The scoop on success: Ben & Jerry’s marketing by the numbers
Author:
Categorised In:
Share:
Did you know that the ice cream market is set to grow by 2.5% in 2026? Or that in 2025, the industry is worth $109.24bn?
As the industry grows, classic and legacy brands that have been around for many years are focusing on retaining their market share, while new brands emerge. One such brand is Ben & Jerry’s, an ice cream brand known for its unique flavours and marketing campaigns.
In this blog, we’re going to look into the brand in more detail and the success (and failures) of its marketing campaigns and key takeaways that you can apply to your business.
Who are Ben & Jerry?
Ben & Jerry’s was founded in 1978 by two friends who opened an ice cream shop in an old petrol station. Over the years, their business grew from a single ice cream shop to being acquired by Unilever in 2000.
Some other facts about Ben & Jerry’s:
- In the UK, Ben & Jerry’s owns 29% of the premium ice cream market (source).
- In 2024, global sales reached $1.1 billion, making Ben & Jerry’s one of Unilever’s top brands (source).
- The brand employs over 1,700 employees across 6 continents (source).
- Ben & Jerry’s offers 98 different flavours of ice cream, across ranges that include dairy, non-dairy and gluten-free (source).
What makes Ben & Jerry’s different
What really makes the brand stand out is the fact that it is unique and ultimately always stays true to who they are and commit to this uniqueness. The brand has been around for nearly 50 years, and if you look through their brand story, what’s clear to see is that it’s remained consistent. They have adapted and evolved over the years, but they are still just a business trying to sell great ice cream whilst doing great things.
Values
Ben & Jerry’s is the ice cream brand that wants to change the world, and their values reflect this. As a business, their mission is to make, distribute and sell the finest-quality ice cream, but as they do that, they also strongly believe and value: Human rights and dignity, social and economic justice, and environmental protection, restoration, and regeneration. Overall, they give meaning to their products and brand by using thoughtful ingredients, sharing success and making a difference.
Flavours
Their flavours aren’t just the traditional vanilla, chocolate and strawberry; instead, they title their flavours with punchy names and combine a series of flavours to provide something which really stands out against their competitors.
So, as well as stepping away from the traditional flavours and naming conventions, something that Ben & Jerry’s also does really well is being part of pop culture and getting involved with social movements that their audience cares about. For example, they have a non-dairy product called Bohemian Raspberry, which was released as a tribute to the band Queen’s 50th anniversary of their classic song Bohemian Rhapsody. The packaging features icons of a band and music notes, and proceeds support the Mercury Phoenix Trust’s work to fight aids worldwide.
Packaging
The uniqueness and playfulness of Ben & Jerry’s is also clearly reflected in their packaging, with the designs including bold colours and typography that really make their products stand out in the freezers.
As well as a range of flavours that have been created to raise awareness and funds for various charity initiatives and causes, Ben & Jerry’s has also created a series of campaigns and marketing material to do more for society. For example, in the early 90’s they produced 8 million products in special packaging with ‘Support Farm Aid’ messaging to support a grassroots initiative to keep family farmers on their land.
Marketing
So we know about the brand and what they’re trying to achieve, let’s take a closer look at Ben & Jerry’s marketing. First stop to the website, and wow, when researching for this blog, even I got lost in the site and the story that they are trying to tell, thanks to their intuitive UI and UX.
You can even clearly see the difference between Ben & Jerry’s and other long-standing competitor Häagen-Dazs’ website. Now I’m not saying Häagen-Dazs has a terrible site, it’s classic and works for their brand, but I know out of the two which I’d prefer to scroll through.
However, what about the campaigns? From early beginnings, the brand looked to make an impact in a more unconventional way. Just 5 years after launching the business using $12,000, the brand decided to create the world’s largest sundae. The occasion brought crowds of people together to see the ice cream that weighed 27,102 pounds (roughly equivalent to 2-3 full-size elephants). Since then, the brand has continued to push the boundaries and create marketing campaigns that engage audiences across the world. Media Radar reports that Ben & Jerry’s spent less than $100 million on advertising in 2024. Let’s take a look at some of their best and most recent campaigns.
