Ben & Jerry’s Capturing ‘Euphoria’ In Instagram Contest

In its latest ad campaign, Ben & Jerry’s is asking its 127.000 Instagram followers to express the essence of ‘euphoria’ in a photo contest.

Euphoria, because that’s the feeling you get from Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The photos shared via the #captureeuphoria tag are part of the new worldwide ad campaign.

Some of the photos have already been selected and used on the back of magazines, transit ads, and digital media.

Ben & Jerry gives the uploaders recognition for their photo skills and posts the selected photos all over the neighborhood, making that uploader either a celebrity, or a little embarrassed.

Take a look at the video to see Ben & Jerry’s campaign in action:

My Opinion?
User created content by engaged fans is an old but smart mechanism, smartly used in Ben & Jerry in its new campaign. Creating powerful owned media channels or fan bases seems to be the new kind of e-mail marketing for many brands.

At least for brands that are able to earn their own base, not the ones buying likes and followers.

Another smart element is the creation of so much content. Content that can be used to grow the fan base even more, in a very organic way.

What I think that Ben & Jerry’s could have done better? Or maybe should have done better?

It seems like Ben & Jerry’s feed automatically publishes any Instagram photo tagged “#CaptureEuphoria”.

With an automated but non curated feed, some spoilsports can take advantage of that. Or should I say, are already taking advantage of that?

No doubt the company will weed these ‘spoils’ out later. However, it is always a very smart part of the strategy to curate UGC content and photos upfront. Not in the aftermath.

What About You?
How do you rate this new campaign by Ben & Jerry’s? What other brand campaigns – involving fans – did you really like? We’d love to read your opinion in the comments below.

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