What Ice Cream Companies Teach Us About Humanizing Brands

Brands can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines or hide behind a corporate voice.

 Now more than ever, brands need to showcase what makes them human and weigh in on crucial societal issues ranging from racial justice to economic justice to healthcare justice to environmental justice. 

As I explain in my book, The End of Marketing, if brands want their marketing to be effective in this new decade, even when the world seems a little calmer, they need to take steps like:

• Showcase the employees and customers that compose your brand
• Communicate on social media as you would in real-life conversations
• Create spaces to foster community rather than seeing everything as pure sales channels

What does that look like in practicality?

Take cues from these ice cream brands, showing us how you can step outside talking about your products:

• Ben & Jerry’s: The brand has long been an advocate for important societal issues, with its “We Must Dismantle White Supremacy” letter a powerful recent example.
• Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams: In addition to showcasing customer-driven content, the brand’s “Letter To Columbus City Council in Support of Resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis” highlights how the brand stands for more than just selling ice cream.
• NadaMoo!: This brand has also clearly put out messages supporting racial justice, and on a lighter note, the brand has also showcased a human side and organically tapped into a social media trend with their marketing director’s version of the Toddler Challenge. 

Now is not the time to use tired brand messaging. Be human.

Buy Your Copy of The End of Marketing, one of the top Amazon sellers among Business Marketing books, on sale now for $12.59.

Stay safe,

Carlos Gil

Now more than ever, brands need to showcase what makes them human and weigh in on crucial societal issues ranging from racial justice to economic justice to healthcare justice to environmental justice.

As I explain in my book, The End of Marketing, if brands want their marketing to be effective in this new decade, even when the world seems a little calmer, they need to take steps like:

• Showcase the employees and customers that compose your brand
• Communicate on social media as you would in real-life conversations
• Create spaces to foster community rather than seeing everything as pure sales channels

What does that look like in practicality?

Take cues from these ice cream brands, showing us how you can step outside talking about your products:

• Ben & Jerry’s: The brand has long been an advocate for important societal issues, with its “We Must Dismantle White Supremacy” letter a powerful recent example.
• Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams: In addition to showcasing customer-driven content, the brand’s “Letter To Columbus City Council in Support of Resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis” highlights how the brand stands for more than just selling ice cream.
• NadaMoo!: This brand has also clearly put out messages supporting racial justice, and on a lighter note, the brand has also showcased a human side and organically tapped into a social media trend with their marketing director’s version of the Toddler Challenge.

Now is not the time to use tired brand messaging. Be human.

Buy Your Copy of The End of Marketing One of the top Amazon sellers among Business Marketing books, on sale now for $12.59.

Stay safe,

Carlos Gil