Igloo Coolers on Tradition and Trends: Marketing Campaign Review

To many of us, there's a sense of nostalgia in an Igloo cooler. If you open up the cupboards at your parents' or grandparents' house, it's one of the portable cooler brands you may be most likely to see. However, in recent years, a much younger, hipper competitor has swept the cooler and drink ware market: Yeti (you might have heard of it). However, in curating its social media feeds, Igloo strikes a balance between both staying true to its roots and launching new, exciting products to a digital audience. How does this strategy work? In this post, we'll explain how Igloo is using social media to market both tradition and trends.

Igloo Promotes Nostalgia on Social Media

One of the biggest "advantages" that Igloo can claim over the mega-popular status brand Yeti is that Igloo has been around for decades. In fact, Igloo has been producing portable, plastic-based coolers since the 1960s, and the brand has existed even longer. The brand has a much longer history than Yeti, which has only existed since 2006 and reached peak popularity in more recent years. When it comes to insulated coolers, Igloo did it first, and in many of its social posts and paid ads, the brand's messaging is anchored to that point.

Especially with the launch of it's throwback 90s products, Igloo is not only comfortable but proud to rely on its strong brand recognition and heritage that's been built throughout the years. By relaunching throwback products, even as a special edition, Igloo is making a statement: the brand has always been known for its quality, and it stands by even its oldest product lines. In the face of Yeti and other cooler brands that have taken an "innovator" approach to the market, Igloo stands strong by its roots, paying homage to the long tradition of its coolers, water jugs, and more.

Igloo and Launching Trending Products

However, Igloo isn't stuck in the past either. By scrolling through Igloo's social feeds, you can see that promoting new product launches is a major part of Igloo's social strategy. Products are heavily promoted with lifestyle photography that mimics Yeti's approach, but in a visual style that matches Igloo's brand aesthetic: fun and family-friendly. At the same time, the posts find a middle ground between purely promotional and entertaining. The brand uses its social feeds to promote each new product launch, including its recently unveiled line of stainless steel drink ware meant to compete with Yeti's products at a more affordable price point. In promoting this launch on social media, Igloo is addressing a segment of the market it may have been missing out on before.

Additionally, Igloo's series of partnered design collections is a huge part of its social media marketing as well. Additional social posts promote the limited edition runs of exclusive collaborations with beloved brands, characters, and pop culture from yesterday and today. For example, Igloo has promoted limited edition cooler designs with Hello Kitty, The Beatles, Star Wars, and more. While appealing to fandom is a great way to bolster interest in a product alone, Igloo's approach to including a wide variety of pop culture on its products helps establish the brand as both modern and classic at once. While Yeti relies largely on its name and cultural status in its marketing, Igloo is presented as a truly timeless brand.