Influx

Premium ice cream brand Haagen Dazs is asking for help from consumers, for a change, it’s not to make an ad, but to come up with some ideas for flavors. It’s nicely done- it’s very easy to enter and there are a number of different entry options including video.

The marketing team at Haagen Dazs get access to hopefully thousands of new flavor ideas, consumers get the chance to send across their ideas, but there is only one winner and what they win isn’t that interesting.

“Your flavor will be launched as a Haagen-Dazs Limited Edition ice cream in grocery stores and Haagen-Dazs Shops across the country. Your name and flavor inspiration will be promoted in Gourmet magazine and featured under the lid of more than one million pints of Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

The cherry on top? You and a guest will travel to New York City to visit Gourmet magazine’s headquarters to unveil your winning flavor to the nation and celebrate the launch with Sara Moulton.”

Absent from the prize list, is any mention of cash or royalties from the sales of millions of these pints. The incentive is a shot at fame- your name goes on the “inside of the lid” and you quickly get forgotten about.

How could Haagen Daaz have done this better?

Influx has a couple of tips.

1. Offer some kind of financial incentive based on the success of the product- it?s called a royalty payment.

2. Select more than one winner- always have a limited edition line based on consumer ideas. It?s a SKU that never goes away. Huge opportunity for retailer promotion

3. If you don’t want to provide the cash- give them some quality advice on how they can best leverage their fame as a creator of a new ice cream flavor. Introduce them to a Hollywood agent and a publisher. Help them understand how they can cash in on their newly acquired celebrity status

So, it’s OK for brands to ask for consumers for advice, it should be actively encouraged, but this isn’t contest 1.0; the same way you always ran contests, but now on the internet and with video, some thought needs to be given to using contests as a way to build more of a partnership with the consumer.