CoolHaus: Building a Brand Around Social Media

Earlier this week, I visited YouTube and happened to see a sponsored video at the top of the screen. Instinctively, I was about to turn off the ad, but something caught my eye and got me just curious enough to watch the CoolHaus video.

(Note: “CoolHaus.com” takes you to a dead domain parking page. The correct URL is EatCoolHaus.com).

The video starts out with a compelling line: “CoolHaus is an architecturally-themed ice cream sandwich company.” They describe their business in one sentence that clearly shows a unique and remarkable niche. The video goes on to show some quick teaser shots of ice cream flavors like red velvet, peach cobbler, coffee crunch, and others.

Here’s what got on my radar. The video mentions the fact that CoolHaus uses social media to sell more ice cream. The ad suggests that the strategy is working, and I don’t find that hard to believe. Why? Because their product and their delivery mechanism is optimized for social media and the web.

If you’ve ever watched Social Media in Plain English(a cartoon video using ice cream as an example of social media for business), you’ll particularly appreciate what CoolHaus has done.

What do I mean by that? The company uses ice cream trucks. The CoolHaus web site allows you to request a delivery to your office with sandwiches built to order, complete with an edible wrapper with your company’s logo on it. You can also load the company’s Google Calendar to see the truck’s delivery route and schedule.

Now, imagine if they’d opened an ordinary ice cream store and done the same thing as everyone else, complete with daily Twitter posts advertising 10% off an ice cream cone. Instead, they built a business worth talking about and then made it easy to spread the word. Seth Godin would be proud.

I don’t know how well CoolHaus’s business is doing, but I like the look of it so far. Let’s put it this way – I can’t imagine any company doing what CoolHaus is doing going completely wrong. If you’re in New York, Houston, or LA and get the chance to try their ice cream sandwiches, let me know how they are! Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting until the company opens up shop in Raleigh.