How Touch put the consumer at the heart of HäagenDazs Loop journey By Nicki Sherlock, Business Development, Touch Design
H
ow do you enhance one of the world’s best-loved premium ice-cream brands? Simple – by making it better for the environment, as well as improving the consumer experience. But how? Häagen-Dazs came to us when they wanted to be part of Loop in the US – TerraCycle’s circular shopping platform. This new way of shopping and distribution meant there were technical challenges we had to overcome – requiring a container that would keep the product frozen in transit, clean easily, be reusable at least 100 times, and be recyclable at the end of its life. But that’s not where we started our design journey. Responding to the opportunity allowed us to do what we do best at Touch – using insight to deliver a truly consumer-centric experience. Our lightbulb moment came when we discovered 40% of US consumers like to eat Häagen-Dazs in bed, straight out of the iconic tub. But sharp corners meant they couldn’t get every last, yummy mouthful out. And the thin carton meant cold hands, and a product that melted as you were eating it, impacting the taste.
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So, we started here. We looked at material choices that would insulate the ice-cream in transit, plus keep your hands warm while eating it. We looked at form that would allow for easy filling on the line, efficient transportation, but that would also improve ‘scoopability’ – giving consumers smooth, rounded edges to run their spoon around. And we explored function that would allow the product to be cleaned, transported and re-used multiple times as well as keeping the ice-cream’s signature texture and taste from first to last spoonful. And the end-result was worth the effort. A stainlesssteel, double insulated container that ticked all the technical requirements, utilised Nestle’s existing assets to minimise capex, and retained HäagenDazs’ premium aesthetic through the clever use of a beautiful outer and customisable lids to denote variant. All of this plus smooth corners, warm hands and a slow melt for prolonged pleasure.
And consumers responded wildly (or should we say warmly?). The pack received over 2 billion social media hits, and became the no. 1 selling product on the US Loop store. We’re now an agency of record for Loop, so if you’re thinking about joining the platform, or just want insight-led, transformative design for your brand, get in touch.
