Dairy Queen's flagship Blizzard treat has turned 25 years old, and to celebrate, DQ hit the road at the beginning of April for a five-month, 25-city Blizzardmobile tour, thanking customers and reminding them about the classic dessert. DQ reps are touring the country in a colorful ice-cream truck, complete with red spoon windshield wipers, upside-down blizzard cups for rearview mirrors, and a mound of cookies 'n cream flavor ice cream overflowing out of the top of the truck (not real ice cream, sadly).
At each stop, representatives from DQ hand out free Mini Blizzards (they expect
to give out 100,000 before the end of the promotion), play music and interact
with fans. At some locations, they are also giving customers a chance to hop
into the Blizzard Blaster – a giant, upside-down Blizzard cup with coupons
and giveaways swirling around inside.
DQ is keeping in touch with fans through social media by doing a huge promotion on its Facebook page, including video updates from the event and user-generated content, as well as commercials and information about DQ's offerings.
"Five or 10 years ago, if you did event marketing you would pretty much impact the people you served at the event," says Michael Keller, chief brand officer for Dairy Queen. "With the advent of social media, if you have the right visuals and right story at your event, the events really just serve as the platform to amplify your message."
But Keller emphasizes that, "This all starts with the stores." DQ is offering a special "25 flavors for 25 years" menu at its more than 5,000 locations in North America, as well as six special flavors tied around the celebration. "While we have a lot of website traffic, and a lot of Fan Club members, the real action is occurring at the stores, and we're trying to turn our stores into a 25th anniversary party central," he says.
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