For information and reference only – not to be submitted as your own work.
This extract shows how a 1,250-word website critical analysis can be organised for the Social and New Media written report brief. It analyses the Singapore site of Ben & Jerry’s (www.benjerry.com.sg), one of the suggested choices. Observations come from a review of the homepage and several inner pages in October 2026, so check the live site before you reuse any detail. If you want the method behind the structure, read our guide on how to write a website critical analysis report.
1. Introduction
Ben & Jerry’s describes itself as a values-led ice cream company. Its own About Us page dates the story to 1978, when two founders opened a scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, and notes that the business became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever in August 2000. An independent board was created at that point to protect the social mission and brand integrity. The site’s footer legal notices now point to the Magnum Ice Cream Company domain.
The Singapore website sits within a network of roughly 30 country sites, selectable from a country menu. Its first impression is playful but orderly. The homepage leads with a single flavour story (Chocolate Fudge Brownie, linked to Greyston Bakery’s jobs and training mission), while the navigation is grouped under Ice Cream Flavours, Where To Buy, Shops & Catering, Activism and About Us. Fun and purpose appear side by side from the first screen.
This report examines the site’s message, then the methods it uses to deliver that message, and ends with recommendations that draw on social and new media practice.
2. Message Analysis
Aim of the website
The site has two jobs. The commercial one is to move visitors towards a purchase: the “Get Ice Cream” prompt sends people to a nearby retailer or delivery partner, and “Find Shops & Catering” leads to scoop shop information. The brand job is to show that the company stands for something. The Activism section, with pages on how the company does business, issues it cares about and its progressive values, takes up as much navigation space as the product range.
Main message
The core message is that indulgent ice cream and social purpose belong together. The How We Do Business page describes the company as a social justice business that makes ice cream, built around what it calls “linked prosperity”, with product, economic and social missions. Sourcing examples, such as partnerships with Greyston Bakery and Fairtrade International, turn that claim into something a visitor can check.
Call to action
Calls to action are plain verbs: Get Ice Cream, Find Shops & Catering, Learn More About Our Values, Connect With Us, Read More. Using AIDA as a lens, the homepage earns attention through the flavour story, builds interest through the values content, and offers action through the retailer and scoop shop routes. The weak point is desire. The page tells visitors where to buy but gives little reason to buy this week, such as an offer, a limited flavour or an event.
A Singapore-specific caveat applies. The retailer and delivery prompt does not, in the content reviewed, name any delivery partner, so a visitor must click through before learning how to order. That adds a step between interest and action.
3. Method Analysis
Current online strategy
The strategy is content-led. The site publishes dated “Top Stories” (a Halloween-season bucket list in October 2026, a summer flavour quiz in August, treat ideas in July), keeps a Flavour Graveyard that rewards fans’ nostalgia, and links to Facebook, Instagram and X under the BenandJerrySG handle. It sits within a global template, so Singapore-specific content is limited to the locale, the scoop shop pages and the social accounts.
Methods used to engage the audience
Kent and Taylor (1998) proposed that organisational websites build relationships through dialogic features: usefulness of information, ease of interface, return visits, conservation of visitors and a dialogic loop that lets users respond. Against that framework, the site offers strong useful information and easy navigation, a visible Contact Us route (a basic dialogic loop), and a rotating story feed that gives reasons to return. In the content I reviewed I found no newsletter sign-up, which limits the conservation of visitors who are not ready to buy.
| Method observed | Message or CTA it supports | Effectiveness (my judgement) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hero flavour story (Greyston Bakery) | Purpose and product together | High | Links a product people recognise to a verifiable social mission |
| Activism section | Values-led brand message | High for fans, medium for new visitors | Detailed and credible, but text-heavy and global rather than local |
| Get Ice Cream and shop finder | Purchase and visit CTA | Medium | Clear verb, but retailer or delivery names were not visible; the finder may depend on cookie consent, so test it |
| Top Stories feed | Return visits, playful tone | Medium | Dated, seasonal, but infrequent and not Singapore-led |
| Social links (Facebook, Instagram, X) | Community and conversation | Medium | Present in the footer, but the homepage shows no embedded social content |
| Contact Us | Two-way dialogue | Low to medium | Reactive; does not invite user-generated content |
Effectiveness
The methods deliver the message of purposeful indulgence well. They deliver the purchase call to action less well, because the step from interest to buying relies on external retailers and a finder that did not load for me without consent. Overall the site is stronger at brand storytelling than at local conversion.
