Tweet

Lesson #5: Don’t Be Afraid to Go After the Big Guys

Article Overview: Cohen and Greenfield were just a couple of hippies trying to avoid becoming simply “another cog in the economic machine.” Living through the 1960s, the two disliked big business for all of its negative social and environmental effects. With Ben & Jerry’s, the pair was trying to reconcile this by doing things their way, and placing heavy importance on acting responsibly.

Lesson #5: Don’t Be Afraid to Go After the Big Guys

Cohen and Greenfield were just a couple of hippies trying to avoid becoming simply “another cog in the economic machine.” Living through the 1960s, the two disliked big business for all of its negative social and environmental effects. With Ben & Jerry’s, the pair was trying to reconcile this by doing things their way, and placing heavy importance on acting responsibly.

In 1984, big business came after the little guys. Pillsbury, the million dollar company behind Haagen-Dazs, began to feel threatened by the rapid growth of Ben & Jerry’s. In an attempt to shut down the young upstarts, Pillsbury gave Ben & Jerry’s distributors throughout Boston an ultimatum: sell Hagen-Dazs or sell Ben & Jerry’s, but not both.

Cohen and Greenfield were not about to let this corporate giant shut them down. After finding little hope in their legal options, the two decided to take matters into their own hands. Together, they launched the now famous “What’s the doughboy afraid of?” campaign and began taking it as public as they could. From placing advertisements on the sides of buses to renting banner planes for flying around major sporting events, Cohen and Greenfield did whatever they could think of to gain support for their little business. They took out a classified ad in Rolling Stone magazine asking readers to “help two Vermont hippies fight the giant Pillsbury Corporation.” Greenfield even took to being a one-man picket outside the headquarters of Pillsbury in Minneapolis, handing out pamphlets that read, “What’s the doughboy afraid of?”

Later that year, Cohen and Greenfield came up with the idea of putting a 1-800 number on every pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. “We started getting like a hundred calls a night,” recalls Greenfield, “most of them between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m.” Many callers even offered to form gangs of Doughboy busters. Public interest and media attention surrounding the issue began to grow, most of which portrayed Pillsbury in a negative light – here was this evil corporate giant trying to put two young hippies out of business. Eventually, all of the bad press forced Pillsbury to renege on its ultimatum.

That year, Ben & Jerry’s sales reached over $4 million, a 120 percent increase from the year before. They had refused to be deterred by the threats of Pillsbury and the results would speak for themselves. That wouldn’t be the last time Pillsbury would come after Ben & Jerry’s, but it also wouldn’t be the last time the little guys fought back.

Today, the story of Ben & Jerry’s represents the champion of the little guys; two regular guys with a dream who fought for that dream to the death. They didn’t give up after realizing that their legal options were few and far between. Instead, using the creativity for which they have now become famous, Cohen and Greenfield came up with their own solution to the problem. By rallying people around their cause, the two were able to successfully take on their competitor.

Related Articles
  How can you make more of your customers open your emails?
  What is the best way to develop my sales skills?
  Profitable Online Business Ideas and the Recession Part 2
  Lesson #5: “Hard times are an opportunity for growth”
  Contribution

Article Tags: 1960s, cog, greenfield, hippies



Related Forum Posts
Top Four Young Entrepreneur Mistakes - According to Youngmoney.com, these are the four most common mistakes made by young entrepreneurs: 1) Not enough networking 2) Not prepared for the work load 3) Lack of confidence 4) Afraid to ask family and friends for help I would add to this list not getting started in the first place. But, if these are your problems, I would suggest checking out Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone, and Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start, both of which provide great tactics for getting to that next level.
Re: How to Promote Your Blog – The Definitive Guide to Promoting - Great Post! Dont forget to put your blog in Anchor Text For SEO purposes for the keywords you want when getting backlinks (for example with article marketing)...Very important. You can conquer quite a few small Niches and get your site on the number 1 spot in Google!
Re: Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve. - Congrats! A few months ago I wrote extensively on market research. Check in the Inventors corner for the posts. Let me know if I can help further! Dont spend a dime on a protype or advertising until you do some research! Jude
Re: Who hates cold calling? - I saw this and had to chime in. I HATE COLD CALLS. lol its terrible and a wast of my time. Something i have done is gotten online and found all the networking event happening in my area for the next 2 months and i try and go to about 3 a week. Even just for an hour. Dont bring any business cards. Just meet new people ask them alot about what they do, not too much about what i do and follow up the next day or 2. Has worked well
Re: I'm Back - Hi Guys, Thanks for the worm welcome, I really missed you all.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

What is Discretionary Cash Flow

The State of the Sustainable Furniture Industry

THE “SECRET RECIPES” OF LEADERSHIP

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.