Case Study: Contests and Content Propel Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto’s Flavorful Facebook Page to Sweet Success

Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto and RF Binder executed a complete overhaul of the brand’s Facebook page, earning triple-digit improvements in new likes, active users and post feedback. Photo courtesy of RF Binder

Company: Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto

Agency: RF Binder

Timeframe: March 2011 - Present

In his 2001 book, The Feast of Love, American author Charles Baxter wrote, “Forget art. Put your trust in ice cream.” One can only wonder what Baxter would have written if Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto was around then. A hormone-free milk and pure cane sugar dessert with 30% less fat than regular ice cream, Talenti is a top-selling gelato brand in the U.S.

However, in March 2011, the company recognized it had a limited audience on its Facebook page, and set out to increase brand awareness and create a more engaged community. Talenti enlisted PR agency RF Binder to develop and execute a strategic Facebook overhaul.

BRAND CONSISTENCY AND TEXTURE

RF Binder’s research showed that Talenti lacked fan engagement when compared to other leading gelato/ice cream brands on Facebook, namely Ciao Bella, Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s. Talenti’s lack of growth and engagement was attributed to a shortage of consistent and unique brand activity. In late April 2011, a combined five-person team from RF Binder and Talenti set out to make a dramatic change within a three-month period.

At that time Talenti had only 4,000 Facebook fans, but Nada Arnot, chief digital officer at RF Binder, says the team recognized the potential for growth. “The page had grown organically to that point, and these fans were there talking about how much they loved the brand,” says Arnot. “They were dying for a rich online experience to accompany their experience of buying and enjoying the product.”

Melissa Dierks, marketing manager at Talenti, says the brand’s page initially had only information about its Minneapolis location, a brief story about its products and few posts. “We knew we had a really active community here, and needed to be communicating with them and rewarding them for being such loyal followers and brand advocates,” says Dierks.

Talenti’s Web site, talentigelato.com, was also due for a major makeover, so the team decided that the Facebook page should serve as a microsite for both media and consumers to access the brand.

BLENDING FLAVORS

RF Binder developed a strategy to define Talenti’s Facebook voice, establish a dialogue with fans, offer unique fan experiences and, ultimately, entice target audiences to “like” the page.

To drive fan growth and engagement, and to differentiate Talenti’s fan page from other rival brands, the team devised the following tactics:

1. Develop a creative content calendar focused on fan engagement;

2. Create a branded fan page experience with custom tabs;

3. Reward fan loyalty and growth with milestone and fan appreciation coupon promotions;

4. Use contests and sweepstakes to build excitement and tap into the social graphs of the Talenti fans; and

5. Launch a Facebook ad campaign to acquire new fans.  

CHURNING CONTENT

The team deployed the following tactics:

â–¶ Editorial calendar: The document assigned content themes for daily wall posts, which emphasized creativity and engagement through open-ended questions, polls, photos and Talenti’s existing videos assets. “Talenti Tuesdays” shined the spotlight on different flavors and recipes; Wednesday was for “Simple Pleasures,” etc.

â–¶ Interactive tabs: SplashLab Social (see sidebar) created interactive, fan-exclusive tabs. The “How Sweet Life Can Be” tab highlighted 18 flavors with descriptions, ingredients and nutrition facts, and featured fan-submitted recipes.

â–¶ Gated community: A “like-gate” was also built to entice Facebook users to like the page for the “inside scoop” on Talenti. Upon liking the page, new fans received a 55 cent coupon download directly within Facebook.

â–¶ Flavorful videos: The team developed videos with Talenti founder Josh Hochschuler detailing the brand’s history and discussing key ingredients that set Talenti apart from its competitors. “Our tone was consistently fun and playful, with a touch of education on the healthier aspects of using extra fine cane sugar versus high-fructose corn syrup like other competitors do,” says Dierks.

â–¶ Pint-sized campaigns and contests: “The fans love talking about the product, so we wanted to inspire them to carry that message on to their social graph and spread the brand,” says Arnot.

To create excitement around a milestone, five fans were randomly selected to receive five free pints of Talenti once the page reached 5,000 fans. The team then built buzz among fans and non-fans through a “Nominate Your Sweetest Friend” photo-tagging sweepstakes. They asked users to tag a Talenti photo with their sweetest friend, and one pair of nominee/nominator was randomly selected to win four pints of Talenti each. Within 24 hours, 107 teams participated.

Leveraging the unique reusability of Talenti’s pint jars, a July 18 “Pint-Cycling” sweepstakes asked fans to upload photos of the creative ways they reuse Talenti jars. The crowd-sourced effort created even more content to share.

PREMIUM MESSAGING

The team’s aggressive messaging explained the difference between gelato and ice cream, and why gelato is richer, contains fresher ingredients and is better for you. FAQ’s, “did you know” facts and trivia questions further delineated these differences for fans. However, the team realized that most people who were eating gelato were likely already privy to some of these facts. “We then covered why Talenti’s ingredients were superior to other brands, and to make them feel better about their purchase,” says Arnot.

The team started running Facebook ads on May 17 to further amplify the brand. There was some initial resistance to running the ads from Talenti. “‘We don’t want to buy our fans,’ is a popular complaint with clients,” says Arnot. “What Talenti didn’t realize—and fully embraces now—is that you’re not buying your fans; users choose to click through and like you once you’re there and they can see you—the ad just facilitates that action.”

CROWDED CATEGORY

For Arnot, the most difficult aspect of reshaping Talenti’s presence wasn’t getting people to embrace the Talenti brand—it was helping them find it online. “The people who know Talenti, love it,” says Arnot. “But the ice cream and frozen dessert category is crowded, so when competing against Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs, we’re challenged because we don’t have their budgets.”

Arnot says a bigger budget would have meant more ads. “Once you build your fan base, it grows organically,” says Arnot. “You’re working uphill to get to 15,000 fans, and the faster you can get there, the faster you can grow organically and build a viral reach.”

Megan Do, digital media associate at RF Binder, says a lesson learned on the campaign was to be more fluid with messaging. “We began to gauge what the news and community conversation was that day and ran with it,” says Do. “We always tie things back to gelato, but the fans engage most in things that are fun, like what happened on last night’s episode of Mad Men.”

COLD METRICS

To measure their efforts, the team inserted Google Analytics into its custom tabs and used Facebook Insights for engagement on the native page features. Fan acquisition and engagement growth results (for 4/18/11 – 7/17/11 compared to 1/17/11-4/17/11) include:

• New likes increased 273%

• 1,024% increase in monthly active users

• 2,992% increase in weekly active users

• 6,421% increase in daily active users

• Post views increased 57,440%

• Post feedback increased 1,664%

• 3,171 coupon downloads from 4/18/11 to 7/17/11

• The total number of fans increased 129% (10,105 fans 7/17/11 vs. 4,416 fans 4/17/11)

• The Pint-Cycling contest received 77 submissions, 697 comments, and 2,478 likes

The team’s focus now lies with tapping into the existing fan base to increase the Facebook audience. Talenti introduced a series of new flavors in spring 2012, and in June launched a “recruiting” tab for users to bring friends and family to like the page (bringing 10 new fans earns a product voucher). When Talenti reaches 50,000 likes it will randomly draw among recruiters for a year’s worth of gelato. Now that’s one delicious promotion. PRN

CONTACT:

Melissa Dierks [email protected]; Nada Arnot, [email protected]; Megan Do, [email protected]; Geoff McDonald [email protected].

Follow Bill Miltenberg: @bmiltenberg