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Marketing Strategy:
Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream
Olivia Messina
Marketing 302
Dr. Frye
December 11, 2012
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Introduction
Ben & Jerry’s was a small town ice cream store that started with 12 flavors at a gas
station and grew into a world-wide establishment with 5,812 different eating locations and well
over 50 flavors. They attempt to go where no ice cream makers have gone and create an ice
cream euphoria for everyone. Their marketing merchandise consists of mini cups, pints, quarts,
bulk containers, and ice cream bars; go into the store and you can get and ice cream cone or cup,
a sundae, smoothies, shakes, or café chillers. They also manufacture sorbet, and more recently
they have added pints of frozen Greek yogurt to their marketing merchandise. Although you
cannot buy their ice cream online, in order to make it easier on the customer, on their website
they have each flavor listed and by simply clicking it, it will take you to a locator to find it at the
store nearest you. In addition to showing each flavor, the website gives you a description of each,
shows which ice creams are new and for a limited time, has a shop locator, a scoop shop menu,
catering, gift cards, and tour opportunities. To thank their customers for supporting them for
three decades, soon Ben & Jerry’s will announce their 2013 Global Free Cone Day.
(www.benjerry.com).
Product Concept
Ben & Jerry’s product concept is to distribute and sell the finest quality, all natural, ice
cream while stressing “euphoria” in every pint they make. They are always taking the customer
wants into consideration and trying to come up with the perfect flavor blends for everyone.
Although Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is on the more expensive side, it is well worth the money and
doesn’t seem to stop people from being loyal to the brand. Ben & Jerry’s would be considered a
specialty consumer product. Because it is a special product, it follows a few characteristics that
are solely to this type of product. Most people know of this brand name before they decide to
buy, higher price that the customer is willing to pay, a serious effort is put out to obtain this
product, and substitutes are not particularly welcomed. This type of product marketing
emphasizes keeping their item unique in order to keep and increase loyal customers. (Marketing
in the 21st Century, 330).
Ben & Jerry’s have a few benefits and factors that make them a more impressing
company. I had previously mentioned some that they have on their website that makes for easier
buying of the product. For starters, they have an online menu for their scoop shops in case a
customer would like to look at their options before going into a store. Since a lot of the time
loyal customers go after particular flavors, the Ben & Jerry’s website has a flavor locator. By
simply clicking on flavors at the top of the screen and going to flavor locator, you can select the
flavor you’d like, enter your zip code, and click find where stores near you that have what you’re
looking for will come up. The website also includes a shop locator; by clicking scoop shops, then
shop locator, you can put in your location and it will show you a map as well as the information
of where the shop is located. Although ice cream is their most popular product, they have a wide
range of products and sizes including: sundaes, smoothies, shakes, coffee drinks, multiple cone
choices, and cakes. Another feature is that Ben & Jerry’s has gift cards. Although this may seem
quite normal, with this company you are actually able to go on their website and check your gift
card balance before you even leave home. Convenience seems to be the key for Ben & Jerry’s
and maybe that’s why so many people stay loyal to the brand. I also feel that the fact that Ben &
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Jerry’s has well over 50 different flavors of ice cream and at least 10 different frozen yogurt
flavors is a benefit; people like to have choices, especially when it comes to something that they
are choosing for their satisfaction.
After re-reading over the product life cycle chart, I would have to say that Ben & Jerry’s
would be in the Growth stage. I want to focus on a few characteristics in particular: industry
sales, competition, product mix, promotion, and pricing. Industry sales for the growth stage say
that it will be rapidly increasing; Ben & Jerry’s sales are increasing every year with their
growing popularity. For competition there is only some, which is true of this company; their
main competitor is Haagen Dazs, then Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Company, with a few others
following. Growth product mix is characterized as an expanding line; Ben & Jerry’s is working
every day to develop new flavors and expand the amount of good sold. Promotion is persuasive;
with the new idea of “euphoria” in every pint, as well as the interesting flavor names of each ice
cream, Ben & Jerry’s has an alluring promotion idea. Lastly what I want to focus on is pricing.
To fit into the growth stage, the pricing must have a greater range, which Ben & Jerry’s follows
fairly well having prices towards the cheaper side and some more towards the more expensive
side as the quality increases.
Product Mix
Goods sold
Table 1:
Cones
Sundaes
Smoothies
Shakes







Waffle
Choc.
Dipped
Waffle
Cake
Sugar







Hot fudge
Sundae
Brownie special
Cookie cookie
Sundae
Waffle cone
Sundae
Banana fudge
royal
Banana split
Vermonster
Sundae to go go










Blueberry
cream
Raspberry
cream
Mixed berry
Super
pomegranate
Razzo Mango
Berry nice
Life’s a beach
Cran-pineapple
craze
Queen of tarts
Strawberry
lemonade
Mango & more








Create your
own
Sorbet
splash
Addicted to
chocolate
Strawberry
cheesecake
Mint cookie
Caramel
macchiato
Cookie
cookie
Half baked
Shot of Joe
Coffee



Frozen
latte
Iced Joe
Shot of
Joe
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Table 2:
Hot Stuff
Cakes
Ice Cream





Coffee
Espresso
drinks
Hot
chocolate

Ice cream
cake
Create your
own








Americone
dream
Chubby hubby
Chunky
monkey
Cannoli
Chocolate
therapy
Oatmeal
cookie chunk
Red velvet
cake
Peach cobbler
What a cluster
Frozen Yogurt




Cherry
Garcia
Chocolate
fudge
brownie
Half baked
Phish food
Frozen Greek Yogurt




Banana with
peanut butter
Blueberry and
vanilla
graham
Raspberry
with fudge
chunks
Strawberry
with
shortbread
pieces
*Among many others
(www.benandjerry.com)
Target Market
To establish Ben & Jerry’s target market they asked themselves a few questions: “What
kind of flavors do our customers prefer? What tub size do our customers prefer? What price do
our customers want to pay? Where is our ice cream available?” (slideshare.net). With those
questions being taken into account, Ben & Jerry’s target market is directed mainly towards two
different things. The first is directed towards wealthier adults who are “generally brand
conscious, innovators, and trend followers.” (com4000chung.alliance). The second of the two is,
“Health conscious, young adults who are interested in desserts but prefer natural ingredients and
low fat substitutes,” (com4000chung.alliance). Although both of these specific things are
targeted, you will still find people of every class and age buying Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. They
have a certain target market, but it is not limited to only that. The target market is more than
likely developed from personal demographics including consumer lifestyles and
demographic/lifestyle factors. One lifestyle factor in particular that is mentioned in the target
market is innovators. These people are sophisticated, successful, leaders, active consumers, have
high self-esteem, and like things of higher quality. (Marketing in the 21st Century, 295).
Place
After going over the different channels of distribution in Marketing in the 21st Century,
Ben & Jerry’s would use an indirect channel of distribution. This means that it would go from
the manufacturer, to the wholesaler, to the retailers, then the customers. Within this indirect
channel, Ben & Jerry’s would also be considered a contractual channel arrangement. This means
that terms regarding distribution, prices, and anything else needed are in writing for the
members; this fits because Ben & Jerry’s is a franchised company. The degree of marketing
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exposure would be intensive distribution. In an intensive distribution, they cover a wide market;
have channel acceptance, high total sales and profit, and its aimed at the most consumers,
(Marketing in the 21st Century). This works for Ben & Jerry’s because just as intensive
distribution states, they use a large number of resellers; selling to restaurants, grocery stores,
smaller convenient stores, among others. You can find Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in many different
places and the actual scoop stores are all over the world.
Promotion
Promotion is made to do a few things, which are: provide information, increase demand,
differentiate the product, accentuate a product’s value, and stabilize sales. Ben & Jerry’s use the
promotional mix to promote their products in many different ways. They do this in hopes that
they can fulfill the objectives of promotion to better their company.
Ben & Jerry’s participate in mass selling as a part of their promotional mix with an
emphasis on advertising and publicity. Instead of one on one selling, they promote to a much
larger group of people. The things that the company partake in help to advertise their product to a
huge group of people. For example, Ben & Jerry’s do their free cone day every year, which bring
in many satisfied customers. They made the world’s largest sundae, named an ice cream after
Jerry Garcia when he died, took their bus on a national tour and designed new looks for their
pints. They also paired up with rock the vote which was incredible advertising for their company
and promoted voting for teens as well; Jimmy Fallon promoted their new ice cream “Late Night
Snack” on his television show. By joining in on other public events such as against oil drilling,
fair trade union and protesting at the white house against cloning they are building public
awareness and advertising while gaining benefits for others. They continue to advertise online,
on the streets, and outdoors.
All of these things I previously mentioned would also fall into the promotional mix of
sales promotion. By engaging in these activities all around the world, they are increasing their
sales. When people realize that Ben & Jerry’s is the company behind many of these events, it
sparks interest and people go buy their ice cream. Free cone day is probably one of the best ideas
a company could have; a free taste of something usually brings people back wanting more.
Another smart thing that Ben & Jerry’s is currently doing is the #captureeuphoria challenge on