The flavour graveyard
Understanding their audience and just how passionate customers can be about their favourite flavour ice creams, Ben & Jerry’s launched their flavour graveyard stunt, a place where they honour all of the discontinued flavours.
The brand built the graveyard at one of their factories, and also a virtual page on their site where visitors can ‘mourn their chunks and swirls, and keep their memories alive’. Seems daft? Well, the page ranks top for ‘discontinued ice cream’, a term that gets 350 searches and sees hundreds of visitors going to the site.
The brand even allows customers to submit flavours they’d like to see resurrected, helping to engage customers and gain valuable feedback.
Key takeaway: It doesn’t always have to be the biggest or most serious campaign to drive great engagement.
Free cone day
What could be considered a more traditional marketing campaign, one that actually promotes their brand and product, is Ben & Jerry’s ‘Free Cone Day’. Celebrated on the 8th of April every year, the brand gives out free scoops of their ice cream for 8 hours of the day. Why? Well, the brand says it’s their way of giving back to their customers, who they’d be nothing without. Sounds nice, but also let’s be honest, it gets people tasting their products, talking about the brand, and more than likely brings people back for more.
This event has been running since 1979, but as time has gone on, the number of stores participating in the event has declined, with only 5 UK stores taking part in 2025. Whilst stores are declining to take part, it seems users are more keen to search for the event, with Google Trends showing a 77% increase in searches in the last year. #FreeConeDay also has over 74,000 Instagram posts with brands, franchises and customers sharing content.
Key takeaway: Events can be a great brand-building exercise that enables you to connect with your audience, raise awareness and gain lots of helpful user-generated content.
Netflix and chill’d
Launched at the start of 2020, Ben & Jerry’s partnered with popular streaming service Netflix to create an original campaign and flavour. The partnership was perfect, watch your favourite shows with your favourite ice cream brand. To celebrate the launch, the brand shared the following video, which has gained over 96,000 views. The brand’s Instagram post at the time also gained over 20,000 likes, and the product is still available to buy 5 years later. The campaign also saw the brand launch a series of online interactive elements, including a quiz that paired what users were watching with the ideal flavour.
Key takeaway: Brand partnerships are a great way to reach new audiences and combine platforms. Just make sure the partnership makes sense to your audience and the brand you’re joining forces with has similar values and mission.
“Make Some Motherchunkin’ Change!
Surprisingly, Ben & Jerry’s first ad campaign in nearly a decade isn’t about ice cream, it’s about raising awareness and making a difference to issues such as climate change, racism and sexuality. With clever wording, they tie it back to who they are as a brand, such as with their video titled ‘Progress comes in different flavours’, but this isn’t about selling ice cream, it’s about much more.
Interestingly, the video has gained over 2.7 million views; however, looking through the comments, there are a lot more people who are stating how an ice cream brand shouldn’t be getting involved with these sorts of matters and calling for activists, with one comment even stating they thought the advert was ‘satire’. One thing is for sure: it got people talking, and essentially, that is what marketing is.
Key takeaway: Ensure your campaigns are on brand and stay true to your values. They don’t always have to be driving sales, but you should also be prepared to be told ‘stay in your lane’.
In cone-clusion
(Sorry, but I couldn’t resist). It’s clear to see that whilst Ben & Jerry’s might be dividing opinions on their campaigns, they are engaging audiences and still growing as a business. What’s really interesting to consider is that a lot of the campaigns Ben & Jerry’s run aren’t about directly growing ice cream sales and revenue. Now this is a risky strategy as ultimately, sales and revenue are what’s needed to drive growth.
However, we know the brand is growing, so perhaps their brand awareness is just so powerful, or maybe they’ve created a product which is just so great, consumers continue to buy. I think ultimately you can’t deny Ben & Jerry’s passion for what they believe in, and staying so true to this in their brand, messaging, and everything they do, makes it really clear to the customer who they are. So, at the end of the day, if you want some ice cream and you’re swayed by delicious flavours and colourful packaging, knowing that you’re buying from a brand that does good is an added bonus.
If you’re struggling with creating campaigns that are making an impact on your business, then it’s probably time to review your brand and strategy. This is something that our team can help with. We have years of experience supporting B2B and B2C businesses with campaigns that grow their profitability and businesses. Get in touch with us today to start your growth journey.
