A case study in partnering with an ice cream distributor as a production team.
Synthesizing the Vision
Whenever partnering with a company (or individual) on a marketing journey, whether it is small or large scale, we have learned (experientially) that it is key to have a grasp of the day-to-day operations, and long term vision of the business. How else does one map out a journey without knowing where the company intends to go? We needed a North star to reference on our new seas, and our new seas were partnering in production with Bumblebee ice cream. As a production team this is essentially a conversation with the partnered team, gaining an understanding of their style and desires, then reviewing their current network and what it can reveal to us. Once done, our team begins the melting process of creative ideas. Taking outside inspiration, acquired skills and abilities from experience, and the context of the company we are working with; then we begin the preparation for our production quest.
Questing for the Pieces
This particular endeavor was not a one-and-done shoot day, but a series of unique shoots. The nature of Bumblebee Ice Cream is to service events. As this is being written, the current events they serve are a sum of 5: School, Wedding, Graduation, Corporation, and Birthday events. These events can be served by an ice cream cart that is dropped off—and picked up by Bumblebee, or an ice cream truck (of the future) that can serve up to 10,000! So, they can feed a Lord of the Rings sized army, which meant scale was one of our keys on our journey.
Knowing the variety of locations Bumblebee attended, we had our coordinating and communication skills put to work, and our team moving. Our shoots were a series of events over the summer of 2025, ranging from city events in Walker, MI, a wedding at a country club, a trailer park party, a corporation (Etna), to a graduation party…Nothing like being at a graduation party with cameras, and people you don’t know! The family was very welcoming and kind to us, along with the quality taste of choosing the Hudsonville ice cream cart. Which segways to our next key in our quest, ice cream variety.
Facets to mark on our production map were keying in our angle on ice cream options. Tasked to compliment the levels of choice Bumblebee provides to an events palette. Over 50 selections for catered audiences, can become a curated variety for guests, and this is the beauty of Bumblebee we were bound to showcase. This leads to the question of how does one access the plethora of delectable chemistry of cream and ice for large events? Our next piece to uncover. The process.
Many who have planned events (even small ones) quickly learned that it was easier said than done. Our team and Bumblebee understands that, which was why our coordinates webbed to the process of having a cart or truck serve an event. This led us to the Bumblebee headquarters to ice out the beginning to end of their work. Working with their team was a joy (coincidentally the name of our coordinator), with our former understanding of their day-to-day we networked a bulk shoot day to gather photos, footage, and assets of their operations. Working a chemistry to synthesize a melding of sweet ingredients presenting a smooth and sweet process to have Bumblebee ice cream at an event. Celebratory events are meant to be joyous (including the planning), and Bumblebee is built to let the facets of dessert be a delectable experience for clients, beginning to end.
Having the pieces gathered from an ironically hot (summer production) quest, it was time for our production to transform into post-production; advancing our pieces into something visually sweet, and informative.
Melding and Crystalizing Assets
Let’s keep it short and sweet. Having a strong pre-production and production are ingredients for a smoother streamlined post-production. A major key here was the team of Bumblebee being cooperative and collaborative with our team. The shoot’s difficulty would have been wildly challenging without their hand in coordination, being in shots, and operating their assets for video and photo. As a marketing and content creation team, our quest is to bring the company (both VNTG. and partner) to a higher tier of awareness, quality, connectivity, and revenue with our productions.
With Bumblebee we were able to shoot for and create a series of 5 main videos, 14 support videos, and photos of each event location. The main videos were highlighting their capabilities and process. Encompassing capabilities of the carts and trucks, the kind of events served, frequently asked questions, and their process. The 14 supports were designed as website and social assets, built to level up their website, correspond with SEO, and bring awareness to their audience and back again.
Much more positives can be said about Bumblebee ice cream and getting to partner with them, but at this point we’ll let our collective work speak for itself. We highly recommend having Bumblebee at your next event, and also checking out our production work with them. Here’s to more joyous times with loved ones shared over ice cream.
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