Overview:

Alec’s Ice Cream is a pioneering brand in the ice cream industry. It is the first regenerative-verified, USDA organic-certified ice cream made with 100% A2 dairy from regenerative suppliers and family-owned farms. They use best-in-class ingredients to create a superior texture, creaminess, and flavor, offering consumers an indulgent experience. The company focuses primarily on retail within the natural channel, with a small DTC business for larger-size orders.

Challenge:

Alec's CMO, David Brown, described their past retail marketing efforts before Aisle: "we were doing the same thing brands did in the 1980s," relying primarily on paper coupons and cost-prohibitive and cumbersome tactics. "The CPG space has evolved a bit since then—with QR codes, digital coupons, and clearinghouses—but ultimately, none of these options alone have allowed us to build the program(s) we wanted.”

Beyond needing a more holistic solution to their retail marketing problem, Alec's faced operational challenges unique to frozen products, making many of these existing sales tactics cost-prohibitive and complex. The ice cream category is extremely competitive, with limited shelf space and changing customer loyalties. As a brand targeting "niche" consumers looking for natural and high-quality products, it became much more important for Alec's to have a holistic strategy beyond just driving product trials. They needed to find new customers, offer a unique brand experience, and boost long-term customer lifetime value.

“This platform enables me to test tactics that increase the odds on the bet that this trial—giving our consumers a great offer— will result in long-term value. It gives us a better shot at winning with the consumer long-term - versus mass messaging or sending everybody the same thing.” - David Brown CMO

“Aisle is the best data capture strategy for brands with over a few thousand doors. We can go back and survey these consumers, send them exclusive offers via email and re-engage these targeted audiences in a meaningful way.” - Ryan Boudreau, Founder, Good Eye Kid

Strategy:

When Alec's Ice Cream partnered with Aisle, they had two strategic objectives. First, they sought a cost-effective, long-term approach to drive product trials and influence repeat purchases. Second, they aimed to establish ongoing communications with their retail customers to spark interest and lay the groundwork for a longer-term content program.

Alec's Ice Cream began testing different ways to drive product trial and brainstorming different promotional strategies to boost customer loyalty and retention. They introduced digital punch cards to help drive repeat purchase behavior with incremental rewards and continue to explore new ways to flex Aisle’s reward capabilities. Their team increased its focus on gathering valuable consumer behavior and preference data through timely surveys and basket and shopper analysis reporting. Moreover, Aisle allowed their team to start accessing targeted retail segments for repeat offers and content delivery, helping Alec's transform these new retail consumers into brand loyalists.

They have been leveraging additional channels, including social content, email, and sampling programs, to promote their Aisle campaigns. They have seen growing traction for their buy ten get one free “punchcard” program through targeted influencer programs and leveraging on-product QR codes.

Results:

The Aisle partnership has changed Alec's Ice Cream's approach to retail marketing and how its team interacts with and understands its customers. Aisle has helped them move away from traditional, outdated methods to a flexible digital rebate system with additional features to help boost consumer engagement, gain consumer insights, and achieve their core marketing and sales objectives more cost-effectively.

As Alec's grows and scales its Aisle shopper program, it plans to create a more tailored content approach based on consumer shopping behavior, including a program designed to foster brand engagement beyond promotional efforts.

Since onboarding Aisle, Alec’s has run over five trial-driving programs with Aisle using paid social, the most recent being a Whole Foods Market activation led by their agency partner, Good Eye Kid. This was the most successful retail program yet, achieving a 54% conversion rate with over 3,900 total sign-ups, leading to over 2,000 unique retail conversions and a $0.30 cost per lead. This program also had retention and referral rewards tied to it, driving 15% and 10% repeat and referral rates, respectively.