Authenticity and Ice Cream.

by Gil Yehuda on August 25, 2009

in Personal Branding


Here’s a quick thank you to Ben & Jerry’sEdelman, and one of the most adorable podcasters out there — Emily of Emily Explains It.

Emily posted her review of a new Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream product. The first 30 people to add a one word comment were awarded a coupon for an ice cream sundae. I was one of the lucky ones.  So thank you.

The back story:  Emily’s father is a podcast producer in the greater Boston area.  They agreed to podcast Emily’s feedback on the product as long as Ben & Jerry (and their PR agency) would agree that Emily’s words go unedited.  If she loves the product, great.  If not, she’ll say so.

I think the risk was very low — after all, who doesn’t love B&J ice cream?  But there was a risk here.  And I’m pleased that Edelman took it.  Is this a new model for social branding?  Perhaps. What makes this work? Authenticity. There’s nothing more authentic than a kid telling you if she likes the ice cream. Sure this could go too far — but in this case, it does not. Not at all. It’s all pure sweetness here.

What people say about you, your social reputation, is a big part of branding. I’ve learned a lot about branding over the past two years, and even more about socially mediated conversations.  I’ll be sharing some thoughts about the two in subsequent posts. Especially as these topics relate to career management. So stay tuned and pass the sprinkles.

{ 1 trackback }

Twitter Trackbacks for Authenticity and Ice Cream [gilyehuda.com] on Topsy.com
August 26, 2009 at 7:48 am

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Chris Yeh August 25, 2009 at 6:27 pm

The framing with the dog in the background is absolutely brilliant.

Reply   More from author

2 Gil Yehuda August 26, 2009 at 1:49 am

Agreed. The dog is a special touch to the video.

Reply

3 Rotkapchen August 26, 2009 at 11:33 pm

I’m a big fan of the dog too : ) Emily is quite charming (including the unscripted sneeze).

Like I was trying to explain to a local political ‘ancient of times’ — you don’t need to call a press conference any more…you just broadcast.

Reply   More from author

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Additional comments powered by BackType

Previous post:

Next post: