Although popular with older millennials, luxury ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs faced a challenge building relevance within the Gen Z German market. Positioning themselves as the “Ice Cream of Ice Creams”, Häagen-Dazs needed to find a route to culturally connect with a generation graduating into a post-pandemic world, whilst landing their creative platform, #DontHoldBack – a rallying call for everyone to follow their inner voice and live life to the fullest. 

So, what was our route? 

In the wake of global lockdowns, it became clear that the pandemic had opened the door to an onslaught of digital side hustle culture, with Gen Zs pursuing passion projects to complement or replace traditional work.  

With a close eye on shifting behaviour patterns, we created the ‘Don’t Hold Back Projekt’: a force-for-good social initiative that would kickstart Gen Z’s passion projects, turning them into long-term and sustainable careers. 

Playing into these trends, we set up a straightforward and democratic social media-led application system – amplified via influencers and paid social – to discover the best up and coming, socially-native, German talent. Across business innovators and creatives alike, we wanted to uncover individuals who were bursting with potential but lacked the resources to take the next step. 

Our campaign was split into 3 phases. 

PHASE 1 | THE APPLICATION.  

We drove applications through a microsite via paid social and influencer activity – where our future entrepreneurs submitted 100 words and 5 photos/videos on their passion projects

PHASE 2 | THE JUDGING.  

Sifting through all entries, we judged each applicant on 3 KPIs.

1 INDIVIDUALITY: Unique, fresh & something you’ve never seen before. 

2 SELF EXPRESSION: A true representation of themselves – authentic & undiluted.