Häagen-Dazs
How to get inside the heads of people who might want to buy your brand?
Häagen-Dazs invented the premium ice cream sector in the 1980s and had been an iconic brand ever since. But consumer penetration was falling. Increased competitive pressure and strategic uncertainty meant it had lost clarity and leadership.
There was an urgent need to discover consumer insight and strategy that would renew confidence in the business and brand.
Going deeper
We reviewed all the marketing from the great and successful period around the early years of the brand’s launch. Working with the brand team we debunked myths that had grown up around the brand’s success.
We examined the essence of the brand’s appeal with a clinical psychologist. Using psychological models not previously used in marketing, we identified the 14% of the total population for whom Häagen-Dazs could have special, personal appeal and the 20% to whom it would appeal strongly.
The new model allowed us to identify precisely why Häagen-Dazs was so successful with this group and to build communication, distribution and promotional strategies to re-connect with the brand’s newly-defined core psychological type. We could be categorical about what was on-brand behaviour and what was not, thus ending speculation and uncertainty about what lay at the heart of Häagen-Dazs’ earlier success – and what would drive future growth.
Precision and confidence
A new, three-tier distribution channel was adopted which recognised:
- The opportunities that would underpin volume growth
- New channels that would increase consumer penetration and support the brand’s image
- New iconic opportunities which would not add significant volume, but which would burnish the brand
The business renewed its investment in the brand.
Result
Key measures of volume, penetration, brand awareness and iconic status all returned to growth.
Häagen-Dazs outperformed its stretch targets, achieving <50% volume growth in five years.
Better insight, stronger performance
Adapting proven models from psychology and applying them to define precise insight into a target audience can transform performance.
