Baskin-Robbins’ New Campaign Aims to Lick Its Stagnant Sales

In its quest to boost flat ice cream sales, Baskin-Robbins has enlisted a quirky new pitchman--a pink, plastic spoon.

The Glendale-based company this week is launching a new advertising campaign in which its trademark pink spoon comes to life, nudging frantic adults to take a break for ice cream.

Thus, Baskin-Robbins becomes one of the latest companies to jump on the icon-building trend. Fast-food restaurants, auto makers and others recently have created fictional characters to tout their brands--with varying success.

Jack, the fictitious chief executive, became a hit with young men, leading the recovery of Jack-in-the-Box restaurants. The mysterious Mr. K, meanwhile, is taking a lower profile in ads for Nissan Motor Corp., which is losing sales.

Baskin-Robbins zeroed in on a talking spoon after learning from research that consumers viewed the pink utensil--long served with samples and sundaes--as synonymous with the ice cream brand.

“Everyone we talked to recognized it,” said Peter Drakoulias, a senior vice president at Deutsch Inc., Baskin-Robbins’ advertising agency. “It was this under-leveraged icon. That’s why it made sense to use it.”

The talking spoon is an important part of Baskin-Robbins’ effort to change the way adults think about the 51-year-old chain of ice cream parlors. With its flippant attitude and corny humor, the spoon aims to bring a brand consumers regard with nostalgia into the 1990s.

“People have warm feelings about Baskin-Robbins, but it has really been off the radar screen,” said Michael Sheldon, an account executive with Deutsch. “Going out for ice cream is something they did with families when they were kids. . . . We need to contemporize the brand.”

Besides updating the brand’s image, the commercials also serve to position Baskin-Robbins as an everyday treat--an alternative to iced cafe mochas at Starbucks or dessert at Cheesecake Factory. The ads show average-looking people in everyday situations, an attempt to dispel the notion that ice cream is for special occasions.

Three of the four TV commercials are aimed at adults, and three of the spots use males. In one spot, a weary businessman aboard a subway train perks up when he hears a friendly voice. It is the spoon, urging him to slow down and treat himself to a sundae.

“Maybe you’re right,” the businessman sheepishly responds.

“I was right on those stock tips, wasn’t I?” the spoon quips.

In another commercial, the spoon agrees to finish a report for an office worker so he can steal away to Baskin-Robbins for a sundae. Other spots pitch a cappuccino-flavored drink and ice cream shakes. Each ad ends with the slogan, “Happiness served daily.”

The image make-over comes as Baskin-Robbins, a unit of Allied Domecq, is beginning to refurbish its 2,300 stores. The company envisions enlarging its ice cream parlors to make room for more comfortable seating and beverage bars where patrons can “decompress at the end of the day,” said Don Skeoch, a Baskin-Robbins vice president.

But the make-over is proceeding slowly, as many of the company’s 2,100 franchisees--mostly mom-and-pop operators--have balked at the expense. Thus, Baskin-Robbins’ advertising--which attempts to give the ice cream parlors a contemporary edge--is at odds with its dated-looking stores.

Working in Baskin-Robbins’ favor is a changed consumer attitude toward ice cream. Sales at restaurant chains that specialize in ice cream rose 5.3% in 1996, according to Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm. That was slightly ahead of fast-food restaurants, which posted a sales gain of 5.2%.

A look at restaurant sales over the last several years shows ice cream parlors have gained momentum only recently, thanks to less consumer concern over high-calorie treats. Technomic reports that sales at chains focused on ice cream rose an average of 1.9% between 1991 and 1996. Sales at fast-food restaurants, meanwhile, grew by 6% annually.

At Baskin-Robbins, sales of ice cream have remained flat, with the company deriving its growth from new drinks, such as its Cappuccino Blast and special-occasion ice cream cakes. In its new advertising, Baskin-Robbins devotes attention to ice cream, now that the treat seems to be coming back in vogue.

The new ads are the first from Deutsch, which won the $25-million to $35-million account in November.

Not everyone is convinced the talking spoon can dish up improved sales. As an inanimate object, Baskin-Robbins’ spoon differs from such personable icons as Tony the Tiger or Mr. Clean. In the TV commercials, the talking, faceless spoon rests on chairs or books.

“I’d rather be known for ice cream than for a spoon. The spoon doesn’t say much about the goodness of the product,” said Hal Sieling, a restaurant consultant in Carlsbad.

Sieling said Baskin-Robbins’ nickname, 31 Flavors, is under-used. “Everyone seems to call them that. It’s as much of an icon as a spoon.”

But Sheldon of Deutsch argues that consumers are familiar with Baskin-Robbins and its flavors. What they need are reasons to go there, he said.

“The spoon is the ambassador of happiness,” maintains Sheldon. “It invites people to go to Baskin-Robbins and give themselves a dose of something that is more than a treat.”

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Cool Millions

Sales at stores selling primarily ice cream and frozen yogurt rose 5.3% in 1996 to $3.9 billion, according to Technomic, a Chicago consulting firm that tracks the restaurant industry. Here’s a look at the industry leaders in 1996, the latest year for which figures are available:

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Company Sales Change Dairy Queen* $2.6 billion +7.1% Baskin-Robbins 700 million +4.8% TCBY 300 million -6.5% Braum’s 200 million +3.3% Haagen-Dazs 80 million +3.9%

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*Also sells hamburgers and other food items

Source: Technomic