How Ben & Jerry and Häagen-Dazs use different strategies in communicating their brand’s values?

Every single year since 1979, Ben & Jerry organizes " free cone day " (the day of giving free cone). The manufacturer proposes a free cone which is one of the symbolic operations of the brand known for its social commitment, its identity in the shape of cow and its delicious names of recipes: toffy Chew Chew, Chunky Monkey or Cherry Garcia in homage to Jerry Garcia, the deceased singer of the Grateful Dead. Ben & Jerry engagement is based on the principle of “business has a responsibility to give back to the community”. This day is also a way for Ben & Jerry to communicate on its brand’s values.
For Häagen-Dazs, using brand communications by creating Shared Value messages is a way to give consumers a reason to trust and enjoy its products and to reflect and enhance the brand’s essence. This is a part of a strategic, long-term approach and not a one-off promotional initiative.
Häagen-Dazs’ for example communicates in the support they give for honey bee research. In February 2008, a marketing and awareness campaign including on-pack messaging, television commercials, an interactive website and employee education was developed to highlight the plight of the bees. Häagen-Dazs’ campaign has earned several distinguished marketing awards.

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Although Haagen Dazs and Ben and Jerry's sell the same product and they are strong competitors, their positioning in the market is so different and this is the key for their differentiation. Having drawn their profiles and their different personalities in our previous articles, we want from you to have a last taste of them .......

And now knowing everything about your favorite brands, it is time for a real trial! Enjoy it!!!!

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For understanding more Ben & Jerry’s  and Häagen Dazs customers, we decided to run a blind test among some of them. Out of this test we want to analyze which brand is our customers’ favorite and  if their choice reflects  in the blind testing.

Procedure:

1.     We asked all the persons that did the blind testing, what is their favorite ice cream brand.

2.     We asked them to try both ice creams without telling them which was which brand. // Note: We used the Vanilla and cookie dough  flavor because it’s a flavor that is present in both ice-cream brands, so it would be easy to compare.

3.     The testers got to choose the brand they liked the most just by its taste.

We made the blind test in 20 volunteers. When we first asked them, before trying the ice-cream, they ALL said they prefer the Häagen Dazs Ice-cream rather than any other. Well, we decided to test their loyalty to the brand. Take a look at one of the results.

The results were a little unexpected. Out of 20 blind testers, 13 still preferred Häagen Dazs ice-cream. However, 7 of them fell in love with Ben & Jerry’s Flavor!!!  This means 7 persons changed their preference in brand (from Häagen Dazs to Ben & Jerrys) just by taste.

How to explain these results?? Why is it that even thought Ben & jerry’s flavor may be better to some people, still when asked, they would prefer Häagen Dazs?

For sure, our customers are more influenced  by Häagen Dazs branding strategy, which is a mind-share branding strategy. Häagen Dazs tries to imprint  on his brand several attributes like, prestige, luxury, romanticism (through his advertising campaign) and also sensuality.  This is a totally different strategy from Ben & Jerry’s who goes out to the market with a cultural branding strategy, meaning the company has a complete story and culture for the brand and lets its customers to identify with it. For Ben & Jerry’s the strategy is transparency, simplicity, being “down to earth” and using this Back to the Land concept that is the base of their ideology.   As you see, two very opposite strategies.

What we can conclude out of this is, that is not only favor that matters to customers. Not at all, it is more than that. What matters is that the customer can identify himself with the values that the brand is exposing to the market. In this case our sample market is very much identified with the luxury, and prestige Häagen Dazs promotes than with the simple and free spirited values of Ben & Jerry’s.  So…. Love you blindly??? Maybe not… 

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What is in the consumer’s mind when they think about their favorite ice-cream?  What matters to them? And what motivates them or demotivates them to buy more? In our opinion, there’s no better way to find out than to look through the net to see if we could find some blogs of people commenting about these brands.  It turns out that we DID find several blogs!!  This is amazing because a blog is the ultimate expression of loyalty, once you have a group of people opening a blog just to talk about your brand, it means you must have done something good. In fact, Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen Dazs have done many correct things in order to stay in their customer’s minds and preferences. This is why now they can proudly look at the communities formed around their brand, and read their customer’s thoughts , likes and dislikes thorough the internet. What else could B&J and Haagen Dazs ask for?  Having a group of people passionate about your brand, interacting as a community just because of your brand, can bring them many advantages, one of them “Publicity” and that is the case of some blogs we saw in which Haagen Dazs actually interacts with the community and gives them a special edition Ice-cream cake all they had to do is register and answer some questions. Anyway, here we wrote some of the quotes we found in several blogs on both brands so that you can understand how passionate people can get about these brands.

