1. Interview at least ten people about ice cream. Ask them any questions you would like. Then, write three insightful conclusions from these interviews and what the implications might be for advertising and marketing. Please provide your interview questions along with an explanation of your plan going into these interviews.
Background:
To conduct my interview, I reached out and received responses from 14 people via email.
The survey participants’ ages ranged from 22 to 56 years old. Out of the 14 participants, seven identified as female and seven identified as male. Nine of those participants identified as white, two identified as Asian, one as Latinx and two identified as Multiracial.
The participants were asked 13 questions about ice cream that explored their physical, emotional and psychological responses to ice cream as a concept and experience. The questions helped me generate an assessment that would lead to more effective advertising and marketing strategies for ice cream products.
The Plan:
For the interviews, my plan was to provide a fun set of questions that would give me insight about what was most and least enjoyable about ice cream, what associations individuals had with ice cream and if there were particular days, months or holidays that could potentially generate higher sales. I added a few more off-beat, creative questions as well that would provide data on more exploratory and unique preferences associated with ice cream.
Insight 1: Best Times for Ice Cream
According to the responses, the ideal ice cream-eating times predominantly fell into two main categories- evenings and beach days.
Out of 14 participants, 35 percent noted that the evening is the best time to eat ice cream. Twenty nine percent stated that their ideal ice cream-eating situation would be on the beach. Seven percent responded that both were ideal. Fourteen percent of the responses could be categorized as relating to sports or random. Regarding certain days of the week and holidays, participants generally preferred to eat ice cream during the middle of the week and chose July 4th and Christmas as their top ice cream-eating holidays.
I would recommend the development of advertisements that showcase ice cream being consumed in the evening and at the beach. Advertisements and distribution locations should be placed in commercial retail areas and places of athletic activities such as parks or stadiums. Advertisements should be bolstered during Christmas and 4th of July.
Insight 2: Lactose and Health
Health concerns including lactose intolerance were a problem for many participants. Twenty eight percent of participants stated that one of their least favorite aspects of ice cream was that it was unhealthy. Additionally, 28 percent of participants stated that digestive problems with lactose was one of their least favorite things about consuming ice cream. My recommendation is that traditional dairy-based ice cream companies invest more in dairy-free ingredients that would provide healthier alternatives.
Insight 3: Ice cream as a social event
In the survey, 50 percent of participants reported a preference for eating ice cream in the evenings, 14 percent preferred after a meal and 43 percent of participants last purchased ice cream from a dedicated ice cream shop. These survey answers combined with rising disposable income (1) and an increase in spending on dining out (2), eating ice cream could easily be promoted as a social outing or event.
Noted by the increasing popularity of dairy-free ice creams and emergence of more unique flavors, ice cream producers are beginning to accommodate a wide range of preferences (3). With this trend comes the opportunity to draw larger crowds to ice cream-related social events. The survey showed that people like to eat ice cream in the evenings and after meals. Ice cream ads, shop and truck placements could be located accordingly- near busy restaurants open during the same hours and shopping centers with high foot traffic. Advertising unexpected flavors of ice cream and great in-store ambiance as part of a social experience would cater to the same crowds that dine out for similar reasons.
Sources:
- https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/disposable-personal-income
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2016/10/17/millennials-spend-44-percent-of-food-dollars-on-eating-out-says-food-institute/#461969f73ff6
- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/dining/vegan-ice-cream-non-dairy.html
