To celebrate its 40th birthday, and its new Birthday Cake flavour, ice-cream brand Ben & Jerry’s ran a giant birthday cake themed ball pit at London’s Old Spitalfields Market.
For one day only on Saturday 10th March, ice cream lovers were able to dive into a ball pit while being churned around like the ingredients in the making of the Birthday Cake ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s swirling Birthday Cake ball pit came complete with giant candles and 45,000 multi-coloured balls – plus free ice cream, with the Ben & Jerry’s team scooping free samples of the new Ben & Jerry’s Birthday Cake flavour, which includes vanilla cake batter ice cream, pink frosting, strawberry swirls and cake pieces. The new variety retails at £5.49.
The launch is being supported by a £3.5m marketing campaign spanning TV, digital and outdoor advertising.
Christina Dunn, country business leader at Ben & Jerry’s UK and Ireland, said: “We know that our fans like to gift Ben & Jerry’s to their friends, so new Birthday Cake responds directly to this insight, with a new addition to our flavour family ideally suited for the gifting occasion. We have also seen an increasing desire for innovation when it comes to birthday cakes, with boundaries being pushed from traditional designs to impressive, bespoke creations.”
The Old Spitalfields Market event was free, and ran from 11am – 6pm on Saturday 10 March.
The campaign was created by PR agency W Communications, with experiential agency Bearded Kitten delivering the event.
Ben & Jerry’s was launched in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, USA, where it is still headquartered. The business was bought by Anglo-Dutch food and household products group, Unilever, in 2000.