We have Carolyn Jung saying in his blog “Food Gal”[1] “If it’s summer, it must be time for new Häagen-Dazs flavors”. This comment is followed by a review of the new season’s flavors that will be offered by the brand. If you take a look to the full post, you will see that it didn’t go unnoticed, as we can read the thread of comments by the followers (We could say, the Häagen Dazs community), expressing their love for the new flavors. 

Somewhere else in the net, we found Eyder Peralta commenting on the new flavor of Ben & Jerry’s (scheweddy balls) [2]; “Being a Cherry Garcia guy myself, I appreciate some nuance in my ice cream, a bit of tartness to tame the sweetness of the ice cream. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no prude, but the flavor — like the name suggests — was missing a bit of delicacy.”. There are two important points on Eyder Peralta’s post, he is identifying himself with a Ben & Jerry’s flavor. We don’t care what is the Cherry Garcia flavor to him, but to Eyder is clear and it is important, because this means he has bonded to the brand. Now, he has got an emotional link to the brand, which will make him a loyal customer.

Adapting to the new marketing was of communication, such as blogs or facebook is an essential part for boosting your brand’s community.  It means for the brand to take new risks, open different channels of communication and increase the interaction with their consumers. We have a clear example with what Häagen-Dazs did together with “Sugarscape”[3] in the UK. Here Häzgen Dazs made a partnership with the author of the blog and agreed to give the blog followers a free sample of their exclusive and special edition of “Mango Fleur de Glace” which is a cake and ice-cream at the same time. This is the quote of the blog:

 “The limited edition Häagen-Dazs ‘gâteau glacé’ has been designed by world renowned Dutch designer Kiki van Eijk. As pleasing to the palate as it is to the eye, Kiki’s beautiful ‘Mango Fleur de Glacé’ is a deliciously unique combination of mango sorbet, passion fruit coulis, macadamia nut brittle and hazelnut biscuit”. “Fortunately we've teamed up with Häagen-Dazs to give away one of these cakes to one extremely lucky winner!”

We also have traditions; the best way to prove there is a real link between the consumer and your brand is when both parts were able to create a tradition or a ritual that you know will be repeated. The best example we have is Ben & Jerry’s with the “Free Cone Day” started in 1978.

As Tracy Feger posted in her blog “United Way of Greater New Haven”[4] “On Tuesday April 12, 2011, all participating Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops world-wide celebrated a 32 year old tradition as they once again hosted free cone day. It is a tradition that has been repeated year after year, and that has lots of people waiting every year for this day to arrive."

As you can see, Ben & Jerrys’s and Haagen Dazs are in our customers’ hearts and minds. We can see that what matters to the customers is not only the flavor but also the way each brand manages itself, the names they give to their flavors, the way they express their values, how they pamper their customers with a free cone day, etc. It is all together that makes a customer become loyal and passionate about a brand, passionate enough to form communities about it.

[1] http://www.foodgal.com/2010/08/haagen-dazs-tempting-new-flavors/

[2]http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/09/07/140266537/yes-its-true-ben-jerrys-introduces-schweddy-balls-ice-cream-flavor

[3]http://www.sugarscape.com/main-topics/homepage/681087/win-limited-edition-h%C3%A4agendazs-

ice-cream-cake

[4] http://www.uwgnh.org/blog/ben-jerrys-free-cone-day-event-0

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Let’s imagine that brands have their own personality. In order to analyze their personality, we need the Brand Identity Prism by Kapferer.

