- December 17, 2018 -
Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's?
My freezer is stocked with the ice cream from two Vermont hippies who had the chutzpah to take on the big bad giant in the grocery-store-pint market.
Here's why:
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield grew up on Long Island and met in Junior High running around the track in gym class. Ben says they were the two fattest, slowest kids in the class.
They each thought the other was funny (you remember how it was in junior high) and became fast friends.
"When we were seniors in high school, we used to drive around in our cars and listen to our stereos. As we were both fat kids, we didn't have too many girlfriends. We used to eat a lot, and dreamed of cruising Sunrise Highway - the big street in Long Island - and eating at all the fast food places along it."
Fast forward a few years...and the two ne'er-do-wells (who still liked to eat) figured they'd better do something and decided to open a restaurant with a limited menu.
It came down to bagels or ice cream. The cost of bagel equipment made the decision easy.
So they invested a whopping 5 bucks in a course on how to make ice cream and started making it in their kitchen. (Ryan Deiss would call that a Tripwire.)
With $8,000 that they saved and 4K they borrowed...they bought a dilapidated gas station in Vermont with a roof that leaked no matter how much aluminum sheeting, plastic, and roofing tar they slapped over the holes.
They has tables inside and out, kept the self-playing piano because it was too hard to remove it, and made ice-cream by hand in an old rock-salt freezer in the front window.
They told each other they'd try it for a few years - and if nothing came of the venture, they'd become cross-country truck drivers and live on truck stop food.
They didn't make any money for the first three years.
Fast forward a few more years...and the two chubby friends (both still think the other is the more chubby one) were millionaires and still liked to hang out at each other's houses and eat.
That's how it all started.
By 1983, the little ice cream company from Vermont was distributing their frozen treats to grocery stores...the same stores that sold Häagen-Dazs.
Häagen-Dazs was owned by Pillsbury at the time, and their distributor had been given an ultimatum by Pillsbury: stop selling Ben & Jerry's or we'll stop selling all Pillsbury products through you.
Guess what the distributor did? Kept his biggest account and dropped Ben & Jerry's.
Here's where it gets real good.
...no way are Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield going to just stand by and let a faceless corporate bully destroy what they've built.
...no way do they have the money for a long legal battle against a 4 billion company.
...so Ben and Jerry took their battle to the streets and skies instead of the courtroom.
Remember this was long before social media was even a "thing."
The two buddies and business partners hired planes to fly around sports stadiums with banners reading: "What's the Doughboy Afraid Of?"
They plastered ads on buses that showed two pudgy white hands squeezing a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and read: "Don’t let Pillsbury’s dollars strangle Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. What’s the Doughboy afraid of?"
People looked but didn't take up arms like they expected.
Jerry picketed outside Häagen-Dazs HQ...no one joined the picket line.
They held press conferences...only one reporter showed up.
Ben & Jerry's advertised in a rock and roll magazine.
Who could possibly be a better audience that rebels without a cause 🙂
(Now you know why this contrarian loves this story so much.)
They took out a little ad on the back of Rolling Stone magazine that said: "Help two Vermont hippies fight against the corporate giants. Send one dollar for a ‘What’s the Doughboy Afraid of?’ bumper sticker."
And by golly, it worked. Sounds a little like a Kickstarter campaign, not to be invented until decades later, doesn't it?
The campaign gained traction and loyal customers took up the fight.Troops rallied from all over.
The doughboy got a big ole black eye and finally relented.
Long live rock and roll.
Wanna be a rebel WITH a cause?
Who's your Goliath? Let's talk and take him down.
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