Trails End Ice Cream
A DIGITAL CAMPAIGN THAT BROKE NEW GROUND.
IT’S MORE THAN JUST GREAT ICE CREAM.
I spent the summer of 2023 in North Conway, New Hampshire as an intern for Drive Brand Studio. During my time there I was able to do a lot of really cool things for really cool clients, but the Trail’s End campaign was the standout of the summer.
Nancy, the owner of Drive, gave me the opportunity to run a summer digital campaign for Trails End, the local ice cream shops that she also owned. And thus, my boss was also my client. (And my landlord, but who’s counting.)
The offer was extended to me only about a week into the summer, and Nancy only had one goal for the campaign: she wanted me to learn. And because Trails End had never done anything like this before, I was given the freedom to choose what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.
The first step was preparing the proposal, which started with research. I looked into industry data, sifted through the existing Facebook and Instagram accounts, and then cross-referenced with local market data and trends from a different client. With that, I was able to settle on the overall goals of the campaign. With these goals in mind, I chose the channels I’d be using, then the budget was split between the channels based on performance needs.
When I was planning for the messaging of the campaign I wanted to do something that would set Trails End apart from the competition. I wanted to make it about more than just good ice cream. I decided to use slightly different messaging for each channel that followed an overarching theme of connecting to the community.
I went through the proposal and pitched the campaign to Nancy, and with her approval, it was time to get moving.
I put together a shot list, bribed some of my coworkers with free ice cream, and got the photos I needed. I picked out the best shots and did some initial edits, then sent them over to a designer. With her, I went over the headlines, aspect ratios, and the composition I was going for. We came up with a plan, and she ran with it. While that was out of my hands, I set up all of the ads and analytics accounts and started writing the headlines and descriptions.
AND THEY WERE LAUNCHED!
After dealing with the initial hiccups and adjustments, it was mostly up to monitoring the paid ads and tweaking things as needed. While those ran I managed the social media accounts, scheduling out weekly posts for charity fundraising events, interacting with users, and making at least one other post throughout the week. I also added a page on the website to publish the summer fundraising calendar.
At the end of the summer, I wrapped up the campaign and did all of the final reporting. It was incredibly rewarding to show that it had outperformed our expectations, with website visits and social media interactions up significantly. I’ve included the report, so you can take a look at the numbers.
Spending a summer as an intern for a fun agency in a small mountain town, while running a campaign for local, homemade ice cream, was a dream come true. If you can think of a better way to spend the summer, I’d love to hear it.