Now suppose if a product or a brand was a person, how would he look like? What traits would he have? Would he be warm, cold, aggressive, approachable or smart? The model has 6 dimensions on which a brand is to be evaluated. Let’s take the example of Movenpick.

Physique : Movenpick’s product is ice cream. Customers use it mainly as a dessert for taste satisfaction. 

Brand personality:Which is the consumers’personality and image? Movenpick’s consumers are adults that love gourmet temptations. They are engaged with this brand because of the offered quality. Its products’ luxury placement for instance can be also a further personality element

Brand Culture: As the name signifies, it talks about the culture of the brand and the values and the principles will follow from the culture. Movenpick has a global culture with three main values, the swiss perfection, the use of natural products and the passion for gastronomy.For all these values Movenpick is known to consumers.

Brand Relationships: No prizes for guessing what would this be about! Yes, after all every brand has to maintain strong relationships with customers by creating emotions and experiences. As we said to previous articles, Movenpick promises great experiences with only an ice cream! Marketing communication can also build strong relationships between customers and their favorite brand. Customers satisfaction is the final goal!

Customer Reflection: Every product is designed to satisfy some need of the intended customer base. A consumer has to be reflected in a way, which would show how he or she could image himself consuming a particular good. For example,while consuming Movenpick, customers feel sure about the quality and unique!

Customer Self Image: Consumers get attracted to those brands in which they see their own traits. So for the example of Movenpick, consumers that are not interested in gourmet flavors, they propably are not attracted by its products.

So taking all these aspects into account, we draw the brand’s personality! Considering the analysis for Movenpick and doing such analysis for Miko, Haagen Dazs and Ben and Jerry’s, we can notice the main differentiation elements. The physical aspect is common for all ice cream brands, but what about their personality?

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Movenpick philosophy

"Our business is driven by a continuing search for gastronomic perfection that dates back to the earliest history of the brand."

Movenpick based on the passion for gastronomy, use the finest ingredients in order to create qualitative products according to Swiss standards of perfection. Movenpick goal is to offer to consumers the best gourmet pleasure that is exceptional in the world of ice cream. Gastronomy is the guiding passion! The ingredients used are always selected carefully in a natural manner with no artificial colors or flavourings. Focusing not only on quality, but also on appearance Movenpick ice creams can satisfy taste and the same time be a treat for the eyes. Furthermore, its success concerns the recipes used and the way they follow them by paying attention to every detail and having a constant supervision. In addition, Movenpick history is strong enough in order to talk about a real tradition in Swiss ice cream market. The combination of the passion for gastronomy, the finest ingredients and of course the Swiss perfection lead to Movenpick’s art of ice cream! 

Movenpick as a brand

Movenpick undoubtetly focuses on attracting adults and more precisely gourmet lovers of ice cream. Its name and logo exhales an experience in ice cream market and makes clear its gourmet positioning. Its selective distribution increases the desire of its loyal customers and the same time its uniqueness. Movenpick is a brand for only few costumers that really love quality and perfection. This means that its positioning is totally different to Miko’s one, but really closed to Haagen Dazs’ positioning. 

Movenpick and advertising

Even for the advertising campaign Movenpick emphasizes on its three essential differentiation elements, the perfection of the ingredients used, the savoir-faire in combining favours and of course the obsession to present ice cream in the most perfect way! Through the past years, timeless authenticity, natural values, quality with creativity, healthy approach and adventures of the senses were some of Movenpick previous messages. ‘When reaching perfection becomes an obsession!’ is the logo for the new campaign. The famous fashion model Michelle Vawer is the new Movenpick’s person.

The inspiration from a diverse array of classical paintings with black and white colours giving an emphasis on Movenpick’s products is a successful trial for the promotion campaign. The placement of ice creams as a special luxury product is the main differentiation for Movenpick.

