Do you still like eating ice cream in the fall or winter?
Every time of the year is time for ice cream, even with fall upon us. Its a nice frozen treat that we can put on top of all of our favorite fall sweets, like apple crisp, pumpkin pie, or maybe even in a nice cup of hot chocolate. Yum! My favorite flavor is Ben and Jerry's mint chocolate cookie. There is nothing wrong with a nice pint of ice cream, is there? Well there might be.
Ben and Jerry's social media presence disappeared for two months. On Instagram Ben and Jerry's posted a reel of their new vegan thumbprint cookies on May 18, 2021. The company then was silent, completely inactive, until July 19, 2021. The first post upon the company's return was simple, here it is:
Ben and Jerry's was founded in 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. The ice cream shop grew in popularity, spreading to more cities and being distributed in mom and pop shops in pints. Now it is the large brand we know today that is selling vegan alternatives and has specialty flavors designed with Jimmy Fallon and Netflix. How did this company, with its humble beginnings end up in such a social media pickle? The brand that puts ice cream scoops for abolishing the police took a break from social media?
All of these figures were written at the time of publication of this blog.
As we look at Ben and Jerry's Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts we notice that many of the posts are exactly same, and if they aren't they have more similarities than differences. Instagram may have more pictures or videos, Twitter often contains more links to bring people to new content, and Facebook, well, Facebook has the most individuals who will see the basic post. This allows Ben and Jerry's to ensure that highest concentration of individuals will see their content, while also finding ways to ensure that the individualized nature of each platform is utilized.
Analytics:
Now that we have a bit of background on Ben and Jerry's and their social media pages, we are going to talk about their two month social media absence. Ben and Jerry disappeared from social media on May 18th, 2021 because of the intense social media tension between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. At around the same time pro-Palestinian activists were calling on Ben and Jerry's, through comments, to boycott Israel. How did this absence impact social media trends for Ben and Jerry's?
According to Google Trends, on October 4, which we can imagine is a normal amount of social media interest for Ben and Jerry's the social media interactions looked like this:
There was not a significant amount of social media interest before Ben and Jerry's went on their hiatus and that social media interest did not fall significantly during those two months where Ben and Jerry's was inactive. There is a clear spike in social media activity when Ben and Jerry's returned to social media stating they would no longer have their ice cream in occupied Palestinian territory. However when these numbers are compared to the date of writing, October 4, the average seems to have gone up in comparison to Ben and Jerry's before their social media break.
Brand24 shows an interesting side of the story from June 1,2021 to August 1, 2021 there were no know social mentions of Ben and Jerry's.
When we take the sentiment of these messages we can see that this date range was primarily negative until the month of October.
We can see that Ben and Jerry's social media hiatus negatively impacted their brand for a proportion of time.
Target Audience:
Ben and Jerry's has a values section attached to their website, which helps us determine their target audience. Obviously, as a company, Ben and Jerry's wants to sell ice cream to any one anywhere that loves ice cream. However, Ben and Jerrys "is founded on and dedicated to a sustainable corporate concept of linked prosperity." Ben and Jerry's is founded on a deep respect of individuals in and outside of their company alongside the communities they are a part of. This is why the company posts about activism and abolishing the police. Only people that support these believes are going to support the company financially. Ben and Jerry's target audience is ice cream lovers that have and support the same or similar core values as the company.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths: Ben and Jerry's has a large fanbase on each of its social media platforms where they post at least once a day, potentially more often on Twitter. There is a consistent amount of posting throughout the years with the posts reflecting the seasonal changes and political climate at the time. Ben and Jerry's is promoting its new ice cream flavor Change is Brewing on all its social media pages. The page has been full of images of the ice cream flavor alongside inspiration Black individuals who were part of creating the new flavor.
Weaknesses: Ben and Jerry's does not seem to address the comments made by their fans on their tweets. On their main twitter page a quick scroll shows comments like "we are waiting for new non-diary flavors in the UK" or "please bring more options (especially gluten free) to Sweden it's insane how little gluten free options you have in Sweden". There are no replies from the company, even a simply website link or other twitter pages to contact. Ben and Jerry's has a very weak presence in terms of listening and talking to the groundswell, that does not include disappearing for two months.
Opportunities: Ben and Jerry has a clear opportunity to listen and engage with fans more on their social media platforms. Ben and Jerry's has the option of communicating with fans, engaging with their comments, and making sure that they display their core values in all interactions with fans. Ben and Jerry's has to show that they believe in their core messages, respect their fans, and continuous bring them what they ask for. The company can advertise their contact information more and special campaigns they do, like bringing back discontinued flavors.
Threats: The brand clearly has trust issues when it comes to their social media presence and their consumers. There was a high about of negative feelings towards the brand until recently. Ben and Jerry needs to look into this and find out what they need to do to help these trust issues. Abandoning their fans for two months and ignoring their comments on Twitter has damaged their reputation.
After talking about ice cream for so long, I have to ask, what flavor are you going to eat after this?
Hi Tereza,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job analyzing Ben and Jerry's social media accounts as well as their analytical data. I did not know they had a values section attached to their website. It is very evident that they hold their core values closely within their marketing and target audience. Since it is a more liberal skewed company, do you think that may deter others from consuming their products. Their social media is sort of at a turning point, what do you think they should do to improve it as well as the trust issues that you mentioned? By the way, I just bought a pint of half-baked from Ben and Jerry's.
Half bake is always a classic to go to! I do think that being a liberal skewed company impacts the sales and deters certain consumers from the company. I don't think it impacts peoples' views of the company entirely because if you don't follow the company closes and monitor their actions, then you won't know what they stand for. But because Ben and Jerry's is so open about their own beliefs I do think it deters consumers. I can imagine that sales in Texas have fallen a bit, since Ben and Jerry's revealed how they actively disagree with the abortion ban.
DeleteAlso, I am not entirely sure how I think the company should work on their trust issues. My main ideas come from responding to comments more and having more consumer friendly CSR reports.
Hi, Tereza. I really like your blog post! First of all, you quoted a lot of icon data, which made this blog post look rational, calm and rational. I like this feeling of giving evidence for analysis very much. In addition, I have always felt deeply that any brand, not just ice cream brand, is very dangerous once it expresses its political position. Why? Because before it disclosed any political position, the influx of people on its social media can only be people who have opinions on its products, whether they like it or dislike it. But as you said, this ice cream brand needs not only customers who love ice cream, but also ice cream lovers who have radical political views and hold the view of abolishing the police. Then it will offend three kinds of people, those who do not love its ice cream, those who disagree with its views and positions, and those who neither like ice cream nor its views and positions. This is bound to lose a lot of fans. Not only is it losing fans, but if these lost fans attack it, it will cause more serious losses. This is what the brand must consider before expressing its political position.
ReplyDeleteHi, Teresa, I like your end sentence! (I like Strawberry and Oreo) A great way to get feedback from the audiences. I like your post. And I think you did a great job on paying attention to the content the brand post, which led to the groundswell's different opinions on the brand, Do you think it is a good idea for Ben and Jerry's to continue their "activism and abolishing the police" opinion? Or no longer mention it to cater almost all ice cream lovers?
ReplyDelete