Ben & Jerry's, thank you for surrendering

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Brand Overextension I read with great interest about another company forsaking email marketing – this time, ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s. Good. Thank you very much!

Why am I thanking them? Here’s the thing about marketing in a global digital economy: you’re not competing with your regular competitors. Ben & Jerry’s isn’t just competing with rival ice cream maker Friendly’s. Ben & Jerry’s is competing with me. They’re competing with you, too.

In the digital age, attention is the most prized commodity we can possibly have. Every message you receive has the potential to consume your attention for a split second or longer. A well-known, trusted brand like Ben & Jerry’s will automatically command more attention than a message from you or me. Think about that for a second. Ben & Jerry’s is known for doing lots of good things and for being generous. If there’s a message in your inbox with a free ice cream cone from them, chances are anything that you or I have to offer is probably going to pale in comparison.

Happily for us, they’ve put themselves out of the running for attention in the inbox, clearing space and attention for the rest of us, and so I thank them.

If you’re a competent marketer in the digital age, understand that you compete with everything and everyone for attention. Use every channel and avenue at your disposal, or risk losing share of mind with your prospects and customers.

Disclosure: I work for an email marketing company. My viewpoint had better be biased or I’m doing it wrong.

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Comments

17 responses to “Ben & Jerry's, thank you for surrendering”

July 16, 2010

Neville

Well played sir! How could anybody compete with free ice cream?

Reply
July 16, 2010

Eric Pratum

In a recent comment I made on Marcus Sheridan's blog, I responded to his idea that things like ValPak mailings are essentially garbage. They clog our mailboxes and reduce our overall ability or willingness to pay attention to mail in general. As you say, I think the same goes for most any medium. On Hubspot TV, Mike Volpe recently referenced a recent study that said that most people look at an email for only 2 seconds. I have to think that that's at least partially due to the preponderance of junk that makes it to our inboxes.

Having transitioned from for-profit to non-profit marketing not too long ago, I still find it fascinating how some nonprofits that people generally have a strong passion for (faith-based groups, animal care, etc) are sometimes able to cut through the noise by effectively speaking to constituent affinity, while others have to rely on public awareness swinging their way due to natural disasters, political events, etc.

Reply
July 16, 2010

Guest

Ben & Jerry’s do not realize it yet but they will still have email working in the back ground because when they target their Facebook fans it is an email that will be delivered to the user's in box to inform them of a new message from Ben & Jerry.

Ben & Jerry have not stopped using email, they are just using it in a different way to engage with their fans.

They will however miss out on many opportunities to segment their fan based list by state, zipcode and even ice cream flavors in order to engage with them. Let's look at some of the lost opportunity that will be experienced by Ben & Jerry

– Ben & Jerry can no longer be able to send coupons for a specific client's favorite ice cream

– Ben & Jerry can no longer invite clients to an event in a particular part of the country that is being sponsored by Ben & Jerry to drive goodwill within the community

– Ben & Jerry can no longer communicate the wonderful world of ice cream to clients residing in certain parts of the country that is having a heat wave.

– Ben & Jerry will also miss out engaging with their client's to wish them a happy birthday if they have that information in their database.

What Ben & Jerry fail to see is that they will still communicate with their fans on Facebook via email but not to the same extent or powerful ways that they could have with direct emails messages.

Ben & Jerry is missing out on a huge marketing opportunity to deliver the right message to the right person in order to drive sales results.

Their loss and our (professional email marketing industry) gain as pointed out by Christopher S. Penn.

Reply
July 16, 2010

Email marketing will no longer be used by Ben & Jerry | Marketing With Email

[…] this morning I read a blog post by Christopher S. Penn on Ben & Jerry decision to stop using email marketing and was going to leave a comment on his […]

Reply
July 16, 2010

Neville

Well played sir! How could anybody compete with free ice cream?

Reply
July 16, 2010

Eric Pratum

In a recent comment I made on Marcus Sheridan's blog, I responded to his idea that things like ValPak mailings are essentially garbage. They clog our mailboxes and reduce our overall ability or willingness to pay attention to mail in general. As you say, I think the same goes for most any medium. On Hubspot TV, Mike Volpe recently referenced a recent study that said that most people look at an email for only 2 seconds. I have to think that that's at least partially due to the preponderance of junk that makes it to our inboxes.

Having transitioned from for-profit to non-profit marketing not too long ago, I still find it fascinating how some nonprofits that people generally have a strong passion for (faith-based groups, animal care, etc) are sometimes able to cut through the noise by effectively speaking to constituent affinity, while others have to rely on public awareness swinging their way due to natural disasters, political events, etc.