Movenpick and ice cream lovers

Movenpick is not only a brand that satisfies the essential needs for a tasty ice cream, but also offers a real experience! Choosing a Movenpick product, a customer knows in advance that has to pay more, but the quality is exceptional. So its customers do not look only for qualitative products, but also for real satisfaction. Movenpick creates strong emotions by promoting its ice creams as luxury products. This means that its customers are the same time loyal, something that is difficult to happen with such a product category. Furthermore, it is commonly accepted that ice cream brands with such a positioning are limited and this is translated in more profits for Movenpick. Trust can be easily gained just by mentioning ‘Swiss perfection’ in advertising campaigns. It is true that Movenpick focuses on few but loyal customers that are really engaged with its products just because they are unique!

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Miko belongs to Unilever Group. Unilever is the number one brand in the global ice cream market. The second place is for Nestle, but Unilever retains the lead and has by far the biggest footprint. We do not have to forget that both Miko and Ben & Jerry's belong to Unilever Group. This means for Unilever that a really strong differentiation for these two competitors is needed. After having analyzed in previous articles Ben & Jerry's world, let’s see how Miko approaches ice cream lovers!

         

Miko as a name !

This name is known only in France ! But how it can be known only in France and the same time be the leader of the global ice cream market? The answer is Unilever’s cross-cultural marketing strategies. Unilever Ice Cream operates under numerous different corporate names in different countries, including Wall's, Langnese, Algida, Ola and many others. This means that Miko represents just the french name of a wide variety of ice cream that appear in different countries with different names. But the most interesting thing is that you can find both in a Miko and Algida fridge, the same company's international blockbuster products, such as Magnum, Cornetto, Solero and Viennetta! Although, the regional businesses sell their products individually, they have gradually been aligned under the global "heartbrand" umbrella and logo. All Unilever’s brands do so except of Ben & Jerry's, which is characterized as a more premium brand. So this is how Unilever differentiate these two brands!

Miko as a logo !

  

Although Unilever has chosen different names, the logo used is the same in order to be recognizable everywhere! The colors used, red and white, are simple, but especially red is said to increase the feeling of being hungry. So the red background reminds to ice cream lovers when it is time for a Miko ice cream! Considering the logo as itself, it is obvious that the main target group of Miko is children or even more generally ice cream lovers that look for fun in Miko’s fridges.

Miko as a ‘good friend that follows you in everyday life’!

As it is mentioned before, Miko wants to attract both families with children and young people.Magnum and Carte d’or for instance attract more young lovers that look for more personal moment, while Solero and Viennetta offer happy moments to families with children. The advertisings that follow show us both Unilever’s approaches. Furthermore, It’s agressive price policy and the wide variety of its products gives us the opportunity to taste them as often as we wish, especially during summer either individually or collectively. The consumption of a Miko ice-cream satisfies our essential needs of freshening, having fun and the same time enjoying everyday life! Ice-creams are not seen as luxury, but as a really good friend that follows us in everyday life! This is the main differentiation between Miko and Ben & Jerry's within Unilever and Haagen Dazs in the global market.

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Who are the main competitors?

In the french ice cream market the competition is very strong, because there are numerous brands that offer to consumers many choices. Two important competitors of Ben & Jerry's and Haagen Dazs are Unilever Group’s subsidiary Cogesal Miko SA and Movenpick. Manufacturers sought to encourage French consumers to eat more ice cream, in line with per capita consumption levels in other European countries, such as Italy and Sweden. In terms of per capita consumption, the French only consumed 6l in 2010, in comparison with 10l in Northern Europe and 14l in the US. One of the paths to explore is to encourage year-round consumption of ice cream as an indulgence product, almost like yoghurt, for instance, in order to be less dependent on the weather in the spring and summer. Häagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry’s and Movenpick are upmarket brands that are related to pleasure moments such as an evening at the cinema, while Miko is a brand more related to more common moments such as a walk near the sea. This means that the differentiation between all these brands is clear and sometimes easily exploitable by the companies themselves.

In a rather fragmented competitive landscape, Unilever Group’s subsidiary Cogesal Miko SA was the leader in ice cream with a 28% value share in 2009, and till today is by far the fastest expanding company, at least in terms of actual value sales. This strength and dynamism can be attributed mainly to its wide portfolio of dynamic brands positioned in all price segments, from the popular, retro-style and value-for-money Carte d’Or brand to the premium Magnum brand. Fot this reason Miko is the number one brand in terms of sales in France!

