7 Delicious Reasons To Use Ice-Cream As Part Of Your Marketing Strategy
June 10, 2008
Ice-cream keeps on coming up in our conversations about the writing workshops in Sardinia.
It’s partly because I hear Emma talking about ice-cream on Twitter, and I’ve started associating ice-cream with Emma, with Sardinia, with the warmth of Italian sunshine.
Partly because we’ve got some plans to include a little bit of people watching with an ice-cream theme in our writing workshops.
And partly, of course, because we’re sure to find enough time to indulge in some ice-cream eating too.
But when I read Emma’s most recent piece on Italian ice-cream she got me thinking about some of the reasons you might feature food and drink as part of your online marketing strategy. I’d say it’s because it’s:
Colourful: the pictures of ice-cream - on a web page or in our mind - are colourful, vivid, enticing
Universal: everyone’s eaten ice-cream (and most everyone enjoys it) so there’s a universal point of connection
Personal: sharing information about the food & drink you enjoy helps to make you seem like a human being, real, authentic, human
Simple: you don’t need to use a lot of words, just a simple idea, some pictures, and repetition
Enticing: start to use some of the language of ice-cream, even its historical form: “snow with fruit, wine & honey…” and our mouths start to water
Creative: ice-cream is universal, but how we enjoy it is personal and specific. We create our own mental pictures & remembered tastes when we hear the words (and yes my mouth is watering as I type this!)
By the way it’s even more creative when enjoyed Italian style: this is how Emma describes choosing ice-cream in a shop:
Ice cream-eating in Italy is a total sensory experience. First you look at all those freshly-made ice creams and, while your mouth waters, make a shortlist of the ones you’d like to eat. Then, if the shortlist includes flavours that you’ve not tried before, you ask to sample them. Cue more mouth-watering and anticipation at savouring the new flavours. Two or three flavours is the norm rather than one so you’ve got to choose flavours that go together. Finally, you get to experience the taste explosion in your mouth…
Irresistible: need I say more? 
I think we’re hooked on ice-cream: not just as a sensory delight but as a way of talking about Sardinia, of describing the kind of experience you can anticipate on the island.
But I’m sure there are even more compelling marketing benefits that I’ve missed off the list. What other delicious reasons could we add to make this a #1 marketing strategy?
Joanna Young in Edinburgh
Photo Credit:pink goes good with green by something started crazy on flickr
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