A new jingle for a new era

This is the story of how an iconic ice cream brand turned its 100th anniversary into activism.

In the summer of 2020, Good Humor was preparing to celebrate 100 years of the ice cream truck. Then, the world changed.

As the resurgence of the racial justice movement swept the country, ice cream trucks were suddenly thrust into the cultural conversation when a video highlighting the racist origins of ‘Turkey in the Straw,’ the country’s most recognizable ice cream truck tune, went viral.

Suddenly, Good Humor’s 100th birthday wasn’t just a milestone. It was an inflection point. Although Good Humor had sold off its truck business in the 1970s and was not responsible for the tune, it was the original ice cream truck brand. Because of that heritage, we acknowledged and understood that we had a responsibility to begin to right the wrongs of the past, and pave the way for the next 100 years of the ice cream truck to spread joy to neighborhoods across America.

Instead of avoiding the controversy, we listened to the tone of the country, and set out to change the tune. And in doing so, changed the ice cream truck industry forever.

OUR BRAND

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Summary

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The brand that invented the ice cream truck was turning 100, in a moment when the ice cream truck industry was reeling.

Good Humor is a beloved American frozen novelty brand that is responsible for creating the first ice cream truck a century ago. Ever since, the brand existed to spread joy to neighborhoods across America.

On its 100-year anniversary, the brand wanted to do something to celebrate its storied history. But in this moment, COVID-19 threatened to crush the ice cream truck industry it had helped to create. Ice cream truck sales were down ~$270.00 per shift compared to the previous year, and drivers were seeing 50% fewer customers per stop compared to before the pandemic.

As the original ice cream truck brand, Good Humor couldn’t sit idly by.

OUR BRAND

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BACKGROUND

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Good Humor needed to celebrate its 100-year legacy in a way that would ensure the next 100 years of the truck.It wasn’t just about building brand equity for Good Humor. It was about leveraging our heritage and credibility to preserve an American tradition that brings joy to so many neighborhoods across the country.

Challenge

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Inflection Point

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Just as our team began to plan, the nation faced a racial justice reckoning.As Civil War statues toppled and American sports franchises were renamed, our country was in the midst of a cultural reckoning. Then suddenly, ice cream trucks were thrust into the urgent dialogue about our nation’s history with racism.

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A video highlighting the racist origins of the country’s most recognizable ice cream truck tune went viral, and suddenly, “Turkey in the Straw” was placed in the national spotlight. It was a classic American folk song dating back to the early 19th century with racist roots. Its legacy was tied directly to blackface minstrel shows.

Inflection Point

Insight

Ice cream trucks were meant to spread joy, but were actually promoting a song with racist roots.

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The brief was suddenly no longer about Good Humor's 100th anniversary, this was something much bigger. It was a cultural inflection point that called for action. Although Good Humor had sold off its truck business in the 1970s and didn't write or play "Turkey in the Straw," the brand still represented the ice cream truck in the hearts and minds of Americans and held the power to begin to right the wrongs of the past.

There was a clear expectation and urgency from Good Humor’s audience – Millennial and multicultural families –for the brand to take action against past injustices. According to the agency's research, 60% of Americans believe it is important for brands to acknowledge racial injustice in order to maintain their trust, and 80% of Black consumers said they are likely to choose or boycott a brand based on their stance on racism.

So instead of avoiding the controversy, we listened to the tone of the country and confronted the issue head on.

Strategic Pivot

Good Humor would craft a jingle for the next generation, and turn this inflection point into an opportunity for good.

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IDEA

We set out to create a new jingle for a new era.Within a matter of days of the trending video of “Turkey in the Straw,” Good Humor publicly condemned the song’s racist roots and began educating ice cream truck drivers on how to avoid playing it from their music boxes. From there, we set about creating a joyful, inclusive new jingle to replace it.

To achieve an inclusive jingle that would resonate with multicultural audiences, we needed an artist with credibility and name cache, so naturally, we called up Wu-Tang Clan founder and musical mastermind, RZA. As a father, boundary-pushing composer, and activist, RZA felt personally compelled to be part of the solution with Good Humor.

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After all, Wu-Tang is for the Children...After an initial briefing call, RZA hit the studio to create his first-ever jingle. Inspired by his childhood memories of chasing after ice cream trucks in Staten Island, and by the nostalgic sounds of traditional tracks, RZA created a song that blended the familiar timbre of ice cream truck music with his signature Wu-Tang flavor. His arrangement centered around a melody of chiming bells underpinned with some steady but soft kick drums and rapid-fire cymbal hits. We even tested his mixes out on an actual ice cream truck speaker to ensure the final jingle would have the right sound in the real world.

IDEA

OUR BRAND

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...And Wu-Tang is Forever.Just before the release, we made one important update to the idea. Together with RZA, we negotiated a unique licensing deal that allowed ice cream truck drivers to play the new jingle for free in perpetuity. Yep. Free for drivers...forever—making the jingle officially timeless.

IDEA

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We changed the ice cream truck industry. Permanently.

On the morning of August 13th, we secured a CBS This Morning exclusive broadcast interview with RZA and debuted the Good Humor jingle for a national audience.From there, the story caught fire. CNN. Vice. Rolling Stone. Billboard. NPR. And 700 additional placements. Our collaboration trended on Twitter, hit the front page of Reddit, and garnered a nationwide push notification from Apple News.

We took a stand and struck a chord, generating 3B impressions with 100% positive sentiment in earned and 250K social engagements, a 67% search increase, and a 150% increase in website visits. Online and in store, Good Humor sales spiked.

Potentially our biggest result came from Nichol’s Electronics, the manufacturer of 97% of America’s ice cream truck music boxes. Upon hearing our jingle, they announced that they were replacing “Turkey in the Straw” with our jingle. Permanently.

With little more than a 45-second jingle, we replaced a 200-year-old racist anthem with a new tune from a legendary Black artist. And now, the Good Humor jingle lives on as a summer tradition for generations to come.

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