instagram, a social media app for taking pictures and sharing with others. Because of so many
people giving Ben & Jerry’s love on instagram, they decided to start a challenge where you
upload a euphoric picture and they will pick some of the best ones from all over the world, and
will surprise you in your own town as a thanks for all the love and loyalty of customers. These
types of contest draw people into the product.
Ben & Jerry’s strongest factor in their promotional mix would have to be product
differentiation. They have well over 50 flavors with new ones coming out all of the time. In their
scoop shops, if you refer to the charts above, they have many different options to choose from. I
have mentioned multiple times that people like choices and they like to have things that they are
interested in. With so many different options, every customer is bound to be satisfied.
The pushing strategy would be fitting for Ben & Jerry’s. “A thriving manufacturer or
service provider can often secure reseller support and enthusiasm when it introduces new
products and continues popular ones.” (Marketing in the 21st Century, 450). This in particular fits
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with the company in that new products are often coming from ideas of consumers therefore there
is no trouble selling those products. In addition the popular ones that are being continued have
been around for a good amount of time solely for the reason of their popularity; they go off the
shelves quite fast. I can verify for one in particular, Cherry Garcia, which is my dad’s favorite, is
often close to sold out in the store when I go to buy it. It is also one of the most popular flavors.
Resellers know the past sales records, promotion support, and delivery liability so they are able
to get these products off the shelves. Firms within the distribution channel work together in
marketing the product; resulting in relationship marketing (Marketing in the 21st Century, 450).
Ben & Jerry’s only works with Fair trade companies, green companies, and companies that
promise to treat their cows humanely and these are the ones who get the product to manufacture.
Unilver, Ben Cohen, Jerry Greenfield, and supported grassroots organizations work together to
make the marketing decisions.
Below is a chart of the pushing strategy:
Manufacturer/
Distribution
service provider
intermediaries
Consumers
(Marketing in the 21st Century, 450)
Ben & Jerry’s
Grocery Stores/
Household Inc.
Scoop shops/
Consumers
Supermarkets
Ben & Jerry’s promotional mix has done so well for them that they have scoop and
partner shops worldwide. To name a few: Australia, Canada, Germany, Portugal, and of course
the United States. As of April 4, 2012, Ben & Jerry’s have 5,812 eating locations and seem to
have no trouble selling their product, with annual sales revenue of $132 million
(statisticbrain.com).
Price
According to Marketing in the 21st Century and Ben & Jerry’s goals for their
company, skimming pricing would be a good fit. This is where they use high prices to attract a
market segment that wants a quality product, uniqueness, and status. These characteristics go
right along with the target market that Ben & Jerry’s is aiming for. Many people who buy this ice
cream are loyal and to them the price doesn’t matter, therefore Ben & Jerry’s is able to have a bit
of a higher price. The only other competition the company really has would be Haagen-Dazs.
Because of these higher prices they are also able to cover things that may be a little more
expensive in the company. For example, their eco-pints that are unbleached. They also give 7.5%
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of pre-taxed profits to philanthropic and non-profit activities, so who wouldn’t mind paying a
little more in order to give a little back? (benandjerrysfoundation.org).
Odd pricing would relate to Ben & Jerry’s pricing concepts. What odd pricing is, is
when a company sets their prices below an even dollar amount. For example, Ben & Jerry’s ice
cream pints range from about $4.99 to $6.99 depending on where you get them. According to
Marketing in the 21st Century, this type is popular because people like getting change, the cashier
has to make change, employers ensure that cash sales are recorded and money is being placed in
the register.
Competitive Environment
Monopolistic competition would describe Ben & Jerry’s. It is when there are several
firms, all offering unique market mixes, based on either price or non-price factors. This type of
competition is most common (Marketing in the 21st Century, 39). Haagen-Dazs is really their
only big competitor whom they have gone back and forth with many times in competition. There
are some other ice cream companies in the competition, such as Blue Bunny and BaskinRobbins; Baskin-Robbins being the more famous of the two. Ben & Jerry’s take up quite a
decent chunk of the segment in the ice cream industry today, following closely with BaskinRobbins (mapsofworld.com). Ben & Jerry’s uses decorative pint cups, creative flavor names,
they partake in many public events, and engage their customers. By doing things like this they
are setting themselves apart from the other companies.
Rivalry among competitors, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers,
threat of substitutes, and bargaining power of buyers are the five elements in Michael Porter’s
