JEFFERSON: Ice, ice baby

London buses are big and red.

Sometimes they have adverts on.

Normally, you don’t notice the adverts (which says quite a lot about our profession).

But every now and again, you see a cracker: something that really ‘works’.

And so, hats off, Iceland.

Their new campaign goes something like this:

Q: ‘Crème Brulee made in Northern France? Sounds delicious, authentic and somehow terribly ‘smart’. Right up my street. But how can it possibly still be fresh by the time I buy it?’

A: The Power of Frozen.’

It’s genius.

This campaign doesn’t hide from the fact that Iceland sells frozen food. It celebrates it.

Because, you see, the freezing is what enables you (you terribly sophisticated foodie, you) to ‘savour the delicious flavours of wood-fired pizza from the foothills of the Dolomites, freshly caught salmon from the Norwegian fjords or sumptuous, soft gelato from Verona, all in the comfort of your own family kitchen.’

It’s a long way from the ‘prawn ring’, that’s for sure - and it all sounds a lot more John Kerry than Kerry Katona.

This unapologetic appeal to the ‘Lidl Classes’ is as brilliant in its execution as it is ambitious in its apparent aspiration - to put to rest, once and for all, the ‘Bejam’ zombie and to develop a wholly different brand position for Iceland.

Indeed, the German grocers who ripped up the (frankly, class-based) British supermarket hierarchy might just have to watch their backs. There’s an old (but seriously reinvigorated) kid on the block.

The power of frozen?

That’s why (yummy) mum(ies) go to Iceland.

Nick Jefferson is a partner with advisory firm, Monticello LLP, and a curator of The Library of Progress.
Read more from him in our Clubhouse.