Ben & Jerry’s is a company that grew tremendously by instilling several values and unique
marketing strategies, and they often combined the two. For example, when they were just
starting out, in an effort to give back to their community, they created a summer tradition
of showing free movies once a week outside their ice cream stand. It became such a hit that
the parking lot became more of a drive-in movie theater, and people were inspired to buy
lots of ice cream and spread the word around. As they got larger, they transformed the
drive-in theater idea into larger concerts, festivals and fairs that they sponsored. Their
efforts to do more for the community served to help them grow their business.
Their mission statement has three parts to it: a product mission, a social mission and an
economic mission. This allows them to run their business according to their values,
inspiring them to always strive to enhance the lives of people and communities through
their actions with the goal being “linked prosperity.”
In keeping with this mission, they introduced several new flavors of ice cream that utilized
ingredients from out of the ordinary sources. Rainforest Crunch, for example, used nuts
produced by rain forest trees and Chocolate Fudge Brownie uses brownies from a bakery in
New York, which employs formerly unemployed and homeless people. In addition, they
always make a point to use local milk and produce.
Giving back is important to them, and it is something that consumers take notice of. They
donate 7.5% of all pre-tax profits to charity.
Ben & Jerry’s also employ environmental values that end up increasing the credibility and
perception of the company. For example, they use their ice cream waste to feed pigs being
raised on a farm in Stowe, Vermont.
When they want to promote a new flavor, they use marketing tactics that are certainly out
of the ordinary. In 1983, the company helped construct the world's largest ice cream
sundae in St. Albans, Vermont. They also conducted tours of their plant in Waterbury,
Vermont. They even set out to drive cross-country in an altered mobile home, which they
called the “Cowmobile,” distributing free scoops of ice cream along the way. These efforts
helped them gain a remarkable rate of growth.
They also used current events creatively in their marketing strategies, and it paid off big
time. For instance, after the October 1987 stock market crash, “Cow II,” another converted
mobile home, drove up and down Wall Street handing out scoops of ice cream with creative
names like, “That's Life” and “Economic Crunch” to financial industry workers.
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