Häagen-Dazs which returns for the third year to the All England Club as the official ice cream of Wimbledon, celebrates the start of the 2018 Championships with a new ‘Let’s Play’ initiative fronted by athlete ambassador Grigor Dimitrov.
The campaign is inspired by the player’s own favourite ice cream flavour – cookies & cream (via a limited-edition stick bar designed by Grigor himself and introduced for Wimbledon).
This the idea is to challenge the classic, long-term Wimbledon favourite ‘Strawberries & Cream’ in an ice cream battle to find out which will be this summer’s favourite flavour.
‘Let’s Play’ aims to link the brand’s fun and playful personality with the player’s own character: pitting Dimitrov’s favourite as his favourite flavour as the disruptive new challenger to the traditional champion Strawberries & Cream.
The objective is to drive brand buzz around the tournament
The campaign is being activated across multiple channels and led by a series of content films running across Facebook, YouTube
Twitter,
Want to meet our brand ambassador and world #6 tennis player @GrigorDimitrov? Come down to @Morrisons at 51 The Broadway, @Wimbledon this Saturday 30th June at 4pm for a chance to share his favourite Cookies & Cream #letsplay pic.twitter.com/xQTqielNef
— Häagen-Dazs UK (@haagendazsuk) June 29, 2018
Can @GrigorDimitrov make Cookies and Cream the new @Wimbledon No. 1? #LetsPlay pic.twitter.com/Ybbg8vUUpe
— Häagen-Dazs UK (@haagendazsuk) June 26, 2018
and Instagram.
The initiative also spans out of home and in-store strands across major UK supermarkets with products, packaging and money-can’t-buy experiences.
The ‘Champion vs Challenger’ idea is also brought to life on-site at the Häagen-Dazs parlour at The Championships with a face-off participatory game between Wimbledon’s favourite strawberries and cream-inspired ‘Champion’ recipe and Grigor’s favourite cookies and cream inspired ‘Challenger’ recipe.
Come down to #berniespaingardens by the @OxoTowerWharf to play champion vs challenger and your chance to get some free ice cream! #teamstrawberries #teamcookies #letsplay pic.twitter.com/jGVdD5limR
— Häagen-Dazs UK (@haagendazsuk) June 28, 2018
World #4 and US Open Champion @sloanestephens takes on @grigordimitrov on the #championvschallenger campaign backing Strawberries & Cream against his beloved Cookies & Cream! Let the games begin #letsplay #teamstrawberries #sloanestephens pic.twitter.com/PAC9BEmTtF
— Häagen-Dazs UK (@haagendazsuk) June 29, 2018
The campaign was developed for Häagen-Dazs European marketing boss Arjoon Bose and the brand team Alex Montenegro and Rishi Bahel, with support from agency Space where, plus creative and experiential work from David Atkinson, PR, media and influencer relations handled by Ian Withington of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, while digital, OOH and in-store media buying was handled by Mindshare.
Where the creatives were led by Greg McAlinden and Andy Preston, designers Alex Bones, Hayley Stephenson and Georgina Martin, motion by Will Meigham, group account director Yasmine Mael and senior strategist Aaron McFeely.
Come down to #berniespaingardens by the @OxoTowerWharf to play champion vs challenger and your chance to get some free ice cream! #teamstrawberries#teamcookies#letsplay
Comment:
The brand announced Dimitrov as a brand ambassador at the beginning of the year and unveiled the tie-up through a January campaign (see case study) and then followed it up with a tactical Valentine’s Day initiative.
This year’s Wimbledon work follows on from 2017’s campaign in partnership with Björn Borg fashion brand (see case study) and 2016’s ‘Loose Yourself’ (see case study).
Links:
Häagen-Dazs
https://twitter.com/haagendazsuk
https://www.facebook.com/HaagenDazsUK/
https://www.instagram.com/haagendazsuk/
Space
