Magnum Ice Cream Indulges in Cross-Platform Success

That crack—Magnum ice cream’s sonic logo inviting you to break into something delicious. Your entrance into the taste of Belgian chocolate, followed by velvety vanilla, and maybe the crunch of almond. It’s so decadent and indulgent—you have to take a moment.

That’s what Magnum ice cream asked listeners to do in an audio campaign for its line of ice cream bars, including new Duets.

The Goal: Make mouths water with the power of audio to introduce the new product to listeners. 

The Result: Millions of impressions, an event attended by thousands, and lifts in brand sentiment and purchase intent.

A Campaign as Layered as Magnum Ice Cream Bars

Studio Resonate, our audio agency, brought Magnum ice cream cross-platform ideas for an audio campaign as layered, sophisticated, and indulgent as its ice cream bars.

• Luscious, immersive 3D audio for streaming

• Gamified display ads allowing listeners to unlock uninterrupted listening

• Joyfully tempting podcast ads from trusted hosts

• A live-music event with a branded photo op and stocked fridge

Thanks to the campaign, Magnum ice cream bars were everywhere music and podcast lovers listened, encouraging audiences to take a moment.

The Sound of Flavor

When you want to tell an immersive story with sound, 3D audio is the right tool for the job. The audiophiles at Studio Resonate created rich sounds to convey the sensations one feels when biting into a Magnum ice cream bar.

“What does a flavor sound like? That was my approach. I went retro with synthesizers to create sounds for things like the cool of vanilla ice cream, and the warmth of melted chocolate with a subtle layer of bubbling lava, layering in different effects to build a realistic fantasy. Making these modular elements that then come together in one immersive ad experience, it’s a lot more technical than people realize. For example, with the 3D audio ad, the sounds all had to either be in or shift into the key of the music.” – Matt Winegar, award-winning Audio Producer, Studio Resonate

When you take these amazing individual sounds,

and layer them into the story, you bring the listener into the ad. Suddenly, they are the busy woman taking a moment with a Magnum ice cream bar. (And they certainly want to be her by the time the ad ends.)

Listen with headphones for the full 3D audio effect.

Delicious Fun and Uninterrupted Listening

What if you could create your own Magnum ice cream bar and unlock an hour of uninterrupted listening on Pandora? Listeners were treated to this win-win with gamified display ads. The developers at Studio Resonate built an interactive ad experience, allowing audiences to choose and combine ingredients into a flavor all their own as a gateway to uninterrupted streaming (not to mention to the desire to bite into a bar).

"What does it feel like to indulge? With a custom-designed and developed experience such as this, people can interact with the brand to experience a sense of discovery with the new ice cream flavor offerings. Through this engagement, people can feel the pleasure and ease of selecting a delicious-looking ice cream bar from Magnum ice cream." – Designer-Developer, Studio Resonate.

Temptation Straight from The Host

The power of audio takes a different form with podcast ads, especially with host reads. The sophisticated soundscapes are traded for the authenticity of a trusted host sharing their personal product experiences. The copywriting pros at Studio Resonate provide host-read scripts with brand messaging and creative inspiration to give the hosts the ideal jumping off point to create advertising magic in the moment. 

The hosts of Ladies and Tangents entertained and enticed listeners with their enjoyment of Magnum ice cream bars.

“Our team will take a brief from the client and then instill everything into a host-read script with a structure that allows and invites the host to ad lib and riff for the best results. So, you get these really fun specifics from the host that the listener can relate to because they know and trust them. For this campaign, audiences got to hear how the hosts take a moment with Magnum ice cream in fun, engaging ways.” – Miya Kanzaki, Associate Creative Director & Creative Lead for the Unilever-Mindshare account, Studio Resonate

Taking a Moment Live

Studio Resonate took the campaign way beyond the third dimension with a free, live music event. Listeners were delighted by the sounds of their favorite artist and treated to the delectable taste of Magnum ice cream Duets. There was a stocked branded fridge to make the show even sweeter as well as a stage for concert goers to take social photos.

The Sweet Sound of Success

The campaign was a huge success. Listeners savored the cross-format campaign, driving double digit lifts in brand sentiment and purchase intent. With Studio Resonate, Magnum ice cream was able to build an audio-powered campaign that engaged and enticed listeners. Millions of streaming impressions and podcast downloads, thousands of thrilled fans with hands-on, shareable product experience, and measurable results—it doesn’t get much sweeter than that!

Are you ready to delight audiences with digital audio? Let’s talk.

Campaign Credits

Associate Creative Director: Miya Kanzaki

Audio Producer: Matt Winegar

Copywriters: Judson Jean-Mary and Natalie Leal

Designer-Developer: Amanda Fales

Project Managers: Ali Charlesworth, Brandon Edingburg, and SaraBeth Wanzek