Carvel Ice Cream is leaning on its brand’s legacy, including the gravelly voice of its founder, as the franchised chain prepares new marketing for what it hopes will be a busier summer.

Carvel, like numerous other ice cream brands, is out with items appealing to trends such as dairy-free products. But the brand’s legacy is a key differentiator as Carvel increases paid advertising four times beyond what it used to spend, says Nicolle DuBose, VP and chief marketing officer, Carvel.

When Tom Carvel’s ice cream truck broke down decades ago, his ice cream started to melt and got softer. “Customers that were coming actually really liked the soft ice cream,” DuBose says on the latest episode of the “Marketer’s Brief” podcast. “He recognized that that was something that was unique and really built on that.”

Carvel turned that challenge into an opportunity. With $15 from his fiancée he started his ice cream business that led to a franchised chain, says DuBose.

“There might have been some other inventors around but Carvel is the original soft-serve ice cream inventor,” says DuBose.

Carvel himself voiced ads for products such as the Fudgie the Whale cake. The cake, introduced in 1977, features the line “to a whale of a dad” for Father’s Day, a key cake sales day for Carvel.

“People remember that Tom Carvel gravelly voice, and it’s very distinctive,” says DuBose. 

This month, Carvel is bringing back the voice of Carvel, who died in 1990, to sell the whale-shaped cakes. There’s also a new number that people can call (1-833-FUDGIE1) to hear dad jokes.

“Nostalgia has such a play with emotions and people really want to feel something,” says DuBose.

And Fudgie the Beer is also returning. The beer, made in a partnership with Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, sold out in 2018 and 2019 and wasn't sold in 2020.

New retro marketing featuring Fudgie the Whale comes after Carvel in April began emphasizing the chocolate crunchies that are popular in its ice cream cakes as a topping for other items.

“Sometimes you just have to go back to your roots and listen to what your consumers are telling you,” DuBose says of the popularity of the crunchies.

Carvel gave away small boxes of crunchies meant to mimic boxes of cereal.

“It certainly created a lot of chatter, which is exactly what we wanted,” says DuBose. Now, Carvel plans to introduce a new flavor of crunchies, says DuBose.

Carvel, which is part of Focus Brands, along with chains such as Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon, faces a variety of competitors. Along with other ice cream shops, like Dairy Queen, there are a plethora of ice cream brands sold in grocery stores, such as Turkey Hill, that have introduced new items. There’s even non-dairy competition in soft-serve. Oatly, the oat milk brand that went public in May, is selling its soft-serve at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. And, ice cream brands are eager to recapture some of the sales lost during the pandemic.

In 2020, Carvel adapted to changing dining habits by emphasizing delivery through third-party providers and offering DIY kits for cakes and flying saucer sandwiches.

“We actually had a pretty good year overall in 2020 and recovered quite well,” says DuBose.