Ben & Jerry’s doesn’t play the game like anyone else. If a marketing activity is not a mad, topsy-turvy kind of thing, chockful of surprises, it’s not a Ben & Jerry’s campaign. So when Ben & Jerry’s invited pitches for a seeding package for two new [ice-cream / cookie-dough] flavours, we spun the dial and twisted a stack of ideas.
Our winning concept, the Twisted Merry Dough Round, had all the hallmarks of a chaotic Ben & Jerry’s bundle of fun. It was a spin-the-dial, turn-the-cards, play-with-your-food sort of game that created instant winners and losers. If you won, you earned more ice cream and cookie dough; if you lost, you went hungry for a round. What could be more achingly competitive than a chance to scoff more ice cream at your friends’ expense?
The brief behind this spoon-fed frivolity was deadly serious. Ben & Jerry’s wanted to gain some media traction for its two new flavours, Rain-dough and Dough-ble Chocolate. / Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chip. The vehicle would be a seeding package with a low environmental impact, and the recipients would be customers, not influencers. So, we worked with Ben & Jerry’s to turn our game into a wildly playful night in with family or friends. With game-play instructions such as “Take 3 chunks and try to juggle them for 10 seconds”, chaos was guaranteed. In another neat, suspense-building twist, loyal fans could sign up for a chance to win one of the limited-edition games.
To meet Ben & Jerry’s sustainability standards, we made the entire package out of recyclable cardboard. The exception was the set of four shimmering stainless-steel tools that slipped into a drawer beneath the game. But they were so gorgeous, recipients would reach for them every time they opened a fresh tub of ice cream. They had staying power.
Sure enough, this bundle of ice-cream-and-cookie-dough madness caught the eye of the press (“the most delicious board game to ever exist”, said HeatWorld) and sparked a frenzy of summer ice-cream slurping. And the game’s not over. We’re working with Ben & Jerry’s on other wonderful projects.
Twisted Merry Dough Round
