Carvel Brand Positioning

Carvel invented soft serve in 1934 and has 90 years of rich history. Over the years, the brand began to lose its way chasing trends and competing on flavor. It was time for Carvel to take a stand, get back to its roots and position itself once again as the category leader. It was crucial that the brand and franchisees not only understood the brand’s vision forward, but wanted to participate in making it happen. We worked to develop Carvel’s brand positioning and turn it into a story that would resonate with franchisees, shoppe employees and differentiate us in the hearts and minds of consumers.

Brand History & Facts

In order to uncover a unique positioning, we had to deep dive into the rich history and dig into all the facts and trivia associated with Carvel. I mean, what other ice cream brand has been featured on SNL, 30 Rock, The Simpsons and had the Beastie Boys write a song about them? This is what makes Carvel unique and differentiates them. It was our job to figure out what made this brand so iconic years ago and resurface that in a way that would resinate with a new audience without alienating the loyal fans.

Branded Design Assets

Carvel partnered with Sterling-Rice Group to update and refresh the brand. It was now our job to take the new brand design and bring it to life with the updated positioning. We started in store, redesigning the most prominent collateral to stake our claim as The Original Soft Serve. Up until this point, the brand had been competing on flavor with limited-time offers. This was the turning point for the brand to be unified and establish a cohesive brand identity in store and beyond.