By Erik Qualman
The newest flavor from Ben & Jerry’s is Social Media Mango-Tango. In an e-mail last week to their UK subscriber base Ben & Jerry’s indicated they would be focusing more on communication via social media. Instead of multiple e-mails to communicate with their ice cream lovers, they are focusing their efforts on the 1.3 million fans they have on Facebook & Twitter [@cherrygarcia has over 11,000 followers].
This has risen eyebrows across the marketing industry as Ben & Jerry’s is one of the first major brands to reduce e-mail in favor social media. Time will tell if this is a good move and if their US operations decide to take a similar tact. Speculation for the move centers on:
- Loyalists indicated they were tired of e-mails from B & J; hurting the brand vs. helping
- B & J needed to focus internal resources/reduce costs
- B & J wants all loyalists less digitally fragmented
- Gen Y & Z find e-mail passe
- Social Media success for B & J made this move possible
- Let the loyalists tell the story via social media rather than corporate
I don’t see this [aggressively limiting e-mail] becoming a trend in the foreseeable future for most brands, but for a select few they may follow Ben & Jerry’s UK lead. Below is the original e-mail and also a clarifying note from the PR Team in Vermont [don't jump off buildings we aren't getting rid of e-mail completely around the world!]. On a related note, if you haven’t tried the 7-layer coconut brownie ice cream, it is amazing. Oh, look at that, World of Mouth in action.
Sean Greenwood, B&J’s PR Director released this to help clear up any misunderstanding from the HubSpot post and any subsequent speculation [see above]:
“In general, I think it’s a bit of a misunderstanding. The announcement came from our UK team, who was basically sharing that they planned to reach out to their fans via social media moving forward. I think they wanted to alleviate any fears from fans who previously received a newsletter style email to think that they had somehow fallen off the list. I believe they’re still keeping email as a venue for special events/opportunities as they mentioned they might still reach out via email.
Again, this was a note from our UK team. I believe the rest of the Ben & Jerry’s folks around the globe (including us here at the HQ in Vermont who support the U.S. and the globe) are planning to continue to use: email, social media, text messaging, augmented reality, snail mail, vanilla guerrilla marketing, grassroots Social Mission endeavors, sky writers, deep-sea divers and of course… scoop trucks on the road.”
- Sean Greenwood, Ben & Jerry’s
[Source for Sean's comments are from Jim Ducharme's theemailguide.com]
It will be certainly interesting to see how this all plays out, in the meantime it’s definitely given us food for thought.
Three articles that go more in-depth on this:
SCOOP: Ben & Jerry’s responds to claims that they will drop email marketing by Jim Ducharme
Ben and Jerry’s Abandon Email, and their Fans by Charles Nicholls
HubSpot: Ben & Jerry’s Drops Email Marketing in Favor of Social Media by Brian Whalley
A big thank you for your post.Thanks Again.
What are you indicating, man? I know everyones got their own thoughts and opinions, but really? Listen, your weblog is interesting. I like the efforts you put into it, particularly with the vids and the pics. But, come on. Theres gotta be a better way to say this, a way that doesnt make it seem like everyone here is stupid!
Thanks, beautiful blog with great informational content. This is a really interesting and informative post.
Thanks very much for your intelligent post;this is the stuff that keeps me awake through my day. I have been searching around for this site after being referred to them from a colleague and was thrilled when I found it after searching for some time. Being a demanding blogger, I’m pleased to see others taking initivative and contributing to the community. I just wanted to comment to show my support for your post as it is very enticing, and many bloggers do not get admiration they deserve. I am sure I’ll drop by again and will send some of my friends.
you guy have the best homemade ice cream
You might want to read this post about Ben & Jerry’s strategy here…
http://felixvelarde.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-my-love-of-ben-jerrys-isnt-over.html
It seems like the great companies always “get it” doesn’t it Justin? Well said.
Great article. It’s only a matter of time before more and more companies follow in their footsteps. Social media is exploding right now and it’s important for businesses to realize that and then take advantage of it. Thanks for sharing!
Interesting, I just sent a final goodbye email to my list, recommending they follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
Sounds like you are a step ahead Paul!
This is the first article on this topic that makes sense. Others conveniently left out some relevant facts to suit their own agenda. Oh, the web!
Mitch:
Thanks for stopping by. I know that some of the facts were late to come in, so I had to include some of this news. My guess is many others will make adjustments today as well.
Cheers!
Erik
As usual, Eric, another timely post from you.
Last week I started reading Gary V’s book “Crush It” which deals with building your biz via SM and was thinking about whether we had reached the point where businesses would stop doing e-mail blasts in favor of SM platforms only.
Obviously, my question has been answered.
Bobbi-Jo:
Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you enjoyed the article. I also enjoyed @garyvee’s Crush It! It inspires. Best!
@equalman
I think it’s a pretty smart idea on their part to keep up with the changing trends. They would probably miss out on a huge internet audience by only doing emails.
They are definitely taking a leadership role in this area evologynow. Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks Justin for the kind words! I will enjoy watching, along with you, how this all transpires. Best!
equalman