Symrise North America’s Ice Cream Flavor Madness 2020
Attention all, over here! We got it, the bracket of all brackets; a 64-team March Madness style bracket to reveal America’s favorite ice cream flavor.So how were the flavors chosen for this 64 team field of flavors? We conducted hours of preliminary research and developed a competitive bracket based on: the top 50 flavors in retail ice cream products, the top flavors across food service, the fastest growing flavors in food service plus additional exciting flavors from our proprietary TrendScope® research to fill the 64 team field of flavors.
Round 1
Natural Goodness Region | Number 1 seed Vanilla defended its home town region against underdog #16 Saffron Honey Lemon. A #1 Vanilla victory was expected as vanilla is the number one selling ice cream in the U.S. for 2019 (idfa.org).
The Healthy Lifestyle region gave us some heart racing fun.
• #1 Cookies & Cream steam rolled through #16 Black Walnut
• #8 Dark Chocolate beats #9 Guava
• #7Hazelnut beats #10 Black Sesame
• #14 Maple Bacon upsets #3 Horchata
• #15 Pineapple Coconut upsets #2 Cherry
Premium Indulgence Region
• #9 Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel easily defeated #8 Strawberry Banana
• #6 Raspberry defeats #11 Acai Berry
• #1 Chocolate beats #16 Passionfruit Rose
• #13 Churro upsets #4 Fudge
Emotional Discoveries Region
• #1 Strawberry beat #16 French Toast (will face #8 Vanilla Rainbow Sprinkles next)
• #12 Raspberry Cheesecake upsets #5 Coconut (will face powerhouse #4 Rocky Road next)
• #3 Peanut Butter defeats #14 Ginger Chai
• #2 Mint Chocolate breezes past #15 Hibiscus
Round of 32
Natural Goodness Region | The overall two seed and Natural Goodness Region #1 seed Vanilla had high hopes for the Ice Cream Flavor Bracket and carries those hopes forward as #1 Vanilla defeats #8 Mixed Berry.
Premium Indulgence Region
• #9 Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel upsets overall #1 Chocolate by a slim 40 votes
• #7 Chocolate Fudge Brownie upsets #2 Vanilla Bean
• #6 Raspberry upsets #3 Mango
• #5 Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel crushes underdog #13 Churro by 70% to 30% votes
Healthy Lifestyle Region
• #4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough beat #5 Pistachio by less than 60 votes this continues our trend of bakery flavors crossing over into ice cream
• #1 Cookies & Cream dominates #8 Dark Chocolate (will face # 4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough next)
Emotional Discoveries Region
• #1 Strawberry defeats #8 Vanilla Rainbow Sprinkle
• #2 Mint Chocolate is too much for #7 Birthday Cake
• #4 Rocky Road cruises past #13 Mango Chipotle
Super Sweet 16
Natural Goodness Region | #1 Vanilla and #5 Vanilla Caramel face-off in what some have called a clash of the titans ended with a #5 Vanilla Caramel nail biting buzzer beater 51% to 49% win.
Premium Indulgence Region | #9 Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel managed to stay on top of our 10,000 consumers’ preference receiving 69% of votes as it moves on defeating its Peanut Butter counterpart #5 Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel.
Healthy Lifestyle Region | This flavor face-off did not disappoint as the 10,000 consumers voted for #4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to move on the Eatin’ Eight defeating #1 Cookies and Cream by a mere 4 votes!
Emotional Discoveries Region | #12 Raspberry Cheesecake is handing out upsets scoop by scoop. Consumers vote #12 Raspberry Cheesecake to the next round at 52%, taking #1 Strawberry out of the competition.
The Eatin' Eight
Natural Goodness Region | This round #5 Vanilla Caramel could not top #10 Triple Fudge Crunch. As the tenth ranked flavor will advance to the Flavorful Four with 54% of the consumer vote.
Premium Indulgence Region | #7 Chocolate Fudge Brownie stays safe from #9 Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel's peanut butter craze with a 56% consumer vote to advance to the Flavorful Four.
Healthy Lifestyle Region | Consumers chose to advance #4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough at 65% to 35% vote, making quick work of #6 S’mores.
Emotional Discoveries Region | #6 Strawberry Cheesecake reminds #12 Raspberry Cheesecake who the consumers favorite is with a 60% to 40% vote!
The Flavorful Four
Natural Goodness - #10 Triple Fudge Crunch VS Healthy Lifestyle - #4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough | Results: #4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough defeats #10 Triple Fudge Crunch by a consumer vote of 65%.
Premium Indulgence - #7 Chocolate Fudge Brownie VS Emotional Discoveries - #6 Strawberry Cheesecake | Results: #7 Chocolate Fudge Brownie wins an overtime thriller against #6 Strawberry Cheesecake with a consumer vote of 51% to 49%!
The Last Scoop Standing
In the final game, consumers went with the vanilla based flavor. That’s right; #4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is America’s favorite ice cream of 2020 beating out #7 Chocolate Fudge Brownie by a consumer vote of 53% to 47%.