• Miko’s portfolio consists of Carte d’Or, Magnum, Cornetto,Solero,Calippo and Viennetta, which are all well known brands that can satisfy many different tastes.
• Customers can find Miko ice cream in supermarkets,coffee shops,cinemas and restaurants.
• The main target is to seduce and delight the ice cream lovers every day, and being their favorite brand of ice, focusing on simplicity, authenticity and generosity. 
• Miko’s mission is to remind customers small daily moments of pleasure and make them happy.
• Miko can be found in more than 40 countries.

Mövenpick is a suisse brand which belongs to Nestlé from 2003. In France Movenpick is not a well known brand, but it is unique because of its brand positioning.

• For a customer is quite difficult to find a Movenpick ice cream because of its selective distribution. For instance, those who want to taste its products have to go to Paris or Lyon to be able to sample some only flavors. Even there, a Movenpick is available only in specific stores,such as the Monoprix.
• Mövenpick sell their product through five different sales channels: gastronomy, retailing, scooping stations, boutiques and impulse sales.
• Customers can choose its unique flavors anf of course the quantity they wish,so as to create an ideal for them ice cream.
• Mövenpick does not hesitate to use the term "gastronomie" and "la collection Mövenpick" to describe its ice creams and focuses on the desire to look for good and unique products.
• A large advertising campaign was launched with model Rachel Clark: elegant posters invite the consumer to identify with a flavor and therefore a product of the brand.
• Mövenpick two new lines have been highlighted: Create the range (refined recipes from a careful selection of quality ingredients) and the range of Yogurt Delight (marriage of flavors of yogurt and sorbet Switzerland, claiming low fat (4%)).
• Mövenpick ice cream is now available in more than 30 countries, and is produced in New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Norway, while the main production site is in Switzerland.

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Through our analysis of the marketing strategy of Haagen Dazs, it is clear that the two major competitors (Ben and Jerry's and Haagen Dazs) have focused primarily on Generation Y. This choice reflects the potential of this target. Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs used a strategy to focus on value rather than volume. The choice of this strategy can only be paid if the chosen target with a high purchasing power, filling the small amount sold by a very large margin in the product. To attract these targets, two diametrically opposed ways. Häagen-Dazs has made an image of luxury, trying to reach consumers directly with a strong purchasing power, those who would value high quality products and pay for it. Ben and Jerry's chose to give a picture of eco-responsible company, original and very trendy.

Their pricing strategies are quite similar, since the two brands operate at very high prices. Their products are sold in a similar capacity, and distribution policies are exactly the same. The real differentiation of the two brands is totally in their communications. Haagen Dazs chose to be a luxury segment and declines in all components of the mix (packaging, communication, distribution and price) and having a fully consistent with the heart of the targets, which is meant to be elitist and easy. Ben & Jerry's has chosen to operate on a paper based on the balance, the natural and the head, which is consistent with the type of target. One of the key success factors in the market for ice lies in the consistency of the mix and the power of communication to create an entire concept around the product.

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The market for premium ice-cream pot is dominated by companies Häagen Dazs and Ben& Jerry's. Each of these brands has each assets and means to attract the consumers. Both brands hold about the same number of stores: 850 Ben & Jerry's against 800 for Häagen Dazs. However, in terms of internationals presence, we can say that Häagen Dazs is far in front compared with Ben & Jerry’s; Häagen Dazs operates in 70 countries whereas Ben & jerry’s operate only in 35. In France, Häagen Dazs has 75 shops. The more spacious shop in the world for Häagen Dazs is located on the Champs-Elysées. In addition, Ben & Jerry's own only three stores, even if the brand is present in France since 2003.

