Magnum's AI Fridges and Glow Lollies Lead Ice Cream Innovation
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- Magnum Ice Cream Company launched a glow-in-the-dark ice lolly in Ibiza using vitamin B2, which glows naturally under UV club lights and is targeted at clubbers and festival-goers.
- Magnum owns 3 million fridges globally fitted with cameras that use AI to identify products and estimate restocking needs; current models are 40% more energy efficient than 2010 versions, per chief R&D officer Zbigniew Lewicki.
- David Protein bars, with 20g of protein, sell for $39.99 for a 12-pack — more than double Magnum's Yasso frozen yoghurt bars — capitalizing on GLP1 drug users (Ozempic, Mounjaro) seeking satiety, according to Mintel's Honorata Jarocka.
- Asia has become the center of ice cream flavor innovation, with MMR researcher Neil Yan noting Chinese experimentation with ham, pickled garlic, tahini, stinky tofu with liquor, and foie gras-vodka-apple combinations.
- Kantar Retail IQ's Georgia Rose cites five years of price volatility driven by the Ukraine war, Covid, the cost of living crisis, and the Strait of Hormuz, hitting dairy, cream, eggs, flavors, and cold-chain energy costs.
- Magnum, spun off from Unilever last year with a market cap of around £8bn, launched Volcanics in the UK and Europe — a chocolate shell with biscuit pieces, layered ice cream, and a caramel lava center.
Why it matters: Magnum's £8bn market cap and 3 million AI-enabled fridges give it the scale to absorb five years of price volatility from the Ukraine war, Covid, and Strait of Hormuz shocks. Meanwhile, GLP1-driven protein demand and Asian flavor experimentation are reshaping what consumers expect from a category long dominated by chocolate and vanilla.
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