LE MARS, Iowa | The Le Mars-based maker of Blue Bunny ice cream has reached back to the past for inspiration for a new logo and “mascot.”
Wells Enterprises recently introduced “Blu,” which the company described as its “longstanding, but never-featured before brand ambassador.” Blu is depicted as a real bunny with blue fur, akin to the bunny in a Sioux City store window in 1930 that inspired a child to suggest the brand’s Blue Bunny moniker.
During a public event at the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor in Le Mars Wednesday morning, Wells also unveiled its new logo. A large uppercase “B,” with bunny-shaped ears protruding out of the top of the letter, is used to spell both Blue and Bunny. The words “Ice Cream” appear underneath.
The new image replaces a logo that had appeared on packaging since 2004. It featured a contemporary rabbit in a running pose with bands of gold and a red seal bearing the words "Wells - quality since 1913."
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Blu will be featured in a new national media campaign that will help relaunch the brand.
“When people think of ice cream they think of fun. That’s where we come in,” said Adam Baumgartner, vice president of marketing for Blue Bunny. “Next month we are relaunching Blue Bunny ice cream to make sure ice cream lovers find fun waiting for them in grocers’ freezers nationwide this spring.”
As part of the relaunch, Blue Bunny also will introduce 46-ounce- and new quart-sized lines in see-through packaging. The transparent containers are recyclable and BPA free.
Wells has been a fixture in Le Mars since 1913, when Fred H. Wells purchased a horse, a delivery wagon, a few cans and jars from a local dairy farmer Ray Bowers to start a milk route.
Twelve years later, Fred and his brother, Harry C. Wells, formed a partnership to make ice cream in Sioux City. In 1928, the brothers sold the ice cream distribution system to another company. As a result, when they decided to sell ice cream again in Sioux City seven years later, they no longer held the rights to the Wells name. So, they launched a contest to adopt a new brand name.
George Vanden Brink collected the $25 prize after submitting the winning entry, Blue Bunny, the words his 2-year-old son shouted over and over after viewing a stuffed blue Easter bunny in a local department store window. Vanden Brink, a Sioux City Journal advertising artist, also designed the first Blue Bunny logo, a floppy-eared rabbit holding a cone in one hand and a box of ice cream under the other arm.
