With a creative assist from Chase Design Group, Häagen-Dazs had updated its packaging in 2021 and planned for retail locations to follow suit. Dispensing with the mall-ish look that featured stark colors (white, black and burgundy), the updated stores feature blond wood and gold-colored “tapestry” wallpaper that warms up the environment in hopes of drawing more customers inside.

But while the new store plans had been in the works for a while, Häagen-Dazs marketing director Rachel Jaiven told Adweek that the wind-down of the pandemic did feel like the right time to begin implementing them. In the pandemic’s first two years especially, Americans who’d canceled travel plans and found themselves cooped up at home fought the doldrums by indulging themselves in upmarket skin care products, clothing purchases and alcohol. Those tendencies remain, and Häagen-Dazs hopes its new store design will speak to them.

“Consumers [still] want to treat themselves, but they don’t want it to break the bank,” Jaiven said. “There is an affordable luxury of being able to go in and get a beautiful dessert made by Häagen-Dazs. That is definitely a trend that we see, this idea of affordable, casual luxury.”

This story is part of The New Dynamics of Marketing Innovation special feature.