I often sit back and go into a peaceful daydream that later in life, when I’m hopefully happily retired, I will write a book called ‘The Ice Cream Days’.  However, I am almost always abruptly awakened by the other side of my brain asking myself if people really need to hear about it?

And that’s just it. The world doesn’t need ice cream. But it really does love ice cream. Ice cream carries so much love, joy and romance, and so many memories, cravings and desires that make it a special treat, different to anything else. And when you have spent many, many years working on Magnum, the number one ice cream brand in the world, it goes way beyond special. It is pleasure. True pleasure.

16 years…and counting

LOLA was awarded the Magnum business around the same time that Obama was elected, the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, and Lamine Yamal was just about learning to crawl. 16 years ago, to be precise. We all know that long relationships can go stale and in fact most client-agency relationships last around 5 years. So, what makes the relationship between Magnum and LOLA “like a marriage that keeps on getting better”? (these were the words of our client in the annual appraisal).

Well, first of all, I know you will be reading this thinking that I have to say it, but I will say it because it’s true: the team at Magnum are amazing. I always say to new people coming into LOLA that I doubt they will ever work on a better client than Magnum. And even if they do, it won’t be nearly the same or as much fun. I for one occasionally suffer from impatience so if I’m still fully engaged after such a long time, then it really must be pretty special.

In any big, global FMCG account, it is very easy to become formulaic and repeat things that have worked before. With Magnum, we have defined the brand so well that we are able to continue to raise the bar, push the boundaries, break category norms and experiment. What’s great is that the client actually demands it of us, and we demand it of them. We don’t always get it right, and when we don’t there is still a real sense of partnership, togetherness without any snide finger-pointing or arse covering.

But we also do get things right, including the most recent achievement of winning a Grand Prix in Outdoor at Cannes this year. The ‘Find Your Summer’ campaign that won shows just how creative and disruptive this partnership is. Selling ice cream in winter, where you artistically capture the feeling of eating a Magnum without falling into the temptation of showing a massive ice cream speaks volumes. As a result, Magnum had its highest low season in history, with +66.3% in sales. Working with Magnum allows us to play Champions League football and be up there competing with the best. Surely that’s where we should all want to be, right?

Consistency, consistency, consistency

The Magnum team will tell you that a key factor for this success is consistency. There is a core senior team from both sides who have been on this journey from the early years with new people joining to improve and complement in the right areas, and not forgetting people who previously played critical roles and have now left to do other amazing things. The consistency extends beyond LOLA to Golin our outstanding PR agency; to SunHouse the world-class design agency; to Edje Collective the brand experience agency; to Big Sync music; to the film director Martin Werner; to the art department and wardrobe on set; right down to the home economists who have been making the ice creams on our shoots since the very beginning.

Doing outstanding, award-winning work attracts world-class talent to the business which pushes the ambition even further. That’s beautiful.

So, we will keep on raising the bar, pushing creativity and feeding off each other’s energy, enthusiasm and frustrations to be better. And ‘a marriage that keeps on getting better’ has a key foundation: honesty. We are brutally honest with each other. Sometimes too honest. But it helps to cut through the sh*t, and it comes with respect and trust.

We see it a lot where clients regularly look to change their agency in the hopes of getting better work or a better deal, but so often it doesn’t work. Invest in the partnership and the relationship. Spend time together and set your ambitions high. That’s how you succeed.

As I say, ‘The Ice Cream Days’ would better be told when I retire; partly to be able to reflect on the journey in its entirety, but also because there are some stories that are no doubt best saved for this later date in life. But what I can say is that these ice cream days are golden days that we will all never forget.

What a pleasure it is.