Based in Paris, France, and working internationally, Ice Cream for Everyone is Willem van der Horst's brand strategy consultancy. We develop effective creative strategies and facilitate workshops in order to fulfil on partners and clients’ brand building and business growth goals.

1. Playful Strategy

2. Based in Paris, France, Ice Cream for Everyone is
a consultancy started by Willem van der Horst.
We develop effective creative strategies and
facilitate workshops in order to fulfill on clients’
brand building and business growth goals.
We research and publish content about brand
strategy, advertising, digital marketing, play, and
game design for a wide public, available in
writing, audio podcast, and an email newsletter.

3. We Do What Brand Strategists Do:
Brand Building
Marketing
Strategy
Research Innovation
• Branding for a new
product or service
• Refining core brand
purpose
• Updating brands for
new opportunities
or challenges
• Considering brand
portfolios following
M&A operations
• International
expansion
• Developing idea
platforms for
marketing
communications
• Bridging the gap
between business
needs and creative
opportunities across
all types of media.
• Digital / eCRM /
social media
strategy.
• Competitor
evaluation
• Cultural, media, &
business trends
• Ethnography
• Consumer insights
• Focus groups
• One on one
interviews
• Qualitative and
quantitative studies.
• Developing new
products and
services
• Envisioning the
future of products,
services, categories
• Developing
Corporate Social
Responsibility
Guidelines
• Rewiring heads for a
digital first world.

4. With A Global Perspective…
Having worked in Paris, London, Singapore, and Chicago, we
developed brand strategies with agencies, global Fortune 500 brands,
SMEs, and startups across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Americas.

5. And a Unique Method.
A play state of mind fosters lateral thinking, catalyzes new ideas, creates
competitive advantages, and importantly generates business growth.
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/4239849264/

6. Animals play, and we humans do too.
“Mammals of every species indulge in play. Games are
Nature’s way of preparing us to face difficult realities.”
- Daniel Suarez
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peter-trimming/13495068164/

7. Play enhances the brain’s functionality.
Play favors the development of fine mobility, emotional regulation,
complex thinking, problem solving, creativity, imagination, and more.

8. Human beings have been developing
games, the most complex and creative
forms of play, for thousands of years
"We found that play activates the whole neocortex, And that of the
1,200 genes that we measured, about one-third of them were
significantly changed simply by having a half-hour of play.”
- Pr. Jaak Panksepp, Washington State University

9. A play state of mind opens creativity and eases
agile design. It sheds new light on challenges and
opportunities, making it a powerful strategic asset.
“Almost all creativity
involves purposeful play.”
- Abraham Maslow

10. Different types of play and gaming offer different
creative benefits; from basic object manipulation,
to intricate role play and storytelling mechanics.
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alper/16138732808/

11. We leverage our experience in brand strategy,
coaching, game design, and agile methodologies
to generate breakthrough ideas and thinking.

12. As a result, our clients and partners generate new
competitive advantages and business growth.
“The creation of something new is not accomplished
by the intellect but by the play instinct.”
- Carl Jung

13. Playful Strategy
1. A plan of action to achieve a long-term goal, born
out of the creativity provided by a play state of mind.
2. The use of structured play, including game-like
elements (e.g. cards, dice, tokens), to generate
different ideas, devise action plans; fulfilling business
objectives and achieving unprecedented results.

14. Sample Tools & Methodologies
• Playful workshops
– Strategic challenge definition
– Uncovering insights
– Ideas & solutions development.
• Brand strategy
– Defining your brand character
positioning
– Defining stakes and responsibility
– Establishing long term strategies.

15. Case Study
Brand
Building
Research
Optiver is a leading global electronic trading market maker. They
compete for talent with brands such as Apple or Facebook.
Objective: To refresh the Optiver branding and communications in
order to stand out and attract the best possible talent.
Highlights:
• Conducted qualitative interviews with the company leadership,
students, and recent employees to understand their motivations.
• Facilitated workshop exercises with brand cards and derived from
tabletop roleplaying game mechanisms to create ideal
candidate personas and discuss their possible career pathways.
• Developed a brand strategy and creative brief to express
Optiver’s new employer brand idea for potential candidates,
leading to an increase in relevant recruitment applications.

16. Case Study
Brand
Building
Research
CDK Global is the global leader in automotive dealership
management technology. After acquiring eCRM system Elead, they
needed to consider the best way to brand and communicate their
different services going forward.
Objective: Research and develop recommendations for the
integration of the Elead brand in the CDK Global portfolio.
Highlights:
• Conducted industry research and qualitative interviews with
stakeholders, employees, and customers.
• Facilitated a brand workshop with stakeholders, developed brand
recommendations, and creative briefing.
• We created a successful creative solution to evolve the Elead
brand for their customers most concerned about changes,
keeping it distinct from the CDK mother brand.

17. Case Study
Research Food Story Brands is one of the fastest growing food companies
in the U.S. with new opportunities to grow with the largest retailer
in the country (This was a new business pitch).
Objective: Create a new framework for “21st century brand-
building” and a brand platform for a refrigerated salsa brand.
Highlights:
• Conducted industry research, store visits, online quant survey,
and a qual focus group.
• Created new guidelines for 21st century brand-building.
• Developed a creative brief, a new brand strategy platform,
and the new business pitch was won.
Brand
Building
Marketing
Strategy

18. Case Study
Research
Kimberly-Clark’s Cottonelle is one of the largest toilet paper
brands worldwide. They were testing product innovation, and
the best ways to communicate news for consumers.
Objective: Research and develop recommendations to identify,
test, and communicate new Cotonelle product innovations.
Highlights:
• Conducted product research and wrote copy in preparation
Nielsen BASES product development testing.
• Facilitated an innovation workshop with stakeholders from
marketing, consumer insights, and product departments.
• Developed copy leading to successful Nielsen BASES testing.
Innovation

19. Case Study
SC Johnson’s Raid and Baygon are the market leading pest
control brands worldwide, however they needed to firm their
position for nighttime mosquito protection against competitors in
many countries, such as India, China, and Argentina.
Objective: Develop a multilingual and multimedia global
advertising communications campaign for nighttime protection
within the brand’s “It’s Good to be Tough” creative platform
Highlights:
• Analysis & research with SC Johnson Consumer Insights team.
• Developed creative briefing and strategic direction, briefing
with all agency partners.
Research
Brand
Building
Marketing
Strategy

20. Playful Strategy
Thank you for reading, please get in touch if you’d like
to have a coffee and chat about your projects!
Willem van der Horst
www.icecreamforeveryone.net
willem@icecreamforeveryone.net
Twitter / Insta @ICWillem
Tel. / WhatsApp +33 (0)7 52 63 98 76