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Gen Z is reshaping the ice cream industry with its demand for variety, innovation and authenticity. Magnum – one of Unilever’s Power Brands – is leveraging these three traits to ensure it delivers sales of more than 1 billion ice creams a year.
“The difference now is Gen Z adults have been born into a world of abundance, options, copycats and different propositions,” says Tugce Aksoy, Global Brand Director of Magnum for The Magnum Ice Cream Company, the ice cream business that will separate from Unilever by the end of 2025.
To keep their attention and share of wallet, engagement with brand fans on social channels and through experiences is key. “We listen to our community to understand where people might want to have a Magnum ice cream on a different occasion or in a different flavour and we act on it,” she says.
In Q1, this approach saw Magnum leverage trending nut and fruit flavours with Double Hazelnut and Double Cherry ice cream sticks that are already enjoying mid-single digit growth.
Shareable pots of Magnum Bon Bons are also expanding into new markets, thanks to Gen Z’s interest in snack-size portions and 34% of adults looking to indulge in a little something sweet every day.
Social listening also led to the discovery that shaped Magnum’s new ‘Nothing Cracks Like Magnum’ global campaign which leverages the distinct sound of the ice cream’s cracking chocolate.
“That crack has been a core part of our campaigns since launch, but we were taking it for granted,” says Tugce. “Our fans refocused our attention on the connection.”
The team used AI to analyse grocery reviews to see if this social insight resonated at points of purchase. “The cracking chocolate is a key reason people are adding Magnum ice cream to their baskets,” she says.
“We tested it further with some lo-fi social posts using ASMR. They got more than 150 million organic views. The crack was an indication of Magnum’s premium quality.”
‘Nothing Cracks Like Magnum’ was launched at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “We used to use social to amplify big campaigns. Now it’s the opposite: we get the insights from social and design the campaigns and assets with social-first in mind. We then share it with the fans and have a two-way dialogue,” Tugce says.
“For Cannes, we brought representatives from ten markets, each with their own content creators. With insights and inspiration from our social platform partners TikTok and Meta and fan accounts, we turned our event spaces into content creation hubs. This meant influencers could livestream Magnum’s universe to their followers, to be their eyes and ears and provide them with exclusive experiences they couldn’t find anywhere else.”
Magnum also works to find the most relevant icon for this Gen Z audience, like British singer-songwriter Charli xcx, who combines bold self-expression with strong digital reach.
Alongside a brand party attended by the pop icon and 250+ influencers, experiential pop-ups offered fans the chance to create their own Magnum remix, enjoy xcx matcha milkshakes, Charli xcx’s Brat-green ice cream sticks and visit an on-site Magnum bakery for a TikTok-inspired Magnum ice cream-filled croissant.
“These interactions created an incredible amplification that goes way beyond Cannes, with key markets such as Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands also bringing these experiences to life with local pop-ups,” Tugce adds.
With thousands of pieces of engaging social content created and organic coverage of the event reaching 50 countries, the ‘Nothing Cracks Like Magnum’ campaign is one of the brand’s best-tested assets, and Magnum’s year-on-year social coverage at Cannes has tripled.
All of which is good news for engaging social-first Gen Z consumers, 44% of whom make their purchase decisions based on influencer recommends.[a]
Current data indicates that Magnum is in the top three in terms of coverage for Cannes’ activating brands. This gives an indication of the engagement and growth Magnum can achieve by meeting consumers and sharing brand passion in new cultural spaces.
An activation at Europe’s Primavera festival followed hot on the heels of Cannes, again with Charli xcx, where fans had the chance to try Brat Magnum ice cream sticks. And there are further innovative activations in the pipeline.
“Our journey is all about putting Magnum at the centre of culture and finding the right partners that can elevate and premiumise the brand,” says Tugce.
“These activations indicate our ambition to bring ice cream out of the freezer and into fashion and lifestyle. By taking the ice cream category premium, our goal is to position Magnum as a Power Brand which enjoys double-digit growth as the pinnacle of that.”
Wall’s has partnered with Minecraft to launch an ice cream inspired by the game. It aims to tap into a growing fan base thanks to A Minecraft Movie and provide fun and flavour to 80% of gamers who eat while they play.
The snacking category is growing, as consumers seek to have smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. Responding to this trend, Magnum has launched its first bite-sized Bon Bons, joining Ben & Jerry’s and Yasso in leveraging micro-formats.
Different markets have different taste preferences, but the joy of unwrapping a Cornetto ice cream is universal. Cornetto has made this ritual the star of its summer campaigns globally, to celebrate a product experience that unites everyone.
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