Offsite Ads fulfill fans' cravings faster
Ben & Jerry's is a beloved mission-driven ice cream company with considerable brand strength, enviable customer loyalty, and authentic fan connections. On TikTok, Ben & Jerry’s enjoys a deeply engaged fanbase, with community-driven content fueling enthusiasm and conversation.
Until recently, there was no seamless way to connect that organic love with immediate, shoppable actions on DoorDash. DoorDash Offsite Ads via Symbiosys created that bridge — extending reach into TikTok with shoppable ads that enabled fans to turn an ice cream craving into same-day delivery.
"Our goal is to get ice cream into our fans' hands faster and easier than ever before" – Sean Slattery, US Digital Commerce Manager, Ben & Jerry's
Translating fan love into action
Ice cream is often an impulse-driven purchase, and the category is competitive and increasingly contested on digital platforms. Claiming eight of America's top 10 ice cream flavors, Ben & Jerry's has some of the most loyal fans. Once people buy, they come back repeatedly.
With all the ingredients for success, the question was how to make that love actionable in the digital spaces where younger audiences – and new potential customers – spend their time. This led the Ben & Jerry's team to search for a way to connect fan engagement on TikTok to real-world ice cream access, making it faster and easier for fans to get the iconic ice creams onto their spoons.
Dishing up an iconic ice cream business on TikTok
The Ben & Jerry’s team, in collaboration with their performance branding agency WITHIN, made that connection with DoorDash Offsite Ads on TikTok. With shoppable TikTok creative placements driving directly to DoorDash, fans found a quick way to satisfy their cravings.
Combining TikTok's advanced targeting tools — like custom and lookalike audiences — with DoorDash's first-party retail data to target high-intent audiences, WITHIN helped Ben & Jerry's extend their reach to consumers further up the discovery funnel. Running during peak ice cream season and overlapping with National Ice Cream Month, the Ben & Jerry's campaign targeted high-intent, recent ice cream purchasers and used a mix of TikTok assets featuring both dairy and nondairy confections to drive to tailored landing pages on DoorDash.
"This wasn't a manufactured moment — it was truly organic. The campaign showed we could respond to authentic fan engagement by making it easier than ever for people to enjoy Ben & Jerry's." – Sean Slattery, US Digital Commerce Manager, Ben & Jerry's
Scooping up new customers and more sales
Catalyzed by a social moment, the campaign proved that Offsite Ads can authentically connect company love with measurable results, including 2M incremental impressions delivered offsite.
With DoorDash Ads, Ben & Jerry’s could fully close the loop, tracking campaign results, return on ad spend, and how their ads on TikTok influenced sales on DoorDash.
Ben & Jerry's results at a glance:
4.4X
Return on Ad Spend
49%
New-to-Brand Orders
16%
Higher Average Order Value
Riding the momentum from this TikTok success, Ben & Jerry’s and WITHIN are expanding the company’s Offsite Ads strategy to other digital channels. The business will keep testing and learning to understand how different channels can turn fan engagement into even more moments of discovery — and more ice cream in fans’ hands.
"If you're not present in the spaces where your fans are spending their time, you're not going to capture their attention or drive conversion." – Sean Slattery, US Digital Commerce Manager, Ben & Jerry's
