based on the use of the smartphone among teens/young adults (students) the new concept has to include a few values: playful, sharable, rewarding and interesting. Ben & Jerry’s: ‘’Flavyour’’A combination of your and fl avour: your fl avour. People can create a new Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream fl avour by themselves with the help of an application for the smartphone. Because I think, when Ben & Jerry’s is going to use applications, their awareness, word of mouth and customers can even grow more.

Concept carrierApplicationBecause Ben & Jerry’s is all about fl avours, why don’t we let the target group decide which fl a-vour they want? Let them create their own Ben & Jerry’s fl avour by using an application for smartphones.

When you open the app, you will come into a menu where you can choose what you would like to do. You can choose between:Create your fl avour: You can choose an ice-cream fl avour. All the fl avours you can think of will be available and you can choose more than one too. After that you can add sauces, toppings or other fi llings. And at last you need to think of a unique name for your new Ben & Jerry’s fl avour. The names of the Ben & Jerry’s fl avours are very important and need to be creative and trilling. When you are fi nished with creating your fl avour, you need to fi ll in your name, age, e-mail, number and upload a pro-fi le picture, in case you win. When you click the button ‘’Finish’’, your new fl avour will be posted on the fl avour wall with your name, age and picture with it.

Concept:Flavyour

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Flavour Wall & Vote: All fl avours that are created by people will be posted on one page/wall. Downloaders of the app can also just scroll through all of the fl avours and vote for that one they like. The fl avour with the most votes will be at number one on the ranking scale. The scale can constantly change. Campaign Information: Information about why Ben & Jerry’s is letting people create their own fl avour: It is because they want people to be part of their fl avour experience and world. They can also refer that, no matter what fl avour is created, it is going to be fair trade and biological. And that they have collaboration with a charity for example, so that there is a purpose for creating new fl avours and customers. Possible offer: From every ‘’New fl avour’’ sold pint, 1 Euro will go to charity. So that is a reason to download the app a create a taste and go to the shop to buy the new fl avour (you will help the charity anyway). Ben & Jerry’s: General information about who Ben & Jerry’s is, what they do and how they do it. Because maybe for some people this app will be the entrypoint. When they have never bought Ben & Jerry’s or do not know it so well, they can bump in to this app on their smartphones. When they download it, they need to know who Ben & Jerry’s is. This application is indeed also a way for creating new fans.

The application is linked to the Social Media of Ben & Jerry’s but also to your own accounts. For example when you have created a new fl avour, you can click on ‘’share’’ and choose if you want to share your new fl avour on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram etc. It will auto-matically post a message on your timeline, that you created a new fl avour and it calls up your friends to vote for your fl avour. The winner will get an amount of money, a personal designed Ben & Jerry’s pint with a picture of them on it and it will be sold in the shops.

The concept can also connect with the missions above. The ingredients the players can choose, will be 100% natural and of the highest quality. When they involve a charity within the price, they also operate on a sustainable fi nancial basis of profi table growth.

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Flavour wall

The target group will have multiple touch points with the concept. 1. The fi rst touch point will be on the streets. People will see posters/abri’s and guerrilla actions about the Ben & Jerry’s: Flavyour Campaign. They are called to download the application and create their own fl avour.2. The second touch point is Social Media, they can see that some people have created a new fl avour and shared it with their friends on social media and tagged the Ben & Jerry’s page. 3. At last, the third touch point will be in the shops. The winning fl avour can be bought in the shops. When they see the new fl avour (pint) in the shop, they will be reminded of the Flavyour campaign.

Ben & Jerry’s has a great visualization of their brand. Of course the app is going to be designed in the style/visualization of Ben & Jerry’s, like the website and products. I created a few optional screenshots for the new application.

Touchpoints

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FLAVYOUR

CREATE YOUR FLAVOUR

CAMPAIGN INFORMATION

BEN & JERRY’S

FLAVOUR WALL & VOTE

Personal Advice

Simon

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One of the target groups of Ben & Jerry’s are the students. A commonly known fact about stu-dent is that they have a small budget compared with young-adults and adults. Nevertheless Ben & Jerry’s is a luxury product so the price is higher than the ice cream from a different brand. So that’s where we got our painpoint. Ben & Jerry’s has students as one of their target groups but the target group has a low budget so they can barely afford it. To erase or avoid this painpoint we have to either lower the costs of Ben & Jerry’s or make sure the students have a bigger (ice cream) budget.

