Carvel seeks Father’s Day boost with personalized Fudgie the Whale shoutouts
How the ice cream brand is continuing its nostalgic marketing push behind its 45-year-old mascot.
Fransebas
Carvel Ice Cream has again revived its classic branding with Fudgie the Whale for Father’s Day as the mascot turns 45 years old this year.
But instead of running a dad jokes hotline, which the brand did last year, it is seeking to keep the nostalgic campaign fresh via personalized marketing. The brand is offering five fans, selected at random, the chance to get a shoutout video from Fudgie the Whale for a dad in their life. To enter, people must submit information about a dad in their life at a special website beginning today through June 8, including an email for the delivery of the video message.
The program is part of Carvel’s larger “Make it A CARVELebration” summer campaign, which also includes a trivia game.
“It’s really all about ensuring that all life's moments are properly celebrated because we know it's more than okay to do something special to treat every life moment as if it were a major moment,” said Carvel VP of Marketing Jessica Osborne.
This Father’s Day, 44% of consumers are looking to find “a gift that is unique or different” and 37% want to find “a gift that creates a special memory,” according to research conducted by the National Retail Federation.
The Fudgie Fanatic video is a way for Carvel to lean into its nostalgic roots and help Carvel fans think back to their childhood memories that they made around the brand, inclusive of Fudgie, according to Osborne.
In addition to the videos, Carvel is releasing a limited edition trivia game pack of 31 questions, called Whale of a Trivia, included with the purchase of a Fudgie the Whale cake, while supplies last. Ads for “Make it a CARVELebration” feature Fudgie ice cream cake alongside the card game with Carvel’s signature, red, white, and blue packaging. The ads, created in house, will run on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
In April of last year, the brand drew on more nostalgia with a chocolate crunchies giveaway, and later added two new crunchies flavors, churro and cookie butter. In May, strawberry joined the list of traditional flavors like chocolate and vanilla.