competitive environment. The first, rivalry among competitors is not too high; although there are
a few stores similar to Ben & Jerry’s, there is not an overwhelming amount of rivalry. There is
no problem with new entrants because in order to open most ice cream company’s, a person must
have at least two years of restaurant or retail management experience. The power of suppliers is
also not a very big issue. Ben & Jerry’s may have to pay a little more for the suppliers they chose
because they prefer to use natural, fair trade, and animal friendly products. Because Ben &
Jerry’s have brand loyalty, the threat of substitutes is not high. Once loyal buyers are hooked
onto a product, they are more likely to not even pay attention to new products from other
companies. The final element is bargaining power of buyers. Without people there to buy your
product, the business would go down the drain. Considering how well Ben & Jerry’s are doing
right now, their brand loyalty must be pretty stable with a consistent flow of people.
Almost all of Michael Porter’s competitive environment elements seem to pose little
threat, if any at all. Ben & Jerry’s biggest objective seems to be able to make their product
unique from the rest and create a “euphoric” feel. This would mean they’re biggest worry for
their company is differentiation and they make sure they get that with the variety of advertising
they do. To stay ahead in the game, they must think ahead.
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SWOT Analysis
Strengths
-
Good and clear brand image.
Top of mind brand & product
Environmental awareness
Experienced brand
Established and successful
Eco-friendly
Donate to philanthropic cause yearly
Sales in USA, Europe, & Asia
Opportunities
- Global growing premium ice cream
market
- South America market
- Introduction of fat-free and healthy
ice cream alternatives
- Allergen free items
Weaknesses
- High pricing
- No low fat ice cream
- Focus on multiple social
responsibility issues
Threats
- Any contamination of the food supply
- Rising prices of milk and other
products used
- Consumers concern on fattening
desserts
(www.marketingteacher.com)
Social/Ethical Framework
Ben & Jerry’s have a three part mission statement. The first part, social mission, is
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, nationally and
internationally; the second, product mission, is to make, distribute and sell the finest quality all
natural ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating
wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the
Environment; and the third, economic mission, is to operate the Company on a sustainable
financial basis of profitable growth, increasing value for our stakeholders and expanding
opportunities for development and career growth for our employees.
They are committed to economic justice; therefore they pay their customers a livable
wage. Ben & Jerry’s have also participated in over 30 years of community service. Every year
the employees participate in service projects fixing, cleaning, building, and restoring the quality
of life in their neighborhoods and communities. They also donate ice cream to community
organizations around the country. Ben & Jerry’s foundation was established in which 7.5% of the
company’s pre-tax profits fund community-oriented projects. Eight million Ben & Jerry pints
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have “Support Farm Aid” messages on them. Grassroots is a stakeholder of the company, so they
do this for them to support family farmers.
In 2000 their “Joy Gang” gave out 380,000 free scoops. Through “Charity Scooper
Bowls” they gave over $100,000 to local non-profit groups. In 2004 Ben & Jerry’s partnered
with Rock the Vote; while the company had their free cone day, RTV gave out voting
registrations. They protested oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by baking a 900
pound Baked Alaska, putting it on the White House lawn, and serving it to people. They
committed to source Fair Trade ingredients and support the movement. To protest against animal
cloning for food, they sent people in cow costumes to Washington, DC. They had a contest
called “Do the World a Favor” and sent the top contestants to the Dominican Republic to tour the
cocoa co-op and build a playground for children. The company does a lot of community action in
Vermont, where they originated, as well as grant programs. The Ben & Jerry foundation matches
what employees donate to the philanthropy.
(www.benjerry.com) (www.benandjerrysfoundation.org)
Conclusion
I chose Ben & Jerry’s ice cream because my family and I buy this quite often. It is
one of my favorite brands of ice cream. I had done a project on them my freshman year and I had
wanted to go into more depth because I liked what the company was about. Ben & Jerry’s are
rapidly growing and continue to come up with new things to improve their consumer status.
After doing the research I have done, there is no doubt in my mind that if Ben & Jerry’s continue
to think ahead in their competition they could continue moving towards the top spot.
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Work Cited
1. www.benjerry.com
2. www.benandjerrysfoundation.org
3. Evans, Joel R., and Barry Berman. Marketing, 11E: Marketing in the 21st Century. 11th
ed. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
4. www.mapsofworld.com
5. www.marketingteacher.com
6. www.slideshare.net
7. www.statisticbrain.com