On the 30^th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s proclamation of July as National Ice Cream Month, IDFA and the ice cream industry made sure that ice cream stayed center stage in media coverage and top of mind for consumers. Throughout July there were a number of positive news and feature stories about ice cream and a celebration of ice cream in social media joined by hundreds of consumers.

IDFA staff worked with national and regional journalists, including the Associated Press, New York Times, NBC and Huffington Post on stories about ice cream, and background information on ice cream provided on IDFA’s website was credited in several print and broadcast stories. The New York Times devoted a 10-page section to ice cream in its July 2 print issue, entitled “The Ice Cream Issue.” The section included stories about favorite regional shops and brands, innovative flavors and the popularity of soft serve ice cream. Several International Ice Cream Association members were prominently featured in these stories, which are posted below.

The TODAY Show contacted IDFA for background about ice cream, and subsequently devoted a five-minute segment on July 9 to ice cream trivia questions. They also produced an ice cream segment on July 10 that featured the TODAY Show anchors sharing their favorite ice cream treat from childhood. Several IDFA member companies got a shout out during this segment.

CBS Sunday Morning News featured a video on July 13, entitled “We All Scream for the Ice Cream Truck.” The video went back in time to explain the history of ice cream and the development of ice cream trucks, while celebrating ice cream and ice cream novelties.

“From stories about emerging flavor trends to the nostalgia of the ice cream truck, IDFA sees more positive dairy stories in July than the rest of the year combined,” said Peggy Armstrong, IDFA vice president, communications. “No question that America’s love of ice cream noted by President Reagan is still going strong.’

Photo Fun on Facebook, Instagram

Molly Pfaffenroth, IDFA communications intern, kept ice cream top of mind on social media throughout July, posting promotional ice cream photos, news stories and messages to Facebook, tweeting fun facts about ice cream on Twitter and engaging with consumers in the ice cream photo contest on Instagram, a photo-sharing site. For the second straight year, consumers posted photos on Instagram that showed how they were celebrating National Ice Cream Month and tagged @dairyidfa. The photo with the most “likes” each Friday was chosen as the winner of free ice cream, donated by IDFA member companies. This year, four winners were chosen for the ice cream photo contest: @fashionistanygirl, @pbphuong, cookingplanit and @vilcekfoundation.

IDFA collaborated with the Animal Agriculture Alliance to produce an ice cream trivia question for their Facebook page. The trivia question asked what percent of all milk from U.S. dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream.

To support the public’s enjoyment of ice cream novelties, IDFA engaged with consumers in an online conversation about slow melting ice cream used to make ice cream sandwiches. Cary Frye, IDFA vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs, used her expertise to provide an accurate and timely blog to answer consumers’ questions.

“I’d like to thank all of the ice cream member companies that helped to make this July another great National Ice Cream Month,” said Armstrong.

For more details about the celebration of National Ice Cream Month, contact Armstrong at parmstrong@idfa.org, or Pfaffenroth at mpfaffenroth@idfa.org.