Costs Ben & Jerry’s averagely costs 5,10euro for 500ml at the Albert Hein supermarket. Compared with the 3,50euro for 900ml of Hertog ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s is really expensive. On the other hand Ben & Jerry’s is known for its interesting fl avors which you can only fi nd in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

PositioningWith its interesting fl avors and high cost, Ben & Jerry’s positioned themselves as a high quality, luxury product. Besides that Ben & Jerry’s is also known for its MVO. For example they use side products that come from fabricating ice cream to supply their fabrics with electricity.

It is very understandable that Ben & Jerry’s costs a little more because it is a very high quality product and buying Ben & Jerry’s can be considered an experience because of their fl avors and packaging. Next to students, Ben & Jerry’s wants to reach young-adults and middle aged people, so just lowering the price would be a wrong move because it would lead to a big profi t loss. The other target groups have a bigger budget so they can afford to buy Ben & Jerry’s. So you want the students to be able to afford Ben & Jerry’s more often.

Flaw

Concept:Ben & Jerry’s

Scholar

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So to reach that goal there are two options:- Create a discount for student- Make the students create more budget for Ben & Jerry’s

The fi rst option would attract a lot of new customers who don’t buy Ben & Jerry’s jet because they think it is to expansive. This option is not the most benefi cial for the company’s profi t margin. The second option is the more preferable option from the company’s point of view.

In order to do that you have to make the product worth its money. Buying Ben & Jerry’s already is a little bit of an experience but this has to be a bigger experience, there has to be a bigger emotional added value.

So in order to do that I came up whit a concept that involves CRM (customer relationship ma-nagement). Engaging in an relationship with your customers results in your customers buying your product over a long period of time. It is a known statement that 80% of your profi t is ge-nerated by 20% of your customers, so it is very important to put more focus on the 20% than to attract the other 80%. Engaging in a relationship also leads to your customers becoming ambas-sadors.

The concept has to be attractive for students and mainly the student that already buy Ben & Jerry’s. The current generation of students is known for ‘google-ing’ everything they want to know. Google Scholar is a student’s best friend and because Ben & Jerry’s wants to become the student’s best friend.

The concept I came up with is called: Ben & Jerry’s scholar

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The concept I came up with is called:

VisionThe vision of the concept is as fol-lowing: Ben & Jerry’s believes in building a long lasting relationship with students by helping them get to trough college.

CommunicationBen & Jerry’s already uses the best means to reach students. This concept should be communica-ted on TV, facebook and twitter. The way to communicate this is to make clear that you should celebrate fi nishing your homework, passing the exam, making it in to the next year to school or even graduating. The most schools handle the same period to plan their exams. This periods should be known with Ben & Jerry’s there might be a slight difference with different regions so Ben & Jerry’s should know the examination periods of all regions. During this period Ben & Jer-ry’s should advertise the most. They need to promote the tiny Ben & Jerry’s trays by telling the students they are easy to take with you in the examination room. Students don’t have to be dis-tracted by Ben & Jerry’s during the exam because they can take it with them so they can solely focus on the exam.

ProductsIn order to do that Ben & Jerry’s builds an online community where you can; for example, share your book summaries, fi nd the cheapest study books, fi nd the nearest store to buy Ben & Jerry’s to celebrate that you past your exam or because you fi nally fi nished your homework and you deserve a treat. To be able to enter the community you have to make an account in which you enter your school, and your student number. This number is easily verifi ed by the school, if it is not correct you can’t enter the community because it’s solely for students. By asking the students to make an account you can start gathering more information about your target group and create a CRM database that not only involves basic geographic and demographic information but also emotional information like their values and interest. This information can be based on the study they are following.

They can even choose to make a new fl avor theme. The student fl avors. They can create fl avors like; student oats or Red Cow (a combination of Red Bull and Ben & Jerry’s) that makes the stu-dents able to focus better.

NetworkBen & Jerry’s need to have the colleges in the Netherlands in their network in order to know when the students are in their examination period and to verify everyone in the community is a student. They already know which stores sell their products so they can easily make a map of the nearest store that sells Ben & Jerry’s.