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4. Strategic Recommendations
Tactics not currently used
Three gaps stand out: an email or messaging sign-up, visible user-generated content, and named local ordering routes. Adding them uses the existing content without changing the brand voice.
Changes to the current strategy
- Name the ordering options on the homepage and make “Get Ice Cream” show local options directly, so the path from interest to action is one click shorter.
- Add a short sign-up for flavour news and Free Cone Day reminders, which converts visitors into an owned audience.
- Give Singapore its own story strand alongside the global stories, written in local terms.
Leveraging new and social media
The PESO model (paid, earned, shared and owned media) is useful here, although you should cite a source for it in your own work. The site is strong on owned media, thin on shared and paid, and earned media depends on the social accounts. The table below turns the gaps into testable tactics. Every KPI target would be set after a baseline measurement, and any figures you add are illustrative.
| Tactic | Platform | Intended effect | KPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local flavour-vote campaign for a Singapore scoop shop special | Instagram, Facebook, website poll | Participation, local relevance, desire for the product | Votes, shares, scoop shop visits during the campaign |
| Micro-influencer collaborations with food and lifestyle creators who fit the values message | Instagram, TikTok | Earned reach among younger audiences, trust through peer voice | Engagement rate, saves, referral clicks to the shop finder |
| Transmedia story around a flavour: social teaser, website explainer, in-store moment, follow-up recap | Website, social, scoop shop | Connected experience across touchpoints (Jenkins, 2003) | Cross-platform click-throughs, return visits |
| Free Cone Day countdown with shareable location prompts | Instagram Stories, website | Awareness, footfall, user-generated content | Story shares, tagged posts, event attendance |
| Email or messaging sign-up | Website, owned channels | Retention, direct reach | Sign-up rate, open and click rates |
Transmedia marketing, as Jenkins (2003) describes it, spreads a story across several media so that each adds something new rather than repeating the last. For Ben & Jerry’s, the Flavour Graveyard is a natural seed: a “resurrection” vote could start on social media, continue on the website and finish as a limited scoop shop flavour.
Intended effects and risks
Together these tactics aim to shorten the path to purchase, deepen engagement and make the values message feel local rather than imported. The main risk is credibility. An activism-led brand using paid influencers must disclose partnerships clearly and keep the values content consistent with its claims, or the audience will read it as opportunistic.
5. Conclusion
The Singapore site communicates a clear, consistent message that fun and purpose go together, and its navigation and values content support that message well. Its main weakness is conversion: the call to action is clear in wording but thin in local detail, and the social channels are linked rather than integrated. A sign-up, named ordering routes, a Singapore story strand and a small set of social and transmedia campaigns would address these gaps. Because the review rests on a limited visit, the recommendations should be treated as hypotheses to test with analytics.
If you are working on a similar brief, our marketing coursework support and public relations study guidance pages explain what is available. The website revamp and social media strategy proposal question covers the natural follow-on task.
About the expert
Raphael Liao holds a PhD in media and communication from the National University of Singapore, according to his profile, which also notes that he worked for several media houses in Singapore as a senior copy-editor.
References
Ben & Jerry’s. (n.d.-a). About us. Retrieved 24 October 2026, from https://www.benjerry.com.sg/about-us
Ben & Jerry’s. (n.d.-b). How we do business. Retrieved 24 October 2026, from https://www.benjerry.com.sg/values/how-we-do-business
Ben & Jerry’s. (n.d.-c). Ben & Jerry’s Singapore [Homepage]. Retrieved 24 October 2026, from https://www.benjerry.com.sg
Jenkins, H. (2003, January 15). Transmedia storytelling. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2003/01/15/234540/transmedia-storytelling/
Kent, M. L., & Taylor, M. (1998). Building dialogic relationships through the World Wide Web. Public Relations Review, 24(3), 321–334.
