Officials heading up the review for Ben & Jerry’s $5-10 million ad account met with semifinalists last week, sources said.
Teams from four agencies toured the ice cream maker’s factory in South Burlington, Vt. Walt Freese, the client’s chief marketing officer, then led a question-and-answer session.
According to search consultant Leslie Winthrop of New York’s AAR Group, the following shops participated: Cliff Freeman and Partners and IPG’s Bozell, both of New York; Maxxcom’s Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami; and roster shop Fitch, a Cordiant Communications agency in Ann Arbor, Mich. Havas’ Black Rocket Euro RSCG in San Francisco, the two-year incumbent, was eliminated.
Final presentations are scheduled for the first week in October, sources said. A decision is expected later in the month.
The client, which has supported promotion-driven ads and new-product campaigns, has asked contenders to conceive a “long-term, far-reaching, image-based ap-proach” to marketing. Ben & Jerry’s also wants to play up its status as a “good corporate citizen and leading American brand,” said a source.
The latest outdoor ad campaign introduced the company’s Core Concoctions in the San Francisco and Chicago markets this summer. Billboards showed people diving or tunneling through pints of ice cream.
Ben & Jerry’s was acquired by Unilever in 2000.
Ben & Jerry's Sees Semifinalists
