Imagine finding a pint of ice cream with 75% fewer calories than Haagen Dazs and 50% more protein than Ben & Jerry’s. And it tastes great!
Halo Top is freezing out the competition in the race to challenge consumers to eat more ice cream. They use organic stevia, a plant native to Paraguay that has been sweetening foods for 200 years. And a sugar alcohol called Erythritol, a product found in pears and grapes. It doesn’t affect blood sugar nor creates bloating.
CEO Justin Woolverton says that although labeled as light ice cream, Halo Top fans indulge as if it was traditional ice cream, just without the guilt. After much trial and error, Justin wanted to solve a personal problem of being hyperglycemic yet loving frozen desserts. The first nine contract packers refused to work with him demonstrating how important persistence and tenacity is for every entrepreneur.
Justin built his marketing on word-of-mouth enhanced with paid ads through Facebook to reach a highly-targeted audience who wants flavor and indulgence, just not the calories.
His team had a very special voice that tells their story through social media and paid targeting online ads. Results have sales exceeding $65MM in 2016. With sponsored content messages, he can find a consumer who will seek out his product in local retailers.
Lead with your advantage
From a packaging perspective, each pint screams how many total calories are in a pint. Because consumers expect calorie counts twice, or three times, 240 calories seem like a dream come true.
Marketing Lessons
- Focus on a big message – 240 calories per pint
- Be consistent with your voice in all channels
- Leverage and enable customer’s willingness to share their discovery through social media
- Find a niche and shine a light on it
- Names matter – ask Halo about the halo effect
- Be tenacious and don’t quit.
- Visually stand out from the crowd so you are easy to find
The best marketing is when your customer tells their friend about your product. How are you enabling that to happen?
Do you feel frozen out of your category? Need a marketing edge? Let’s talk. I sell creativity by the pint. 919 720 0995 or jeffreylynnslater@gmail.com
Photo courtesy of Halo Top.
