Cheri from The Watering Mouth here!

I had the pleasure of going to the Ben and Jerry’s corporate headquarters and the public tour facility in Vermont a couple weeks back in Jaden’s place and wanted to share the things that struck me as things you’d never know about this company unless you got the inside look! And because hey, when Ben and Jerry’s asks you to go eat ice cream for a few days…you say YESSSS!!!

And then, we’ll be giving away some awesomeness at the bottom of the post — so don’t forget to signup!!

Things you’d never know about the corporate office:

1. There’s a yoga room, exercise room, NAP ROOM!, and a breast-feeding room called “The Milky Way”. HAHA. Love that.
2. There’s a huge twisty slide in the main entrance, which may or may not make your hair go all Albert Einstein, especially if you’re from Florida and not used to the dry air.
3. The employee mailboxes are actual mailboxes.
4. Dogs are allowed in cubicles. There around 12 dogs that hang out full-time with their owners during work hours!

As a social media geek user, I thought it was pretty awesome to hear about their social media strategies…especially the integration of Twitter + giving out FREE ICE CREAM. It’s like way back when Ben and Jerry started the company — one of their things was that they gave out free ice cream on special occasions, like Mother’s Day, their one year anniversary, etc. And now they have Free Cone Day every year, which I happened to partake in last week! They call this “trying to love our fans more than they love us.” I love that concept.

And so, they use Twitter in what they call “Sampling via Twitter”. Basically, they do a tour with a big van to a few major cities on the East and West coasts and give out free ice cream and let people tweet about it to request the truck come to their location. It creates a lot of viral buzz and goodwill with everyone by giving free ice cream. I love those kind of marketing strategies that really involve their customers in a grassroots kind of way.

AND THEN — at around noon on one of the days I was there, Jerry HIMSELF showed up and we got to hear him talk for a bit. I was so surprised to get to see him and also to hear the cool stuff he had to say. Some gems were:

Words of Wisdom from Jerry of Ben and Jerry’s:

1. “Ben and I get along very well. We have a similar world view and view of the company. Ben is the entrepreneurial one; he likes to try new things. He’d rather fail at something new than do something that’s been done before. I do really well within a box; I like a manageable agenda. I’m happy to follow Ben and his ideas — and hardly anything ever goes really wrong.”
2. “We were thinking of starting the company at age 26 and we finally did open it at age 27. We were just having fun and had no idea what we were doing. It wasn’t until about 10 years into it, that we decided to expand our mission to include social issues.”
3. “My all-time favorite flavor is Coconut Almond Fudge Chip, which doesn’t exist anymore…even our favorite flavors get dumped if they don’t sell…”
4. “The more caring and compassionate a company is, the more successful they will be.” 

And that being said, let’s get on with the giveaway, shall we?

Included in this giveaway

• 10 Free Pint coupons 

(approximately $55 value)

How to enter this giveaway

Please fill out the entry form below.

For good contest karma, follow Ben and Jerry’s on Facebook and Twitter.