Marketing campaigns featuring athletes have become commonplace. So for a promotion tied to the kickoff of college football season, Dairy Queen highlighted team mascots instead.

To tout its specially priced Chicken Strip Basket and new MVP Dip Lineup, Dairy Queen called on a trio of bird mascots for a social-first campaign running throughout September. In the posts, The Duck from the University of Oregon, Illinois State University’s Reggie Redbird and the University of Kansas’s Big Jay bemoan how the products’ popularity are a threat to their safety. “The fans were so obsessed, they were trying to dip anything with wings,” exclaims Reggie Redbird in the first of the four videos imploring consumers to “dip chicken, not mascots.”

In addition to appearing on Dairy Queen’s social channels, the content will show up on the schools’ socials and as paid social videos. There will also be in-stadium activations at Illinois State and University of Kansas. To gauge the campaign’s success, Dairy Queen will look at engagement, impression delivery for paid social, sales, and “conversation and where the campaign breaks through with fans,” says Becky Felling, Vice President of Marketing at American Dairy Queen.

Not Just for Football Fans

With hundreds of avian college mascots to choose from, Dairy Queen winnowed down its picks with an eye on logistics and ensuring multiple regions of the country were represented. At the same time, the mascots and their humor needed to resonate nationally. “What we were really looking for in these mascots was that personality to come through,” Felling explains.

That’s important because although the promotion leans into college football, it’s not designed exclusively for gridiron fans. “Because it’s so lighthearted with the mascots, it really extends to people who aren’t diehard fans,” Felling says. After all, you don’t have to follow sports to be entertained by a person dressed as an oversize bird running away from an overzealous lover of chicken strips.

And “just like football, this brings together a cross-generational national audience,” Felling adds, noting that both her mother and her college-age sons enjoy the campaign — and since her sons rarely comment on her work, when they do “then I know we’re hitting somewhere with the younger folks,” she laughs.

Multiple Campaigns, Multiple Audiences

With the support of several agencies, Dairy Queen’s marketing team produces 30–40 campaigns a year, running as many as five at a time. Some are for specific product categories, such as cakes and specialty treats; others are attached to holidays or cultural moments. Although the company prides itself on appealing to a broad range of demographics, particularly families, it does make certain that a significant portion of its marketing targets younger audiences.

Felling says its social-led campaigns, such as this one, are the most effective in engaging younger consumers. As part of its social presence, the brand works with numerous influencers, such as ShhhhImEating (5.5 million TikTok followers), Kie Eats (4 million TikTok followers), and Kaylla Lewis (1.8 million TikTok followers), and uses its social channels to hop onto viral trends. In August, for instance, it played along with the “kinda chic” trend, noting on Instagram that it was “kinda chic to get a sweet treat after every meal” and “to get a fun lil summer drink.”

Beyond appealing to multiple consumer segments, Dairy Queen also has to market to its franchisees, especially as the company does not own or operate any U.S. locations itself. “You’re first selling the idea and the concept in the marketing calendar to our franchise system because you want them to be excited to promote it,” Felling says. “So we have a lot of different stakeholders. It’s the combination of thinking through the lens of a small-business owner, that independent franchise owner: How is this promotion good for them? And then also thinking through the lens of a consumer: Why is this promotion good or exciting or interesting for them?”