The outdoor advertisement was the main tool we used in the "Find Your Summer" campaign to transition people from the ice-cold to ice cream. There, on the street, in the winter cold, was where we provided people with exactly what they longed for: information on where and when they could enjoy their moment of sunshine nearby. And not only that, we also told them where they could enjoy an ice cream.

Winter in the UK can be really hard on people, with the outside temperatures hitting a maximum of 1.0ºC1 on average during January and the average daily sun hours being just 2.4 hours2.

People live this month with no sun, lots of rainy, cloudy, and even snowy days. In January, the entire UK averages 15 days of rain or snow, totalling 122 millimetres (4.8 inches)3.

People feel trapped inside, with more than three quarters even admitted they can have occasions where they don’t go outside at all from Monday to Friday4.

And 4 in 10 of them feel unhappier than they do during summer5.

With winter being so harsh on people’s lives, the most loved summer treat also feels the same hard hit: during this season, the ice cream category volume sales drop considerably.

From August to January, the ice cream volume sales drop more than half in the UK, going from 140M litres to only 60M (August 22 vs Jan 23)6.

But, even with all the odds against enjoying an ice cream during the depth of winter, Magnum wanted to change the narrative and invite people to go out there and find their little summer, their moment of pleasure when they need the most.

1 UK Government Met Office - January 2024 Monthly Weather Report

2 Statista 2024

3 Met Office Average Precipitation – UK, 2023

4 Healthspan & OnePoll - UK, 2021

5 British Gas Proprietary Research 2019

6 Kantar Ice Cream Volume Sales UK 2023

Winter has always been a historical low season for the whole Ice Cream category. When January arrives and temperatures outside start hitting a maximum of 1.0ºC1 on average in the UK, people start eating less and less ice cream.

As the category leader, Magnum’s business has been affected by this challenging reality year after year, with Magnum’s penetration in the UK dropping almost 10% from August to January (August 2022 13.1% vs January 2023 4.1%)2.

More than a business challenge, this was a leadership challenge.

Because, if there is one brand that can lead a movement to start changing this seasonality, this brand is Magnum.

And that was what we did.

1 UK Government Met Office - January 2024 Monthly Weather Report

2 Magnum Europanel Q4’2023

When the outside weather gets colder and starts telling you it’s not okay to eat ice cream, Magnum went and said the opposite. And people listened.

More than inspiring people to find a piece of sun during the harsh cold, Find Your Summer successfully invited people to indulge into the pleasure of a Magnum when they need it the most.

For the first time, Magnum won winter time and had the best January in history in terms of sales, with an increase of +66.3% value sales for Magnum Core range (Classic, White Chocolate and Almond) and +38.9% value sales uplift for Total Magnum, due to the halo effect on all other Magnum’s flavours and Innovations (limited edition flavours and other ranges in the portfolio, such as Magnum Double Caramel Billionaire)1.

1 Nielsen Ad Impact Study, 06/01/24 to 17/02/24