TFB 029: How journalists got a taste for an ice cream startup

Our guest today is Victoria Turner, also known as ‘Plum’ and she’s Head of Marketing and Comms at Oppo Ice Cream who make delicious but healthy ice cream, so you can indulge without having to count calories. And how do they do this? Through using ingredients which are good for you - meaning 60% less sugar and calories than regular ice cream! Now Oppo has a great backstory. Brothers Charlie and Harry Thuillier ran out of food while kite-buggying in Brazil. Hungry and out in the wilderness they had to fend for themselves living off wild fruits. Realising how delicious and healthy the fruit was they decided to use it to flavour ice cream and give people ‘permission to indulge’ - guilt-free consumption - eat as much as you like because it is healthy. And so Oppo was born. Plum joined them in the early days, the three of them sat around the kitchen table, as all great startups do, and although tasked with marketing she got stuck into all aspects of the growing the business. It was great chatting with Plum and she shared some awesome advice that I know will be useful to you guys - like how to use PR to change people's perceptions, how to communicate two seemingly contradictive ideas - healthy and indulgent - and get them to sit right with people so they become converted to your product. Change mental associations and you can change behaviour – treats can be good for you. Plum is big on customer engagement - responding to every message or tweet, and even getting out on the road to give people samples (or out on your bike in Plum’s case). She’s a firm believer that face to face interaction both with journalists and the customer is the best way to build brand loyalty.