It’s a birthday celebration and a new product launch all rolled up into one.
In honour of the Blizzard’s 25th birthday, Dairy Queen is spending ‘millions and millions of dollars,’ to launch the new Mini Blizzard with a whiteout of ice-cream treat giveaways, says Dairy Queen Canada VP marketing Denise Hutton.
Complementing an extensive five-month TV, radio, OOH, online and social media campaign – handled in Canada by MediaCom with creative by Grey in both Canada and the US – is the Blizzardmobile, a ‘birthday cup truck’ topped with an Oreo Blizzard, a giant red spoon and a fictional fan club made up of a family called the Blizzmanns.
‘Our entire Blizzard campaign revolves around the Blizzmann family, who are so in love with the Blizzard that they follow the Blizzardmobile everywhere,’ Hutton tells MiC.
The creative depicts the family as they pursue the Blizzardmobile in a series of TV spots airing nationally through August and in a Facebook-hosted series of webisodes. The souped-up truck’s journey will also be tracked on the brand’s Facebook page.
‘We thought Facebook would be a great opportunity to communicate to all our fans plus share all of the fun things that are happening from a Blizzardmobile perspective,’ Hutton explains.
The 25-stop tour aims to distribute more than 75,000 free Mini Blizzards across four stops in Canada: London, ON (May 17), Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto (May 18), Vancouver (July 26, 27) and Calgary (Aug. 12, 13).
In addition to product giveaways, the Toronto stop will also host an invite-only VIP event for the 2.5-million members of the Blizzard Club, which will include a musical performance and the Blizzard Blaster, a large, upside down inflatable cup filled with chilled, swirling confetti-filled, vanilla-scented air that will challenge folks to scoop up coupons with giant red spoons for prizes in 25-second bursts.
The Blizzardmobile will also hand out treats at a Toronto Blue Jays game, following the crowd’s serenade of Happy Birthday to the Blizzard.
The social media strategy also includes interactive contests on Facebook and Twitter. The first, ‘Operation Happy Birthday,’ launches May 1 and invites entrants to submit a video clip of them singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the Blizzard, with the most inventive videos posted on DQ’s Facebook and YouTube channels. The top 100 entrants will receive a $25 gift card. The second, ‘Capture the Cup,’ allows fans to submit a photo of themselves being creative with a Blizzard to qualify for a year’s worth of the tasty treat. Winners will be determined by public vote.
