Cone-quering New Markets: 🍦 Ice Cream's Blue Ocean Blueprint for Small Businesses

One innovative approach to positioning is the blue ocean strategy, a concept that encourages businesses to create uncontested market spaces rather than competing in existing ones. This strategy was brilliantly exemplified by my recent visit to the Museum of Ice Cream, which has carved out a unique niche in today's entertainment landscape.

According to Kim and Mauborgne (2005) in their seminal work "Blue Ocean Strategy," this approach refers to "the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand" (p. 12). 

They define a blue ocean as a "metaphorical market space that is untapped and free from competition, representing the potential for growth and innovation" (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005, p. 4).

When seeking a blue ocean strategy for positioning your company, one effective approach is to look across different industries. The Museum of Ice Cream demonstrates this by ingeniously blending elements from two distinct sectors: museums and the ice cream industry.

A museum usually carries art, historical artifacts, and cultural evolutions. Ice cream is typically seen as a product in the food industry. The Museum of Ice Cream took an approach to appeal to people who may love ice cream and history, creating a blue ocean strategy for a unique form of entertainment. They were also obsessive about the product and journey through the museum, which a positioning guru like myself couldn't help but admire.

First off, I LOVE ice cream. My husband asked if I was going to come home because he thought I'd found a new home. However, I do like to be healthy and I’m not sure I’d be happy living in a pink house. Sorry, Barbie. 

The Museum of Ice Cream had a total immersive experience with their brand. To start the journey, you have to come up with your favorite flavor of ice cream, which becomes your "name" as you journey through the museum4. Then you step onto a pink "train" to journey to the rest of the ice cream world. Along the way, they had rooms inspired by a banana sundae, a pink observatory with stars and moons, a history ice cream flavor room, many pink game rooms with life-sized donuts and whip cream, and my personal favorite (plus the kids' favorite), the sprinkle pool1!

The experience was completely immersive. They certainly had a fun twist. ;) For positioning, their uniqueness is clear, the title reflects it, and it is certainly simple enough to understand. Again, taking two different product types from historical entertainment to a food product and combining the two produced a type of entertainment and experience that has no competitor doing the same thing.

This is a blue ocean strategy in the simplest terms. The Museum of Ice Cream created an untapped market space by combining elements from two distinct industries:

1. Museums: They borrowed the concept of curated experiences and educational elements from traditional museums, but reimagined them in a playful, interactive format.

2. Ice Cream Industry: They elevated ice cream from a simple dessert to the centerpiece of an immersive, multisensory experience.

By merging these two concepts, the Museum of Ice Cream created a new category of entertainment that doesn't directly compete with either traditional museums or ice cream shops. Instead, it offers a unique value proposition that appeals to a wide range of consumers, from families with children to adults seeking nostalgic and Instagram-worthy experiences23. This innovative approach has allowed them to create and capture new demand, a key principle of blue ocean strategy. 

When you think about leveraging your businesses’ positioning, think about how to make the messaging an all-in approach, internally and externally. Be obsessive about the audience that desires your product and service and how you can position for success as you grow.