Moose Tracks ice cream is a popular flavor made with vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, peanut butter candy bits, and caramel swirls. The flavor is owned by Denali Brands and licensed to other distributors in the US. There are six variations of Moose Tracks, and the brand has a strong public relations team and merchandise line.
Moose Tracks ice cream is ice cream flavor graded by chocolate chip and peanut butter candy bits spread across a vanilla base with ribbons of thick caramel. This particular combination was first created by the Denali Brand ice cream company in the early 1990s, and that company still owns the brand. The flavor is used under license by many different distributors, mostly in the United States. Different brands use different types and qualities of ingredients, but the basic characteristics and taste profile are usually the same regardless of the manufacturer.
Flavor basics
In almost every case, Moose Tracks ice cream starts with smooth vanilla ice cream. To this base, ice cream makers add large chunks of chocolate and crushed peanut butter cups, a type of candy popular in the United States and Europe. The pieces are spread out so they’re evenly distributed, then thick swirls of chocolate are also incorporated; the end result is a scoop that contains small tastes of all of these flavors.
The name “Moose Tracks” is mainly related to the pieces of candy. These pieces are meant to look like moose footprints in a wild, snowy terrain. Denali Ice Cream Company is based in Denali, Alaska where moose are a common sight.
Popularity and licensed uses
The Denali Brands ice cream company is run by a husband and wife team, and Moose Tracks is their flagship flavor. They contract with independent dairies for production, and have also licensed the flavor profile to a range of different, generally larger, brands throughout the United States. This allows the flavor to reach many more people, while ensuring maximum profitability for Denali.
Variety and spin-offs
There are six types of Moose Tracks ice cream widely available to consumers. Some of the more popular options include Original Moose Tracks, Chocolate Moose Tracks and Extreme Moose Tracks. Chocolate Moose Tracks is very similar to the original but includes chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. A slightly different variation, Extreme Moose Tracks is also made with chocolate and fudge ice cream, but includes cups filled with fudge instead of peanut butter.
Bear Foot Brownie is a similar flavor sold under the brand banner, but is not officially considered Moose Tracks; it consists of vanilla ice cream with chewy brownie bits. Some flavors have just one type of candy, mixed into the ice cream, while others have a combination. Candy can involve peanut butter, chocolate, or caramel; sometimes all three are used together.
Merchandise and public relations
This particular ice cream flavor is widely recognized as one of the most popular in the United States. Denali has a “store locator” feature on its website that people can use to find places near them that sell the flavor, and it tends to be a big fan of following the specific manufacturer.
Part of this probably owes to Denali’s public relations team. It is relatively rare for ice cream flavors to have targeted advertising campaigns; more often, this happens for entire brands or distributors. Moose Tracks is quite exceptional in this respect. Denali has worked hard to earn the highlights on local and national news and also has a robust advertising campaign in Alaska and throughout the United States.
The brand has also run campaigns to donate money to charities by sponsoring races, triathlons and other community events. Their official website has a news archive of media stories involving the Moose Tracks product. The brand also has a popular line of clothing and accessories, including shirts, hats and more for men, women and kids.
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