Icee

The original! The ‘world’s biggest’! A genuine American icon! But carbonated slush brand ICEE had never been available in the UK before. So getting distribution in cinemas was going to be a challenge. The big 4 chains only stocked one slush: Tango Iceblast – an iconic ‘famous name’, much-loved by teens. To swap this proven seller for an unknown quantity was a big risk. And availability alone was no guarantee of success – there are lots of other cinema treats on offer. With limited comms budget to get noticed, we needed to launch ICEE with a bang.

The cinema is about escaping the everyday to a different, more stimulating reality. Cinema goers look to enhance this time of escape with the food and drink they buy. Bringing freeze, fizz and flavour in a combo that out-performs key competitor Tango in taste tests, ICEE’s role is to intensify the cinema experience, making every moment more vivid.

Trading on our American heritage (the ‘home’ of the movies after all) and intense product experience, everything ICEE does should go above and beyond, making things bigger and better. So with a huge dose of OTT irony (helped significantly by the instantly recognizable voice of the ‘EA Sports guy’), distinctive visual style, and flexible TTL execution, we demonstrated how ICEE took going to the cinema to a whole new level. How? By letting all our senses Experience The Experience like never before.

Initial research showed campaign potential: 75% agreed it gave a better impression of ICEE and 77% that they were more likely to consider buying. But the real proof was in sales performance: the initial Cineworld launch was a huge success, with sales 6% above Tango levels (important as this had been a guarantee in the contract, which would have been voided otherwise). This proven success was then leveraged to usurp Tango in a second chain (Showcase) with a third in discussion. Overall, we helped take ICEE from a standing start to £74m in 2 years.