Excerpt from a real-life conversation held at Magneto last week:

Account Coordinator: So…how do you feel about Ben & Jerry’s?
Creative Director: As in the brand? Their marketing? The ice cream itself?
Account Coordinator: All of that. But let’s start with the ice cream.
Creative Director: I like it. Why?
Account Coordinator: So it’s cool if they bring us free ice cream?
Creative Director: Wait, what? Why?!

Ben and Jerry’s has been traveling both the east and west coasts in its Scoop Trucks delivering free ice cream to local businesses and events this summer. In Portland from July 18 to August 14, the campaign serves to promote the new line of frozen Greek yogurt, as well as to create Portland’s own flavor of ice cream to be released on August 10.

So how did Magneto cash in on the free ice cream deal? It all started with a tweet.

Ben and Jerry’s has done a fantastic job of leveraging social media to its advantage. To request ice cream is simple – just ask via Twitter, mentioning the west coast Scoop Truck’s Twitter handle and the hashtag #OMGFreeBenJerrys.

Magneto put its mascot, Buzz Winkle, to good use and shortly thereafter, Dan and Janna of Ben & Jerry’s pulled up in the Scoop Truck with Banana Peanut Butter, Raspberry Fudge Chunk and Liz Lemon.

Ben & Jerry’s checks in to each location on Foursquare and takes pictures of each visit, then shares them on Twitter. The campaign is successful not only because of the social media savvy involved, but also the essence of any great marketing strategy: make friends. Dan and Janna were more than happy to hang out with us and encouraged us to invite the whole building down for a Friday afternoon pick-me-up.

As a result, our freezer is filled with frozen Greek yogurt, Magneto became the most popular people in the building and we participated in what we’ll call “field research.” Great ice cream, great marketing. Check out some photos below.

 

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