Case Study of Ben & Jerry’s

...

They have created an annual event called ‘Free Corn Day’, where they give Ice Cream cones free for all consumers. This event is used to make aware the customers about the new flavors of Ben & Jerry’s and to reach new Ice Cream lovers with their quality products and unmatchable taste.

Q2. Why Ben & Jerry has not taken steps to diversify into other business lines in spite of its strong financial and brand positions (it’s only ice cream)

Ben & Jerry’s is a very popular brand around the world for rich premium Ice Cream products. Which means people see Ice Cream through Ben & Jerry’s. The company’s core competence is the taste and the quality of their premium Ice Cream, where they cannot divert from it and start a totally new business.

Also Ben & Jerry’s is currently a subsidiary of Unilever, a much diversified multinational business brand. Being under Unilever’s name, Ben & Jerry’s may have not the capability to diversify to another business while Unilever is already have thousands of brands and products.

There can be a huge disadvantage occur to Ben & Jerry’s by diversifying where they may lose their attention towards their prime product, Ice Cream. Also their brand reputation is their quality products and unmatchable taste of Ice Cream. But with a product diversification under Ben & Jerry’s name would create a threat to that brand loyalty.

Also the fact that a new investment would cost a fortune, while investing in their core business would be rather effective. This reason could be another key for Ben & Jerry’s to not to enter another product market, where the risks associated with new products are very high including the entry barriers, existing market competition, etc compared to a stable and known product in the market.

Q3. Would you recommend dual brand targeting for Ben and Jerry (Ex: Anchor and Raththi) Why or Why not?

Yes, I would recommend Ben & Jerry to implement duel brand targeting strategy.

Because Ben & Jerry’s core competence is Ice Cream manufacturing and they have plenty of experience of it. So they know how to create another Ice Cream product without harming the Ben & Jerry reputation whereas capturing the huge potential Ice Cream lovers market, whom are seeking for an affordable Ice Creams.

Ben & Jerry already have skills, technologies, market data, statistics, production recipes, consumer feedbacks, suppliers and distributors. So the investment for the new product would be minimum compared to a diversified new product, because it is a known market and known customer base.

Q4. Recommend one marketing strategy for Ben & Jerry which is not found in the case text

Ben & Jerry’s have wide range of Ice Cream products, Cakes, Smoothies, Frozen Yogurt and Sorbet products. So they could follow a strategy to introduce dessert dishes/meals using Ben & Jerry products, as a dessert cocktail.

Which means Ben & Jerry would target different segments in the Ice Cream lover’s market and introduce new menus using their existing product. As an example, they could introduce a Honeymoon dish using Ben & Jerry Choco Love, Crumbles, Chocolate Syrup and Strawberries.

This would create a new trend or a demand for Ben & Jerry’s products as the new dessert dishes/cocktails contain Ben & Jerry’s products.