INTRODUCTION Blue Bell Ice Cream has been a staple in the south and southeast for years, finding its way to birthday parties and thanksgiving dinners alike. And with their selling territory creeping slowly to the west, their popularity is growing, one half gallon at a time. With Blue Bell being a brand with a large following in the states they are sold in, a research team from The University of North Texas became interested in brand loyalty. In this day and age where there are hundreds of thousands of brands to pick and choose from, consumers are still loyal to certain brands, especially millennials. According to two recent surveys, social media research and marketing specialists concluded that millennials are just as likely as Baby Boomers
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When they do engage with customers, she said, it has to be amazing. Customer experience is widely viewed as a key differentiator among loyalty (Terney, 2016).
Given previous research in brand loyalty, UNT’s research team sought to determine that amid a crisis, what factors contribute to or perpetuate brand …show more content…
Due to the character limit, responses are shorter and more to the point but you can see that Blue Bell has made a commitment to responding to as many consumer comments as possible. Many tweeted at the brand when the recent cookie dough recall was announced and Blue Bell was quick to respond to concerns (“Blue Bell Ice Cream – Twitter”). The research group’s second qualitative method was observation. With the holiday season fast approaching, they saw this as an opportune time to observe consumers and their purchasing habits. At various locations they observed consumers purchasing Blue Bell with no hesitation. Upon further inspection of their carts they observed items that would indicate the ice cream being included in a party; pies, turkey, sides typically associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. An observation that one researcher made was one of her own parents. Like many families, Thanksgiving includes pumpkin and cherry pie. Vanilla is a must have with the delicious desserts and the researcher’s father was in charge of ice cream. When the researcher came home that day and opened the freezer, they saw a half gallon of Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream. It confirmed to the group the fact that despite the three deaths and multiple cases of sickness from the 2015 listeria outbreak, most consumers did not hesitate to purchase the product
When they do engage with customers, she said, it has to be amazing. Customer experience is widely viewed as a key differentiator among loyalty (Terney, 2016).
Given previous research in brand loyalty, UNT’s research team sought to determine that amid a crisis, what factors contribute to or perpetuate brand …show more content…
Due to the character limit, responses are shorter and more to the point but you can see that Blue Bell has made a commitment to responding to as many consumer comments as possible. Many tweeted at the brand when the recent cookie dough recall was announced and Blue Bell was quick to respond to concerns (“Blue Bell Ice Cream – Twitter”). The research group’s second qualitative method was observation. With the holiday season fast approaching, they saw this as an opportune time to observe consumers and their purchasing habits. At various locations they observed consumers purchasing Blue Bell with no hesitation. Upon further inspection of their carts they observed items that would indicate the ice cream being included in a party; pies, turkey, sides typically associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. An observation that one researcher made was one of her own parents. Like many families, Thanksgiving includes pumpkin and cherry pie. Vanilla is a must have with the delicious desserts and the researcher’s father was in charge of ice cream. When the researcher came home that day and opened the freezer, they saw a half gallon of Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream. It confirmed to the group the fact that despite the three deaths and multiple cases of sickness from the 2015 listeria outbreak, most consumers did not hesitate to purchase the product