Selling ice cream in winter: Time to turn up the marketing heat.

Work alert

Driving sales with the chance to drive away with a brand new Ford Ranger.

We at Because love a big, bold, immersive campaign. But there’s always a place for a hard-working, back-to-basics promotion where fast and clear results are key. Case in point, our latest activation for the Memphis Meltdown ice cream brand that’s hitting convenience stores across New Zealand throughout August. 

With its range of quality products, Tip Top is New Zealand’s favourite ice cream company. We were asked to drive excitement and spike sales for one of its much-loved core brands, Memphis Meltdown, during the harder-to-sell cooler months of August and September, using an in-store promotion. 
The challenge: how do we stand out in this highly competitive OOH category during a time when ice cream sales typically take a plunge? 

With its triple-dipped technology, the Memphis Meltdown lives up to its positioning as the perfect “big eat” for those who love an indulgent treat. Of course, extensive product testing was conducted in our NZ offices to confirm this ? 

Seeing as the brand is only available as a single serving and sold in novelty freezers found mainly in convenience stores, our solution needed to get Memphis onto people’s radars before they reach the store, and then maximise the big bang in-store POS to help drive purchase. For this, we needed a promotional hook that was as big and bold as the brand itself. Something simple yet smart that would speak to our target audience. 

The solution: a big and bold promo for this big-eat ice cream. Buy any Memphis Meltdown and win a Ford Ranger XL 4WD plus daily cash prizes. To make sure we connect with the brand’s fans, a simple but striking look and feel, where the prized Ford Ranger is conquering a triple-dipped, ice-cream inspired landscape, was applied to a host of POS and supported by ATL – including a giant billboard on the motorway.

While it may look like a straight-up sales promo, art and science, where bigger is not always better. So we had one prize big enough to excite but not so big that it felt impossible to win, and combined it with daily cash prizes to make it a promotion worth entering. Secondly, the most successful sales promotions are easy to understand, have few barriers to entry, and instantly reward participation.

WRAPPING UP:

It just goes to show that, at the end of the day (or season), whether you’re looking for a super simple and traditional in-store promo, or a cream-of-the crop, brand-building campaign, with an experiential approach, we can devise a sweet solution to suit every taste and budget.


Author bio

BUSINESS DIRECTOR NZ

I'm an award-winning radio marketer and event producer having created some of the largest events and activations for the biggest brands in New Zealand. I'm passionate about brands engaging with their consumers and stakeholders through magical experiences, with seamless delivery.