June 20, 2019
Daron Copeland
For over 75 years Dairy Queen has provided sweet treats and excellent customer service to fans of all ages. Their mission is to “create positive memories for all who touch DQ.” Their vision is “to be the world’s favorite quick-service restaurant.” DQ holds a special place in all of their fans hearts around the globe. They make it a top priority to look for new ways to surprise and delight their fans.
The first Dairy Queen was opened in 1940, located in Joliet, Illinois. They didn’t introduce shakes and malts until 1949, and shortly after, in 1951, banana splits were added to the menu. By 1985, Dairy Queen had sold over 175 million Blizzards and by the year 2004 the company had their first full year of nation-wide commercials. There are 6,800 DQ locations spread throughout the U.S as well as locations in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Egypt, and in the Middle East.
https://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/Company/About-Us/
Dairy Queen uses a variety of technologies to advertise and make it’s brand a part of the media environment. Included amongst these technologies are; a facebook page, twitter account, youtube channel, general website, AND even an app. They incorporate different marketing strategies to promote their brand, gain new customers, and create customer loyalty through deals and promotions that allow customers a chance to save money, or even earn free ice cream. The Dairy Queen brand also frequently uses these platforms to introduce new products, and receive customer feedback! For a better look at how the App works, I downloaded it. The app is free to use and can be downloaded on ios or from the Google Play store. It’s pretty easy to navigate through and has an abundance of perks for downloading it. Like right now for example, through the app there is a sweepstakes event that started on the 3rd of June, and ends on the 30th. During this time, after a customer completes a one time sweepstakes registration, there will be a number of random drawings done during the day every day between noon and midnight. They will have a total of four grand prizes, including 2 VIP NASCAR experiences for the first and second week winners, with an additional 1,000 dollar gift card for additional food and costs. There will also be two four day three night passes to Universal Orlando for the winners of weeks two and four, with the additional 1,000 dollar gift card, to offset any additional food or costs. As an additional example of Dairy Queen using its social media as a way to advertise, I took a picture from twitter from the Dairy Queen page advertising a deal for cheeseburgers.
To make sure that they keep people updated and stay prominent, the Dairy Queen pages keep their status’ updated constantly. Sometimes multiple times a day, but never too far apart. They post promotions and deals, as stated before, but sometimes they just make small posts to get their readers thinking, about ice cream. It’s a common strategy used by a lot of businesses. Have you ever just been scrolling down your news feed and saw a quick picture or video of something that looked really tasty? And then began to think about how tasty that ACTUALLY sounded? And then, decided, “Well you know what, I think I want to go get one of those now.” Hook, line and sinker.
Below are two pictures of tweets made by other users and accounts that mention Dairy Queen. They both are promotion based and are just a few more examples of the presence of the Dairy Queen brand in the media. Also I have added the links to two blogs that mention Dairy Queen. The first is by a man named Jesse, who was a graduate student from the college of St. Scholastica. It was just a brief blog about him and his family’s love for Dairy Queen. The second post, was by a woman named Rebecca in April 2010, talking a little bit about a Dairy Queen blizzardmobile, and how the free ice cream being handed out by the mobil truck, was making people “idiots”. I also posted a video link to a recent advertisement for a new blizzard.
https://www.adweek.com/creativity/dqs-blizzardmobile-turns-people-idiots-12811/
As a closing remark, I would just like to state that it’s pretty obvious that Dairy Queen has a presence in the media environment, and it’s not small either. Through a combined effort from different social media platforms, Dairy Queen has been able to build quite a remarkable fan following and create some brand loyalty. For more information about Dairy Queen, check out any one of its social media pages, and you’ll be sure to find what you’re looking for.
https://www.youtube.com/user/dairyqueen
https://www.facebook.com/dairyqueen/
https://twitter.com/DairyQueen?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Dairy Queen 