SINGAPORE – R/GA Singapore helped support iconic ice cream brand, Ben & Jerry’s, celebrate its eighth Free Cone Day by developing a social media response lab that generated real-time, reactive social content during the day. As Ben and Jerry’s official social media agency, R/GA Singapore worked with the brand to bring contextually relevant local content to consumers during the Free Cone Day – an event that saw almost 50,000 scoops of ice cream served up to loyal fans in Singapore.
Free Cone Day is a way for Ben and Jerry’s to celebrate its anniversary with fans of the brand and say thanks for another year of support. Each year, each person who queues at selected participating Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop gets one free scoop of ice cream. R/GA Singapore, the appointed social media agency for Ben and Jerry’s earlier this year wanted to help make this event a much more social and digital occasion, and developed the social media response lab. The agency sifted through thousands of Instagram photos posted by the audience. Each hour the team selected a couple of the quirkiest photos and turned them into custom illustrations which were posted to the Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page, as live content throughout the day.
“Our challenge was to leave no hand ‘unconed’, and the social response lab that R/GA developed was a hugely successful tool and core to all our social activities throughout the day,” said Kenneth Lau, Brand Manager (Category Lead) – Ice Cream for Unilever Singapore. “The lab helped boost organic reach and engagement levels far beyond normal, and we reached over quarter of a million fans, with over 7% engaging with our content. It was a huge success and we look forward to evolving this concept even further moving forward.”
Through social media Ben & Jerry´s was able to increase its visibility five times more than average levels, all achieved without any additional media support. The posts were interspersed with live updates from the various scoop shop locations as well as from the road as the Free Cone Day on Wheels travelled through Singapore visiting children’s’ charities and giving out free ice cream to those who could not be part of the queue. In total, Ben & Jerry’s Singapore gave out almost 50,000 scoops of ice cream and raised over $5,000 in donations for the Children’s Charities Association of Singapore.
“We’re all very excited about the project and collaborating with the client was a great experience. They understood the value of taking the Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day to fans via social media, and we used a complex and innovative design approach to ensure users got the best experience and access to content in real-time,” said Gloria Mathis, Regional Client Services Director, R/GA Singapore. “As Ben and Jerry’s official social partner, we’re very much looking forward to playing a key role in driving future social engagement between the brand and its fans,” Mathis said.
