Dairy Queen "Blizzard Store" by P4 Ogilvy & Mather

Since its launch, the Blizzard has claimed to be the creamiest ice cream. To prove it, Dairy Queen created a ritual in-store: serving Blizzards upside down promising a spill-free experience or the customer doesn´t pay! 

Three decades later, this marketing trick became predictable.

Even though the Blizzard has introduced new flavors and mixes, the brand needed an original experience that reconnected with its core value: creaminess. 

We had a budget of $16,000 to make this happen.

If every Blizzard must be served upside down, then we were going to build a whole store upside down.

We constructed a Dairy Queen stand completely upside down. The structure was built from the ceiling down (rather than from the ground up). We hired a professional acrobat who was suspended from the ceiling and posed as a Dairy Queen employee handing out Blizzards.

We positioned the stand in one of the main local malls on a day with high foot-traffic. The impact was immediate. Our upside down store astonished all ice cream lovers from kids to elders who shared their experience on social media. 

The Blizzard´s creaminess was once again on people´s minds (and in their mouths).

We needed the structure to meet with two requirements: It had to be easy to assemble and disassemble. And it needed to be able to withstand the weight of the ice cream machines and our “sales people”. 

So, the structure was built with trusses (very commonly used in music concerts and major events) and covered with painted wood. We took special care of the details that created the effect of been upside down. Led lamps and food menus were placed on the floor (the ceiling in our Blizzard Store), while ice cream machines, shaker sand cups were secured to the “ceiling”. 

Next, we placed a metallic rail on the ceiling of the structure where the acrobat could anchor the ropes and climbing harness without losing mobility.

When everything met our expectations, we unveiled the vision-defying stunt, capturing people’s attention immediately.

Content shared by onlookers received over 4.4 million views and over 4.3 million interactions in 9 days. Social media reports showed that thousands of comments included people speculating how in fact this stunt was pulled off and sentiments of disbelief. 

In less than 10 days, the brand was able to generate an impact on social media of over 4.65 million interactions, based on the originality of the Blizzard, which just days before wasn´t even turning heads. 

Dairy Queen was able to prove that the Blizzard could still learn new tricks and once again astonish customers with the ability to defy gravity.

Advertising Agency: P4 Ogilvy & Mather, Panama City, Panama

Chief Creative Officer: Pinky Mon
General Creative Director: Chacho Cabrera
Creative Directors: Werner Lemke, Kochi Restrepo
Head of Art: Roberto Pérez
Senior Graphic Designer: Franklin Lu
Illustrators: Fernando Acosta, Sergio Faria
Producers: Samuel Martinez, Alfonso Diaz
Art Director: Grace Solarte
Film Director: Chicho Canto
DoP: Alvis Gonzalez
Make up: Bessie Linares
Photographer: Paul Castillero
General Manager: Mónica Urrutia
Account Director: Olga Epifanio
Account Executive: Liriola Garcia
Planning: Isabella Ortega
Digital: Maria Emma Faria
Clients: Joshua Henriquez, María Arrieta
Additional Credits: VFX Panama, Geometry Panama, Contexto Panama, La tribu Performance