Make believe and kids go hand-in-hand. And when playtime is done, who wants ice cream?
That’s the idea behind a new ad campaign from Chapman’s to promote its recently launched “Kids” line of ice cream flavours.
TV ads out now introduce the elementary school set and their moms to “Chapmania”, a fairytale land filled with princesses, dragons and wizards. Kids are encouraged to visit Champan’s kidsclub.ca to play games and watch videos inside Chapmania.
Chapman’s Kids line was launched in February. But with summer officially here, the Markdale, Ont.-based ice cream maker is out to promote the line to supermarket shoppers looking for a sweet treat.
Flavours are fairytale inspired. They include ice creams such as Blue Knight (chocolate and blue vanilla with chocolate chunks) and Princess Potion (pink marshmallow, blue cake and vanilla ice cream with colourful sprinkles) and novelties such as Unicone (a Unicorn-inspired bubblegum ice-cream cone) and Blue Knight and Red Dragon lollies (blue cherry and red fruit punch popsicles).
According to Chapman’s, the line was developed because there were not enough kid-aimed ice cream flavours on store shelves. Retailers wanted more and “we thought it would be fun for kids to have their specific flavours,” Mary Breedon, manager of sales and marketing at Chapman’s, told Canadian Grocer.
Among the bestselling flavours to date are the Princess Potion ice cream and the Unicone bubblegum ice cream cone. “It’s something different,” Breedon noted. “You can’t buy bubble gum ice cream typically in the grocery stores.”
As part of the launch of the new line, Champan’s revamped its Kidsclub.ca site to incorporate the fairytale look and feel found on the line’s packaging. A story line was developed and characters created.
Kyle McTaggart, marketing co-ordinator at Chapman’s, noted that the fairytale was written by Ashley Chapman, son of Chapman’s founders Penny and David Chapman, who is now the company’s vice-president.
Kids who visit KidsClub.ca can view a series of videos that tell the story. More chapters are being added, McTaggart, said. “It has been a big initiative.” As well, kids can also play games on the site and earn points to get free prizes such as puzzles, t-shirts and activity books.
Breedon suggested grocers merchandise the line together so shoppers can see everything that is available to them. “People may pick up a couple of ice cream and a couple of novelties or one of each.” She suggests putting them in a bunker where kids can easily see them. “Don’t merchandise them too high or they won’t see them,” she adds.
This article originally appeared on CanadianGrocer.com.
