AGENCY:
EP+Co
CONTEXT: I Love Ice Cream Cakes is a playful, celebration-driven dessert brand under Rich Products that produces ice cream cakes across well-known brands like Carvel, Oreo, Reese's, Funfetti, Jon Donaire, and Baileys. This mini tentpole campaign aims to drive awareness and sales of ice cream cakes during September which marks the transition out of summer and a natural decline in ice cream consumption.
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5-SECOND VERSION: September contains nine of the ten most common birthdays of the year, with September 9th being the most common. Yet the month is often overshadowed by competing priorities like back-to-school season, Labor Day, and shifting routines, causing these birthdays to go under-celebrated. While September also marks the perceived end of ice cream cake season, it’s actually one of the biggest moments for celebration. September 9th shouldn’t be treated as just the most common birthday, it should be the biggest reason to celebrate.
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MY TWO CENTS: The most interesting tension here is that September is the biggest birthday month of the year, yet it doesn’t feel like it. The opportunity wasn’t to create a new reason to celebrate, but to reveal one that’s already there.
[BACKGROUND]
I Love Ice Cream Cakes lives under Rich Products.
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They produce the big name ice cream cake brands seen in the grocery store, like Carvel and Oreo.
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THE BRAND'S ASK: drive sales of ice cream cakes as the summer season (and natural ice cream cake season) comes to an end during the month of September.
How can we make a splash during September?
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September calls for the sad end of summer, but also the beginning of many chaotic events: kids going back to school, labor day events, budget crunches.
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But something incredible happens in September that we all seem to overlook.
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September is the most common birth month and September 9th is the most common birthday of the entire year.
[RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES]
Social Listening
Analyzed Tiktok and Instagram sentiments to see what people are looking for when celebrating their birthdays
Survey
Collected and summarized data about how people celebrate birthdays
Google Trends
Gauging the search popularity of ice cream cake searches during the transition into fall
Math
Calculated how many people are born on September 9th and how many people we know born on that date
[THE WORK]
*Google Trends of the search "ice cream cake"
How many Tiktok mentions #icecreamcake is seen throughout the year in the top 100 tags
[INSIGHT]
Ice cream cakes are a celebratory dessert made for birthdays, yet their popularity declines during the very month with the most birthdays.
this is the math I'm talking about
12,300 people are born every year on September 9th
We know around 600 people that have been involved in our life
That means we know around
10 people who are born on 9/9.​
Our social circles typically consist of people born 5 years within our birth year
Who else do we recognize that have birthdays on September 9th?
a hockey player turned golfer
the face of fried chicken
a rom-com icon
[STRATEGY]
While being the most common birthday might seem less special, it actually presents the opposite opportunity:
the biggest birthday moment of the year deserves the biggest celebration.
This is the number of birthdays every year on September 9th
[CREATIVE CONCEPT]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL 884,369 OF YOU
[DELIVERABLES]
