Healthy ice-cream brand Halo Top grew up on the internet. Here’s why it’s launching its first national TV campaign.

Halo Top

Halo Top built its brand using digital advertising. Now, the ice cream upstart is going traditional.
The digitally native brand is rolling out its first TV campaign, consisting of four 30-second ads. It rolls out nationally today.
"We know that TV is a great way to expand our presence with a broader audience who aren’t necessarily that engaged digitally," CEO Justin Woolverton told Business Insider.

Since its launch in 2012, Halo Top built its brand on the back of digital advertising. But now, the ice cream company is shaking things up by going traditional.

Halo Top is introducing its first TV campaign, consisting of four 30-second ads that roll out nationally today and are aimed at broadening its appeal beyond millennial customers.

"We’ve reached a certain saturation point where it makes sense to do more traditional marketing," Halo Top’s CEO Justin Woolverton told Business Insider. "We know that TV is a great way to expand our presence with a broader audience, who aren’t necessarily that engaged digitally."

The campaign, called "Ice Cream for Adults," kicks off during ABC’s hit reality show "The Bachelor" today. The idea behind the campaign is that sometimes adults deserve ice cream more than kids, given the pressures and responsibilities of life.

From online dating to accidentally hitting "reply all" in a work email chain, the campaign has fun with the perils of adulthood, with a quick-witted ice-cream man dishing out cynical life lessons to adults.

In line with the campaign’s launch during "The Bachelor," the brand roped in "The Bachelor" alum Nick Viall for a cameo in one of the spots titled "Love," to make the case that he deserves ice cream after getting his heart broken on national television.

Until now, Halo Top’s strategy has focused on digital and social, with posts and videos have been the epitome of food porn, featuring its signature bright packaging interspersed with images showing swirls of its colorful flavors.

Halo Top still plans to use digital advertising and stick to its plainspoken voice to set the brand apart from other upstarts and established competitors like Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s and Nestle.

"Not only does our product speak for itself, we have a brand voice unlike the more traditional ice cream brands who have been around for a lot longer," said Woolverton. "We like to keep it real and avoid canned, corporate answers, and think that authentic voice also shows through in our marketing efforts."

The campaign is focused on increasing awareness of the brand, but will also be tracking sales lift, said Woolverton. Halo Top’s US sales surpassed $248.5 million as of November, according to CNBC.

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