Why is this work relevant for Media?

The cross-collaboration campaign had media at the heart of the marketing strategy, utilizing paid media to drive awareness, education, and action to fans across a variety of different platforms from .com, Outdoor and Social Media. The media element featured the highest spend ($104K), across all parties.

Background

Ben & Jerry’s (B&J) have a deep-rooted history in activism, using their platform and voice to inspire positive social policy change. Historically, B&J have taken a bold position on issues including marriage equality, fighting coal mines, freezing fossil fuels and advocating for racial equality. The goal is to use connections with fans to build strategic activism campaigns that advance systemic, progressive social change. Why? B&J was founded on sustainable values linked to economic and social prosperity. So B&J wanted to take it up a notch by creating the ‘Unfudge our Future’ campaign, after the devastating Australian bushfires, which touched the hearts and minds of Australians. The objective was as audacious as the government’s lack-of-action on climate change! This informed our bold target of 10,000 sign-ups to demand a green economic future! We also needed to drive awareness of our ‘Unfudge our Future’ pint, with proceeds going to 350.org and ClimateCouncil.org.au.!

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

In 2020, a poll conducted by YouGov after the bushfire crisis found a massive 79% were concerned about climate change! However, in March the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Australians into lockdown. People were struggling to make ends meet and the news cycle had shifted to this new, global pandemic. How could we convince people that now was the right time to future-proof, when the present was so uncertain? But we needed to project hope during the pandemic, and secondly, stay true to our roots in activism. We had to show people, now more than ever, that investing in renewables is not only economically viable, but crucial to rebuilding Australia in a way that will benefit future generations. COVID further highlighted the importance of staying positive and hopeful.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Before we embarked on our powerful journey, we referred to the B&J ‘theory of change’ - a 3-pronged approach to drive action on important issues. The framework uses a social-led approach, supported by our activism, owned channels (scoop stores and .com) to deliver depth/breadth of messaging! However with COVID-19 restrictions, we were in for a hard sell as traditional activism wasn't possible, we had to pivot and cause disruption in a COVID-safe way. Our strategy was now… Love the pint, love the planet! We used our theory of change to launch a new non-dairy pint to deliver depth of messaging to core B&J fans, who we know were activists, with the promise of a delicious new flavour with eco-friendly credentials. This was supported by 40 scoop stores, transformed into climate information stations that reached broader Ice Cream fans when restrictions had eased.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The campaign was a true collaboration to educate Australians and create a sense of urgency to act now. Execution of our love the pint, love the planet strategy contained 3 phases: 1. Create impact to capture the attention of politicians and the public when parliament returned – send stunt pints to our politicians and place eco-friendly bike billboards outside of parliament! 2. Maintaining momentum by being where the conversations are happening – exclusive podcast coverage, extensive PR strategy and interviews with climate action spokespeople 3. Recruiting people into the cause through a paid media campaign focused on driving awareness, education and action through social media advertising, as well as using our website to drive fans to act using a Phone2Action form that sent a personalised email to our PM, treasurer, and energy minister, with a click of a button.

List the results (30% of vote)

We smashed our goal, delivering 11.4K signups to demand a greener economic future - 9.9k sign-ups from .com & social - 1.5k written sign-ups from B&J stores - Reached 4.6m fans through media and PR! The pint also became the top B&J Non-Dairy SKU during the campaign period that contributed to the highest penetration gains seen in the last few years (+170bps). Ben and Jerry themselves also appeared on prime-time Australian TV show “Have You Been Paying Attention” where they spoke about the initiative. This helped get our message in front of 700K more people! We also had Zali Steggall, an independent MP, advocate for our campaign. She is a key voice that has tirelessly advocated for renewable energy revolution and climate justice. She has just introduced the most progressive federal climate bill the government has ever seen. Zali Steggall extended an invite to B&Js to discuss all things climate!

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

The Ben & Jerry’s “theory of change” gave us a purpose specific for our intended social policy change, that was even more relevant during a global pandemic, where we really needed to adapt our approach and strategy to be able to get Aussie voices heard during this climate change crisis. The “theory of change” gave us a fundamental grounding for our campaign that had worked in the past, but we needed to take elements of this strategy, build, and adapt. So our “love the pint, love the planet” strategy was born, where the product had an even bigger role in driving awareness, education and action to B&J fans! We are extremely thankful that we were able succeed in our goals, born from our theory of change.