Physical appearance Ben & Jerry’s needs to keep using their bright colors but they should put the cow they use in an graduation toga with a doctoral hat and put him some glasses on.

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New style

Q&A

Wachtwoord:

Studentnummer:

Inloggen

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Community website

Pre-schoolPre-school is the fi rst touchpoints of the student with Ben & Jerry’s. This moment should be used to communicate the community to the students and make them aware of the community so they will subscribe. This can be done during the events that Ben & Jerry’s is present and in the commercials that Ben & Jerry’s airs on TV. The concept is focusing on getting the students through college so the main focus of this concept is in the ‘during-school’ period.

During-schoolLike stated before in the ‘communication’ part of the explanation of the concept this is the stage were there should be communicated through the community. This is the perfect place for inter-action with the target group. The only ones that can enter the community are students so all the communication that is send through the community generates absolutely no waste, only the target group involved is reached. And, guessing only the 20% that are already loyal Ben & Jerry’s customer will join fi rst, you immediately start building an relationship and try to make them ambassadors. Those ambassadors need to make others join the community in order to expand the 20% of loyal customers.

Post-schoolAfter school there is the summer holyday. During the summer holyday Ben & Jerry’s needs to organize an event for all students at a beach somewhere in the Netherlands. During the whole year you can collect points by buying Ben & Jerry’s and uploading your summaries on the com-munity website. Everyone that collected enough points can enter the event for free, this way the loyal customers of Ben & Jerry’s get an advantages. If they collected more points than necessary they could for example use them to buy Ben & Jerry’s merchandise or to download an summary someone uploaded (if you should choose to make the students pay for downloading summaries).

Pre-school is the fi rst touchpoints of the student with Ben & Jerry’s. This moment should be used Pre-school is the fi rst touchpoints of the student with Ben & Jerry’s. This moment should be used to communicate the community to the students and make them aware of the community so to communicate the community to the students and make them aware of the community so they will subscribe. This can be done during the events that Ben & Jerry’s is present and in the they will subscribe. This can be done during the events that Ben & Jerry’s is present and in the commercials that Ben & Jerry’s airs on TV. The concept is focusing on getting the students through college so the main focus of this concept is in the ‘during-school’ period.

Like stated before in the ‘communication’ part of the explanation of the concept this is the stage

Touchpoints

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3

Sources used

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- Facebook, Ben & Jerry’s, Found on 20 October 2014, Source: https://nl-nl.facebook.com/benen-jerrys/posts/10150638456424799

- Facebook, Ben & Jerry’s, Found on 20 October 2014, Source: https://nl-nl.facebook.com/benen-jerrys/posts/10150638456424799

- Lisa Raisa Ferrari, Blogspot Ben & Jerry’s, Found on 20 October 2014, Source: http://benjerryli-sas.blogspot.nl/2011/10/doelgroep.html

- Marjolein Korvorst en Ger Sleijpen, CBS Jongeren vooral online met smartphone, Found on 20 October 2014, Source: http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/dossiers/jongeren/publicaties/arti-kelen/archief/2014/2014-4079-wm.htm

- Vincent Gill 2013, Engagement, Wat is het nou echt?, Found on 21 October 2014, Source: http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/engagement-wat-is-het-nou-echt

- Shiva Kottary,Ben& Jerry’s Ice cream marketing presentation. Found on 16 October 2014. Sourcehttp://www.slideshare.net/connectshivak/ben-n-jerry-gnims

- Jenny An, Why foodbloggers are here to stay? Found on 18 October 2014, Source:http://mashable.com/2010/06/23/food-bloggers/

- Lisette Zwiggelaar, clean eating in een notendop. Found on 18 October 2014. Source: http://www.kiwienzo.nl/clean-eating-in-een-notendop/

- Writer unknown, Superfoods you need to know now. Found on 18 October 2014. Source:http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20306775,00.html

- James Colqunhoun, Superfoods. Found on 18 Ocotober 2014. Source:http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=125459

- Jocelynn Voo, What is clean eating? Found on 19 October 2014. Source: http://www.fi tnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/plans/diets/clean-eating/

- Writer unknown, ice cream ad spend surgers with magnum on the lead, Found on October 19, 2014:http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/reports/digital-features/ice-cream-report-2014/ice-cream-ad-spend-surges-with-magnum-leading-the-way/371082.article

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