Turkey Hill, the Pennsylvania-based ice cream and beverage brand has built itself on the idea of “deliciously uncomplicated moments at an affordable price.”
The company is celebrating its 90th anniversary, and this foundation is as important as ever. Coming off of a banner 2020 when the company over-delivered on business objectives, Turkey Hill is seeing growth in the premium ice cream category and is responding by introducing a new line of novelty products. The new items include ice cream sandwiches, layered sundae cups, and fruit & cream bars, and hit store shelves March 1st.
The new line of products is aimed at delighting customers for different occasions.
They have three lines of flavors and ice cream novelties, which come as the novelty category is rapidly growing. “People are definitely into self-treat and on-the-go snacking occasions,” said Jim Sterbenz, Chief Commercial Officer at Turkey Hill . “There is something for every individual between the three platforms and 16 items. We had a combination of consumer insights and strong brand recognition of our products. We decided to enter the novelty sector with these three new products.”
Sterbenz noted that over the past year, the brand has been selling ahead of the pace of its categories against competitors. “We certainly already had strong growth, but there is no question that the rise in at-home consumption and the lack of going out to restaurants helped our brand,” he said. “The affordability and great taste of our products really resonated with people during a difficult time. Let’s face it, between COVID and the civil unrest, our brand brings happiness, joy, and comfort with affordability across our whole portfolio, and we are proud of that.”
The brand is currently working on a new TV and digital campaign to promote the new products. This is the first major campaign from the brand since Kroger Co. sold Turkey Hill to Peak Rock Capital for a reported $215 million in 2019. The campaign is focused on the brand’s foundations as a dairy farm and also on its modern sustainability effort.
“Turkey Hill comes from a real place, it’s a farm, there is a turkey hill,” Sterbenz said. “People really resonate with that. That is a large piece of our brand promise to create deliciously uncomplicated moments, made with farm products for our consumers. Our products taste great – ice cream, iced tea, and lemonade – are affordable for people to enjoy in a big way.”
For the campaign, the company has created an asset library to be used across media on TV, digital, social media and at retail. The aim of the new “Turkey Hill Visual Identity System” is that the brand shows up consistently everywhere that consumers see the brand. “Digital and social media are big occasions, we want to communicate information as people live their lives on iPhones, tablets, and ultimately are purchasing more at home and leveraging the power of information in a retail environment to access goods with things like Click and Collect and home-delivery,” said Sturbenz.
The campaign will also highlight its affordability, another of the brand’s core pillars. “People don’t have to take out a second mortgage to buy our ice cream,” Sterbenz said. “The taste is great. We have real ingredients, we are real ice cream, not a ‘dairy dessert.’ Our products are produced right here at Turkey Hill. The company was founded on a farm, the idea of farm freshness is a credential that we bring to life and communicate to consumers.”
