Coming in from the cold

Häagen Dazs was responsible for creating the super premium sector for ice cream, but rivals have now gone beyond the luxury brand’s yardstick. Rufus Jay asks whether there is a way back

Luxury ice cream brand Häagen Dazs is taking a more experiential approach to its marketing in a bid to win back share from market leader Ben & Jerry’s. The General Mills-owned brand has appointed TBWA branded entertainment arm Stream to its UK advertising roster, mirroring a strategy pioneered by its rival (MW last week).

Häagen Dazs is thought to be briefing Stream to create a number of branded events and other ad-funded initiatives in a bid to reinvigorate the brand.

“Ice cream used to be just about soft scoop,” says Richard Oldham, a director at Value Engineers. “Häagen Dazs changed that. It was the first packaged goods brand to demonstrate that you could be super premium.”

Consultant Simon Esberger, a former Häagen Dazs marketer, says: “We decided that people weren’t going to be interested in ice cream,but they might be interested in indulgence. What we did with Bartle Bogle Hegarty was to market on sheer indulgence. We used the word pleasure extensively. The most noticeable thing was our advertising. But it was also about distribution and sponsorship.”

The BBH-created pleasure campaign hit TV screens in 1992 and used sex as a metaphor for sensual indulgence. The Häagen Dazs marketers also worked on distribution, signing deals to place fridges in Blockbuster and Dominoes outlets, and sponsored the Edinburgh festival.

But now, says Oldham, Häagen Dazs has become the “Stella Artois” of ice creams. “When it came into the market it created a sector, but this meant bigger volumes and mainstream positioning.”

According to Mintel, Unilever controls 39% of the ice cream market – worth £1.25bn in 2007 – while Ben & Jerry’s has a 5.2% market share and Häagen Dazs 4.2%.

However, Häagen Dazs is the fastest growing brand, with sales up 18.2% in 2007 against 3.2% for Ben & Jerry’s, helped by above-the-line advertising and “record levels” of penetration.

Mark Elderkin, marketing manager at General Mills, says that Häagen Dazs is performing well. “It’s been in growth for two years since the introduction of the longer lasting pleasure advertising, which first ran in 2006.”

But Oldham argues that Häagen Dazs has lost its edge, while Graham Hales, executive director at Interbrand, says that Häagen Dazs created a sector, but is now the yardstick others have innovated around. “It was a category buster. Now the whole market has moved into premium and rivals have innovated beyond Häagen Dazs,” he says.

Hales points to how Ben & Jerry’s has gained ground by portraying a more ethical, yet fun image. “Häagen Dazs is stuck. It went through a rite of passage, it broke a new category. But it has lost its way as it has grown and become more corporate.”

Oldham advises that Häagen Dazs must form a sharply defined proposition “like Ben & Jerry’s” and says the brand should go “back to basics”, such as looking at its flavours. “Ben & Jerry’s has more variation in flavour and less variations on a theme,” he says.

Hales thinks getting back to TV advertising is important, as it will get the brand noticed again, but warns that youth targeting is “worryingly formulaic”. He says many brands are targeting the young but that Häagen Dazs “needs to do it its way, not just what others are doing”.

Häagen Dazs has “great” brand equity, according to observers, and it must use this equity and innovative marketing to fight and win back the middle ground.

 

 

Timeline: Häagen Dazs 

1961 Häagen Dazs registered as a company 

1976 First US shop opens 

1982 International distribution begins 

1983 Häagen Dazs sold to Pilsbury 

1987 Häagen Dazs available in several European countries, including Britain 

2001 Pilsbury bought by General Mills.