The choice is wider at Häagen Dazs than Ben & Jerry's: 24 against 18 different aromas for Ben & Jerry's. Brands are at par for innovation with about one to two new aroma per year. In France, Häagen Dazs ice dominates the segment in pots. It claimed 71.5% market share in value against 14.7% for Ben & Jerry's. However, the two rivals have excellent performance. Ben & Jerry's sales rose 12.9% in 2009 and only 9% for Häagen Dazs. To acquire new customers; the two brands hold free tastings in the street and in stores and pay television advertising campaigns and web. For sponsoring, Ben & Jerry's managers chose to sponsor the “festival de cannes”. Howver, Häagen Dazs sustain its partnership with Roland Garros for 19 years, with two shops and small mobile vending carts.

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Have you wondered how did the Ben and Jerry’s founders came up with the “Free Cone Day” idea? Of course at first we all like to think that it’s part of the company’s social responsibility, which is what I thought at first. It turns out that it’s more than that. The free cone day, is comes from the core of Ben and Jerry’s ideology, it is an expression of their most deeply-rooted values.

First it’s important to clarify that Ben and Jerry’s was founded during the time in which president Reagan was ruling in the US. As a response to his government, a counter-stream of people appeared, people who were eager to believe in a more credible counterpoint of view than the one they had been having from their actual government. This movement was reflected in all aspect of American society, including food, and there’s where Ben and Jerry’s was born.

Along with this stream and ideology came the social movement called “Back to the Land Business” which refers to an alternative movement strategy for taking on the growing irrationality of big business. The concept is against modern industry, and in its very beginning tried to feed youth hippies for free with food grown at a communal farm. It was within this movement that Ben and Jerry’s founders based their business idea, when it came to values and cultural codes.

Coming back to the present, Ben and Jerry’s “Free Cone Day” is referring to their basic ideology of “Back to the Land Business” and is this what makes them different from the rest of the ice cream companies. Up to a certain point, through this ideology they manage to identify them selves with people who share their point of view of “ice cream for the people” , natural and simplistic design, very non industrialized. They have been targeting an ideology and a culture, rather than just customers and for them this has been key to success.

Source: HOLT, Douglas; CAMERON, Douglas. "Cultural Strategy", Oxford 2010.

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Ben & Jerry's is a values-driven company that has become an icon . The dominant founder, Ben Cohen, is not an effective manager, but he brings creative marketing and product skills that have been important to the company's success. He also is controlling shareholder and the force behind the company's socially-minded culture. Ben & Jerry’s grew from a little local ice cream shop to a global brand and displayed a great of powerful branding in action. These are the marketing lessons of this company:
1. Have a story to tell, it is all about quality, local commitment and innovative/socially conscious ways to do business.
2. Stick to their principles. Ben & Jerry’s started out committed to certain core values and practices, and as they’ve grown (and even been bought by Unilever to aid the global expansion), they’ve stuck with them. B&J is committed to a social mission statement that should guide the way the company and the brand interact with the world. Their corporate social responsibility includes using Fair Trade certified ingredients. Fair-trade sourcing will be introduced across the entire range in Europe by the end of 2011, helping farmers to receive a living wage, work under ethical conditions and invest in their communities and businesses.
“Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else,” said Jerry Greenfield, one half of the brand’s founding team.

3. Ben and Jerry realized, as they grew, that they weren’t the right people to scale the business. So they put the right people in place and continued to infuse the company with the unique perspectives that set it apart. Now, there are hundreds of employees and millions of customers carrying on the Ben & Jerry tradition.
(Source: Harvard Business School, http://hbr.org/product/ben-jerry-s-homemade-ice-cream-inc-keeping-the-mis/an/392025-PDF-ENG?Ntt=ben%2520%2526%2520jerry)

Reuben Mattus, a young entrepreneur with a passion for quality and a vision for creating the finest ice cream, started by solding fruit ice and ice cream pops from a horse-drawn wagon on the streets of New York. To produce the finest ice cream, he built a company and named it Häagen-Dazs. The choice of this brand name is explained by the willingness to evoke memories of the old-world European traditions of quality and fine craftsmanship.
The Häagen-Dazs brand quickly developed and its early success was created by word of mouth and praise. It was an immediate success, and its popularity led to a rapid expansion of Häagen-Dazs across the country then internationally.
The same dedication to perfection and high standards that made the Häagen-Dazs brand an icon continue to hold true today. The Häagen-Dazs brand philosophy is unchanged – use the finest, all-natural ingredients and craft them into the perfect balance of flavor and texture.
(source: Häagen-Dazs website)
The success of these two brands is explained by The mind-share and emotional /cultural branding paradigms claim that they embedded in the minds of their consumers.

