Has Ben & Jerry’s social mission been an advantage or a constraint on the company’s past commercial success?
... in my opinion, was a rather bold move to utilize company resources in this manner without any type of marketing research or demographic focus. These initial marketing decisions were defiantly those of someone who was not concerned about the bottom line, but rather interested in promoting their own beliefs and concerns. However, their marketing strategy did work very well as their market share in superpremium ice cream rose to a strong #2. Another contributor to Ben & Jerry’s overall fast growth and success was their product themselves. In carving out their niche in the superpremium market, Ben & Jerry’s developed a wide variety of flavors that were both original in taste and had clever names such as Cherry Garcia or Rainforest Crunch. Once potential customers tasted these delicious concoctions, it seemed as if they were addicted to not only the flavors, but also the whole social movement that accompanied it. Once this concept was duplicated into several key markets through Ben & Jerry’s distributors, there was no stopping the accompanied growth. Although Ben & Jerry’s social mission has contributed to their overall past success, I tend to agree with the skeptics that think that the future of this ice cream giant’s continued growth and success will rely heavily on making changes to their policies. With competitors trying to enter and compete in the superpremium ice cream arena and a flat growth rate in that overall market segment, Ben & Jerry’s is in a good position to keep and even grow their business. Ben & Jerry’s have crea...