Dairy Queen: Freeze, Click, Win

Arguably, ice cream is about as offline a product as you can get. So, can such a non-digital product benefit from the latest digital strategies? It's an interesting marketing question. And exactly what Dairy Queen asked us to do. The solution, we thought, was not just another Web site touting the brand's features. But instead, to create a way to get people involved with the ice cream using American's latest craze – digital photography, and their cell phones.

A fresh wireless strategy

So we created ‘Freeze, Click, Win,' an interactive promotion where people are encouraged to take a photo of themselves, a family member, friend, or favorite pet eating a Dairy Queen waffle ice cream and upload it to a Web site or submit it via MMS/camera phone. Their photo was then featured on the day's photo page, where it competed for a $500 daily cash prize. And to encourage community and stickiness, we incorporated features that let people rate and comment on the days photos, and more.

The promotion ran all summer, with fantastic results.