Coldstone Creamery Culture

On a warm Friday night in June, three female college freshmen each have $10 to make the night enjoyable. One wants to see a show, one wants ice cream to cool off and the other cannot make up her mind. With the student tickets to the movies being $9.50, that leaves them with 50 cents left. Hmm, not enough for ice cream. While driving around they spot a line maybe a dozen people long, intrigued they stop to see what all the fuss was about. They hear familiar songs, but with different words being sung flowing through the air. When they round the corner they see it is for an ice cream shop. What is interesting to them is when they get closer they see the lines are mostly made of women just like them. They decide that this could be fun. So they wait and finally it is their turn to order, but it is hard. Twenty types of ice cream, and twice as many toppings sit in front of them. Finally they each decide on an ice cream to see it fly across the store onto a piece of marble. Then their toppings are mixed in by hand then tossed into a cup across the counter. They paid and since they enjoyed their time inline and the show that was presented they put their change in the tip jar. Soon as that change hits the bottom the employees burst into a song. Their night was complete, ice cream and a show. This is what Cold Stone Creamery is going for. Not just a new and entertaining way to enjoy ice cream but also one that is more designed for the customer that has a more distinct taste.

Approaches to marketing have changed with time just like the how the tastes of consumers have changed. When thinking about ice cream stores and how they go about marketing themselves to their target audience, one would think that it would be marketing itself to kids and their parents. However, “while family friendly, [Cold Stone Creamery] admits that its target audience is not ice cream’s traditional focus of kids, but rather 18 to 34 year old women.” (de Mesa) Their marketing strategy seems to go against what other ice cream stores, such as Baskin Robbins, have been following for decades, kids first adults second.