Web Page 3065
5th October 2023
First Picture: Walls sign
Third Picture: Ice Cream Van
Fourth Picture: Cornetto
When it comes to ice cream sales, Wall’s has got it licked. It has two brands in the global top ten ice cream rankings, sells 40 brands under the Heartbrand logo and delivers happiness in form of ice cream in 52 countries around the world.
In 1913 an entrepreneurial butcher called Thomas Wall decided to counteract the summer dip in sales of sausages by branching out into selling ice cream. World War 1 put his idea on hold. But when Unilever purchased the business in 1922 and large commercial freezers began arriving from the US, the Wall’s ice cream brand was brought to life.
Demand for Wall’s saw vendors travelling the streets of London to sell ice cream via horse and cart. It wasn’t long before bike deliveries were added to the mix. By 1939, Wall’s fleet of tricycle salespeople was 8,500 strong.
Fast forward 20 years and construction began for Wall’s first state- of-the-art factory. In 1962, at full capacity, it produced 90,000 gallons of ice cream each day. And it’s still in operation today, making 4 million Cornetto ice creams every week and more than 1 billion ice creams every year.
The brand has come a long way from selling vanilla ices on the streets of London. Today, Wall’s sells more than 40 brands, many of them local to specific markets. What’s more, its ice creams are sold in 52 countries around the world.
There are five Unilever brands in the top ten bestselling ice creams in the world. Two of them – Cornetto and Carte D’Or – are part of Wall’s Heartbrand portfolio. In 2021, sales from Unilever’s Ice Cream portfolio reached €6.9 billion in turnover, with underlying sales growth of 5.7%. Wall’s was one of three €1 billion ice cream brands.
Today, out-of-home purchases still play a significant part in ice cream sales, but the Covid pandemic has opened new quick commerce channels to supply ice cream to consumers.
Getting ice cream to consumers fast and without spoiling has been achieved through partnerships with delivery services alongside tapping into Wall’s existing network of freezer cabinets in local stores and restaurants. This network works to ensure brands such as Carte D’Or go from an online order to delivery to the consumer’s doorstep in less than 30 minutes. In 2021, this combination of speed and response to consumer demand saw this part of our ice cream business grow by 60%.
There is something for everyone in the Wall’s ice cream portfolio,
The ice cream with the ‘catchiest jingle ever’
First aired in 1982, this Wall’s Cornetto ad featured a young woman who thinks she is being wooed by an Italian gondolier but finds that he is only after her ice cream. The jingle ‘Just One Cornetto’ was set to the tune of the famous 1898 Italian opera song, ‘O Sole Mio’, a globally recognised Neapolitan song. It was voted the catchiest advertising jingle ever and saw the brand itself doing different advertising variants and one UK beer brand do its own popular spoof.
Stay in touch
Peter
gsseditor@gmail.com
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