This summer, the Dreyer’s Fruit Bars* brand is bringing a taste of real life to the online gaming world.   On June 13, 2011, top players from Zynga’s wildly popular FarmVille game are packing their shovels and leaving their virtual farms behind as they head to rural Farmville, Virginia to plant an actual fruit orchard for the community.

The new orchard in Farmville, VA commemorates a branded integration between Dreyer’s Fruit Bars and FarmVille. From June 13 to June 19, 2011, FarmVille players across the country will plant limited edition Dreyer’s Fruit Bars branded crops within the FarmVille game, earning additional profitability and the opportunity to receive mastery recognition for planting, growing and selling the Fruit Bars crops.

A handful of lucky players have been selected to plant trees in real life, as well.  Sharyn Martinez is among the FarmVille enthusiasts traveling to Farmville, VA to plant a fruit orchard with Dreyer’s Fruit Bars.  “Being from Los Angeles, I thought the only way I’d get to plant an orchard was on my beautiful virtual farm! But now, thanks to Dreyer’s Fruit Bars and Zynga, I am getting ready to dig in and plant fruit trees in the real town of Farmville,” says Sharyn.

The planting in Farmville, VA is an example of Dreyer’s Fruit Bars ongoing commitment to revitalizing one of our most precious resources:  fruit trees. In 2010, Fruit Bars introduced Communities Take Root, an annual program dedicated to planting fruit tree orchards in deserving communities nationwide.  Throughout the summer, Dreyer’s Fruit Bars invites people across the United States to cast their vote to help twenty communities blossom, one orchard at a time. 

“Dreyer’s is passionate about helping neighborhoods become greener, healthier and of course, sweeter. We’re thrilled to introduce Fruit Bars and the Communities Take Root program to Farmville’s passionate community, and to support FarmVille players in bring a thriving fruit orchard to the Farmville, VA community,” says Jia Li, Fruit Bars Associate Brand Manager.

To learn more about Dreyer’s Fruit Bars and Communities Take Root, visit www.CommunitiesTakeRoot.com to read the inspiring nominations and cast your vote. The communities with the most votes will receive a fruit tree orchard, which will be planted in partnership with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to planting fruit trees to support healthy nutrition worldwide.

*Marketed as Edy’s® Fruit Bars in the Midwest and East.

Situation: Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream selected Zenzi to concept and execute its ”Own the City” campaign in San Diego,Orange County and Los Angeles. The goal of the campaign was to introduce Dreyer’s array of exciting new flavors and products to working professionals and families while abiding by the mantra Small Budget – Big Impact. With limited funds, the team had to utilize unused and unusual resources to create a win-win solution for the Dreyer’s brand suite and customers. Zenzi reached out to different demographics with a multi-touch approach.

Touch Point #1: Creative Stunt: Rocky Road Lunch Break Challenge.  Event for business professionals, a fun-filled scavenger hunt on the streets of downtown San Diego with teams of 150 workers in branded Dreyer’s t-shirts competing to win a Dreyer’s Ice Cream freezer for their offices to garner both media and grassroots attention through word-of-mouth marketing and buzz.

Touch Point #2: Little Heroes San Diego Padres Campaign: Zenzi partnered with the San Diego Padres to promote NESTLE DRUMSTICK! Ice Cream Cone and reward local students for outstanding contributions to schools and local community. The NESTLE Little Heroes program leveraged Dreyer’s Padres sponsorship and rewards 40 children throughout Southern California in the summer who win four tickets to a Padres game, a chance to attend batting practice before the game, a hat and t-shirt, and the title of the “Playball Kid” title. Each winner kicks off the game by calling out let’s Playball featured on the big screen.

Touch Point #3: The Dreyer’s Ice Cream Mural Contest: In an effort to reach out to college kids and position the product in a cool way to genneration Y demographic Zenzi and Dreyer’s approached a key customer, Hawaiian Saved Ice with a very visible building in need of revitalization that was in close proximity to the boardwalk and beach in San Diego. The owner agreed to partner with NESTLE to create a mural to help liven up the storefront. Zenzi collaborated with Platt (Media Arts) College, San Diego to promote a contest for art students to design and paint an ice cream mural. The prize for the winning design was a $1,000 scholarship.

Results: Zenzi achieved the goal of creating an emotional bond with consumers in various target segments. The campaign garnered over 90 million media impressions in the San Diego area. The Dreyer’s brand name was plastered throughout the downtown business districts and consumer street teams in Dreyer’s paraphernalia were seen by thousands of passersby and Padres fans in PETCO Park. The stunts garnered coverage from major local media outlets including, a morning segment on NBC 7/39, San Diego Union-Tribune, SignonSanDiego.com, San Diego Magazine feature story, San Diego Reader, 944 Magazine, Hillquest.com, San Diego California Online, San Diego Daily Transcript, and San Diego Metropolitan Magazine. Dreyer’s has since commissioned Zenzi to run similar events across the country and hired Zenzi as the national agency for the Dreyer’s Dibs, Nestle Drumstick and Fruit Bars brands.

According to Diane McIntyre, Public Relations Manager,

“Zenzi has been a true partner to Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, integrating a hugely successful media plan that increased brand sales results. Their execution was flawless and produced results more than three times our initial goal.”