Sleeping Beauties Foodies

I suppose you could file this under the heading “At least they were thinking about classical music”


Although boutique ice cream giant Haagen-Dazs decided that a common classical music term, “dolce”, projected the imagine they desired for a new ice cream product – gentle and sweet – perhaps that is as far as they should have taken the classical music angle. Instead, they helped launch the product by treating 80 people to generous helpings of the product while listening to a violin recital. Oh, and the people were all in bed“gentle and sweet”, get it?

Unfortunately, no one involved on the Haagen-Dazs marketing project seemed to realize that classical music patrons already fall asleep during slower movement of concerts (even in uncomfortable concert hall seats). As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that pumping people full of ice cream after putting them to bed all while professional violinists serenade them with gentle, sweet music is just a recipe for people falling asleep.

Nevertheless, this is another good example of the ongoing disconnect between classical music and mainstream cultural consciousness. And I’ll still probably buy the ice cream; if nothing else, just to see if it makes me fall asleep…

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

Related Posts

1 thought on “Sleeping Beauties Foodies”

Leave a Comment