Reply
July 16, 2010

billhanifin

Your post has to be tongue in cheek as Ben & Jerry's either is foolish to give up the digital channel or has substituted something else as an alternative, i.e. location based or mobile communications

Of course, they are a funky bunch in Burlington and have a history of forging their own path. Maybe there is a good story to be told. We should compare notes on press releases and post what we find here.

I'm on the case!

Reply
July 16, 2010

Guest

Ben & Jerry’s do not realize it yet but they will still have email working in the back ground because when they target their Facebook fans it is an email that will be delivered to the user's in box to inform them of a new message from Ben & Jerry.

Ben & Jerry have not stopped using email, they are just using it in a different way to engage with their fans.

They will however miss out on many opportunities to segment their fan based list by state, zipcode and even ice cream flavors in order to engage with them. Let's look at some of the lost opportunity that will be experienced by Ben & Jerry

– Ben & Jerry can no longer be able to send coupons for a specific client's favorite ice cream

– Ben & Jerry can no longer invite clients to an event in a particular part of the country that is being sponsored by Ben & Jerry to drive goodwill within the community

– Ben & Jerry can no longer communicate the wonderful world of ice cream to clients residing in certain parts of the country that is having a heat wave.

– Ben & Jerry will also miss out engaging with their client's to wish them a happy birthday if they have that information in their database.

What Ben & Jerry fail to see is that they will still communicate with their fans on Facebook via email but not to the same extent or powerful ways that they could have with direct emails messages.

Ben & Jerry is missing out on a huge marketing opportunity to deliver the right message to the right person in order to drive sales results.

Their loss and our (professional email marketing industry) gain as pointed out by Christopher S. Penn.

Reply
July 16, 2010

Dr. Z

I was going to write a comment before but my words became so passionate that I had to write my own post about Ben & Jerry's decision as well as include a few of my own thoughts and opinions on the topic.

Hope you don't mind but I linked to this blog post as well should someone like to read more about what you wrote.

Great comments Chris as always.

Reply
July 16, 2010

billhanifin

Your post has to be tongue in cheek as Ben & Jerry's either is foolish to give up the digital channel or has substituted something else as an alternative, i.e. location based or mobile communications

Of course, they are a funky bunch in Burlington and have a history of forging their own path. Maybe there is a good story to be told. We should compare notes on press releases and post what we find here.

I'm on the case!

Reply
July 19, 2010

jlbraaten

Great points, Chris. Who wouldn't want a Chubby Hubby freebie? Another example of what you're talking about can be seen in your awesome podcast, Marketing Over Coffee. You realize that not everyone has the chance to read each blog post so you've created a audio medium to get in front of your followers as well. You didn't know that I only listen to podcasts at the gym, but you've been reaping the benefits for over a year now.

Reply
July 19, 2010

larrylawfer

This is lemon ice out of the lemons that the potential loss of business from Ben and Jerry's might leave. It is also a great point about room for others. I wonder what their strategy is to communicate?

Reply
July 19, 2010

jlbraaten

Great points, Chris. Who wouldn’t want a Chubby Hubby freebie? Another example of what you’re talking about can be seen in your awesome podcast, Marketing Over Coffee. You realize that not everyone has the chance to read each blog post so you’ve created a audio medium to get in front of your followers as well. You didn’t know that I only listen to podcasts at the gym, but you’ve been reaping the benefits for over a year now.

Reply
July 19, 2010

jlbraaten

Great points, Chris. Who wouldn't want a Chubby Hubby freebie? Another example of what you're talking about can be seen in your awesome podcast, Marketing Over Coffee. You realize that not everyone has the chance to read each blog post so you've created a audio medium to get in front of your followers as well. You didn't know that I only listen to podcasts at the gym, but you've been reaping the benefits for over a year now.

Reply
July 19, 2010

larrylawfer

This is lemon ice out of the lemons that the potential loss of business from Ben and Jerry’s might leave. It is also a great point about room for others. I wonder what their strategy is to communicate?

Reply
July 19, 2010

larrylawfer

This is lemon ice out of the lemons that the potential loss of business from Ben and Jerry's might leave. It is also a great point about room for others. I wonder what their strategy is to communicate?

Reply
August 23, 2010

Blue Ocean Strategy for B2B Marketing | B2Bento

[…] since they determined that it’s not working for them. Ben & Jerry’s, on the other hand, stopped sending out email newsletters because they felt like it was not the way to go. Another example is Apple, who has never actively […]

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