8 of the Coolest Ice Cream Flavors of 2016

I Scream for Instagram Ice Cream:  Funky Ice Cream Craze

U.S. consumer willingness to try adventurous ice cream flavors, inclusions, variegates, and colors can be associated with the influx in Instagram (IG) accounts curating, documenting, and posting bizarre ice creams from around the world.

The IG accounts are typically considered "Micro-Influencers" (focused and niche, about 10K - 100K followers) targeting daring foodies, sweet-toothies, bakers, DIY'ers. But what's most interesting, are the viral IG influencers who go outside the "foodie" demographic. The viral Instagram influencers (cast a wide net and touch the masses, typically about 2M followers) who post images of their funky ice cream "finds", will likely have a unique impact on gourmet restaurant inspiration and chain restaurant ability to play outside "the norm" with their frozen dessert offerings.

This can be attributed to the Marketing strategy of balancing familiarity with novelty. Ice cream flavors, colors, pairings, particulates, etc. that were once thought of as weird or gross by the masses (because they are unfamiliar) will start to become more familiar via social media.

And when the IG posts are paired with positive hashtags such as: #yum, #delicious, #trythis, #amazing, viewers will have an increased likelihood of associating the novel ice creams with something tasty. Something intriguing. Something they want to try. This is not only validated by hashtag sub-text, but also with the frequency of similar posts. See below examples:

 

 

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Brian Vogt