Ad campaigns moo- ving in
Compiled by Mike Maddock

Mimi Maddock and Pam Clark enjoy a gift from Blue Bell Creamery.

Some companies have chosen to spend their advertising dollars a little differently than others. Two such companies are Blue Bell ice cream out of Brenham, Texas and www.CockyMenus.com from Columbia.

As part of its promotion called Free Lunch Columbia, www.CockyMenus.com will provide free lunches to selected offices in downtown Columbia. USC student and owner of CockyMenus.com, Cole Miller says, "Instead of spending money to do traditional advertising, I decided to take the money and give it back to our customers."

CockyMenus.com was created eight months ago and has mainly targeted the college market. To date, over 55,000 visitors have viewed nearly 110,000 menus on the website.

In honor of its 100th anniversary in 2007, Blue Bell fans in 17 states were given the opportunity to submit ice cream names with suggested flavors.

The winner was South Carolina's Jane Hegley and the new flavor was Southern Hospitality Ice Cream. Now Blue Bell representatives are fanning out throughout the South promoting Southern Hospitality along with two other new flavors, Mooo Tracks and Centennial Cupcake, much like they did when the company started in 1907 - by offering samples. It's a method that has served the company well. Despite distribution in only 17 states, Blue Bell is the third- largest branded ice- cream maker in the U.S.