How Magnum ice cream uses pricing to boost sales

Pricing decisions can come from many places in an organization—the CEO, CFO—or they can even be influenced by product professionals. In the hands of the CRO, pricing can be used, predictably, as a revenue generator—at least that’s what happened at The Magnum Ice Cream Company.

The brand uses pricing to drive revenue in a way that (hopefully) lasts. Assisted by performance marketing company Ibotta, the brand, which houses Good Humor, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Klondike, Talenti, and Breyers, said that it saw a 104% increase in incremental sales compared to last year’s promotional campaign.

Database-ics

Chris Riedy, CRO at Ibotta, is often looking from his revenue organization and into another. When doing so, he is adamant about the value of data. His team has 14 years of sales data that allows them to see trends and challenges relating to pricing and velocity inside of various categories.

When working with Magnum, it was about making an educated bet on the right offer.

“If Magnum all of a sudden is like, ‘Whoa, we’re under way more pressure. We need to move more units than we thought. Without all of that corpus of data to do the analysis, the closed loop measurement, the ability to optimize on the fly, you’re back in the paper coupon world,” Riedy said.

Despite the flexibility that an effective pricing and promotions approach can bring, Riedy and his team work with companies to weather changes.

“We’re in this moment right now where we are focused intently on evolving promotions, and our North Star is proving the incremental impact of the promotion,” Riedy told Revenue Brew.

Pricing power

The ice cream segment is highly seasonal, and cooler months like January are often slow periods.

Magnum routinely tests different types of pricing and deals to accommodate for such fluctuating demand.

Beyond the slower Q1, for Bentley King, head of marketing operations, US, the challenge is also navigating a price-conscious consumer environment.

“From a marketing standpoint, the constraint wasn’t awareness since we already know these brands are loved. The question was how to convert intent into action in a value‑conscious moment, particularly outside of peak ice cream season,” King wrote in an email to Revenue Brew.

Backed by numbers

Pricing is increasingly becoming a question for the rev org.

According to a survey from AI-driven price optimization firm Zilliant, 27% of respondents believe CROs are most accountable for pricing outcomes. The survey also showed that last year manufacturers and distributors ate into their own margins to stay competitive.

Ultimately, King found that by introducing more conversion‑driven incentives, he and his team could generate both trial and repeat behavior.

“That insight is now reshaping how we think about the role of promotions and performance investment across the year,” King wrote.

Lastly, another indicator that the campaign moved the needle is that nearly 619k total promotion redemption units were purchased, up 28% from last year’s program, according to the company.