Corporate Yet Creative – Ben & Jerry’s Maintains Its Individuality Within Unilever
The ice cream manufacturer in Vermont, Ben & Jerry’s was taken over by Unilever eight years ago. Has that changed them from a small, creative ice cream company to a large corporate one? Luckily for them, Unilever has let them operate in the same unique way they have done for years before that.
Their ice creams are named after famous people. So they have a flavour called Cherry Garcia and another called Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road (all the profits from this ice cream went to the Elton John Aids Foundation). The company began when Ben took a correspondence course on how to make ice cream and it cost him $5. From then, there was no looking back. The fact that Unilever has recognized their brand equity and let them keep that special flavour on, even after acquiring it is commendable.
