Ad Campaign of the Week: Halo Top Cinematic Ad Appeals to Moviegoers

aytm logo icon
Posted Sep 21, 2017

Popular ice cream brand Halo Top just unveiled a strange new ad that’s meant to run before scary movies in theaters throughout the next few months. Since it’s a popular time for scary movies, it could be a decent strategy for the ice cream brand to set itself apart from the competition. But does the creepy feel of the ad actually appeal to ice cream buyers? We asked 1,000 respondents about their ice cream buying habits and then tested the impact of the ad.

halo top

Ice Cream Buyers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest online survey, 22% of respondents said that they purchase ice cream at least a few times per week. And 44% do so a few times per month. Of those who purchase ice cream at least on occasion, 25% said they’ve at least tried Halo Top ice cream. And 13% said they purchase it regularly.

Halo Top Ad

Overall, 10% of respondents said they’d be certain or practically certain about choosing Halo Top for their next ice cream purchase. And 13% said it would be very probable. Of those who viewed the Halo Top ad, 14% said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing Halo Top for their next ice cream purchase. And 15% said it would be very probable. In addition, 43% of respondents said they’re at least somewhat likely to go see horror movies in theaters over the next few months. Of those respondents, 22% said they would be likely to choose Halo Top for their next ice cream purchase. And 20% said it would be very probable.

Brand Attributes

In general, ice cream consumers described Halo Top using descriptors like delicious, low calorie, creamy and different. However, a fair amount also said that they had never heard of the brand. Those who viewed the Halo Top cinematic ad were likely to use many of those same descriptors. But they were also a bit more likely to describe the brand as weird, unique and different.

Key Takeaways

The Halo Top cinematic ad certainly represents a unique advertising strategy for an ice cream brand. But it could prove to be very effective. The ad was considerably more effective among those who are likely to go see horror movies in theaters, where they’re likely to actually view the ad. However, it didn’t make a negative impact on other consumers. So even if the brand expands its target a bit, it could potentially lead to more consumers learning about and considering the brand for future purchases. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Halo Top Creamery by L.A. Foodie under CC by 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on September 19 via AYTM’s online survey panel.

Featured Stories

New posts in your inbox