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The global ice cream industry is large and growing, with yet more opportunities for market
development by key players and participants – including processors, equipment suppliers,
ingredient suppliers, packaging companies, international traders and retailers.
Some figures about the global ice cream market:

• The global ice cream market grew by 3.5% in 2009 to reach a value of $48,668.4 million.
• In 2014, the global ice cream market is forecast to have a value of $58,887.4 million, an increase of 21% since 2009.
• The global ice cream market grew by 2.8% in 2009 to reach a volume of 11,511.5 million liters.
• In 2014, the global ice cream market is forecast to have a volume of 13,261.9 million liters, an increase of 15.2% since 2009.
• Take-home ice cream is the largest segment of the global ice cream market, accounting for 39.7% of the market's total value.
• Europe accounts for 44% of the global ice cream market value.
• Unilever is the leading player in the global ice cream market, generating a 16.6% share of the market's value. (source: Datamonitor 2011)

Segmentation is designed by sizes and distribution mode:
Size: Sticks, cones, jars
Distribution: GMS, takeaway
Here are some brands competing in the Ice cream global market:

Brand	Global Brand Principal
Magnum, carte d’or, vinetta, cornet, solero, Miko…	Unilever
La laitière, Gervais (extrême), mystère…	Nestlé
HäagenDazs	General Mills
Mars	Mars, Inc
Flipi	Rolland

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Positioning and Target

Häagen-Dazs tagets a niche market segment with high income. Häagen-Dazs is positionned with a strong differentiation regarding its competitors, and this was strengthened by the identification of the product in the category of luxury items. The brand is classified in the premium quality ice cream without coloring agents nor additives, with ingredients flavored naturally (Vanilla of Madagascar, Belgian chocolate, strawberries), selected inclusions (pecan nut, fresh grilled almonds, cookies of California), specific know-how and obsession of the quality.

Product policy

• brand name and product name are the same
• packaging easily recognizable
• Häagen Dazs acts on three segments: the jars of 500ml, the mini-jars of 100ml and the huge sticks.
• Häagen Dazs has introduced innovation into its products policy: flavors that differentiate the brand from its competitors.

Price policy

• Coherent with its positioning as a luxury ice cream
• Price 2 - 3 times more expensive than competitors
• Price in France twice the one of the USA

Distribution policy

• Exclusive shops: Stores, tea lounge
• Hypermarkets
• Partnerships: Restaurants, coffee shops, airlines, entertainment companies (Disneyland)

Communication policy

• Sponsorship in big events: Roland Garros, Cannes festival, Trophy Lancôme
• Use of fashion principles in advertisements (collection spring and summer): coherence with luxury brand positioning

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Häagen-Dazs is an Amerian Brand belonging to General Mills and has an International presence (more than 70 countries worldwide).

Internal Analysis of the brand:

SWOT

Strengths - Pioneer - Established image - Capacity of innovation - Well implanted distribution channels	Weaknesses - Loyalty to luxury image - Seasonal product
Opportunities - Diversify the flavors - Market of the low-fat - Other products development	Threats -Competition -Segmented market

Key success Factors: (source Young & Rubicam)

The graph provides many important information about the ranking and the key success factors of each of the three competing brand Ben & jerry’s, Häagen-Dazs and Carte d’or. The graph shows that Ben & jerry’s is highly ranked in being independent, social, carefree, charming and simple. Carte d’or is highly ranked in high performance and charming as a brand while Häagen-Dazs is seen as a leader with high performance. The very interesting part of this graph is that the three brands are sharing the same key success factor (refer to the green circle): glamorous, gaining in popularity, sensuous, trendy, glamorous and worth more.

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