After a century, Wall’s turns its iconic ice cream price board into a tool to get through power cuts.
As part of Wall’s Pakistan long term initiative to pioneer green energy, they have created the Solar Priceboard that transforms sunlight into usable energy.
Pakistan is a country with the highest energy cost inflation and highest hours of load shedding in the world. Unilever Pakistan is already pioneering green energy in ice cream factories, distributors and mobile Ice cream trikes. But the load shedding and energy cost issues has a huge impact also on the ice cream freezers, which jeopardises the consistent quality of Wall’s Ice Creams due to the high temperatures and leading several shop owners to return their Wall’s freezers.
To support its most important partners ‘shopkeepers’ and also deliver the best ice cream experience even during load sheddings, the brand decided to make changes to its most iconic media to introduce the Solar Priceboard. The traditional price board has been exposed to the sun for more than 12 hours per day, for over a century. By replacing the cardboard with solar panels, Wall’s Pakistan has revolutionised its popular media to store energy, allowing freezers to ‘prolonged duration of power cuts’
In moments of energy outage, the Solar Priceboard's internal battery seamlessly activates, ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the freezers and preventing ice creams from melting. This helps shop owners stop the loss of products and be able to sell perfect ice creams whenever people come into the store for one, protecting not only shop owners’ businesses but also consumers’ cravings.
Tomas Ostiglia, executive creative director of LOLA MullenLowe said, “If the ice cream price board has never been changed in over 100 years then it tells you that it is working well. But, there is always an opportunity to make it better. And of course, we feel great when creativity can solve real business problems”.
Mert Turgut, Wall’s Ice Cream Pakistan director, stated, "In Walls, we believe happiness is everyone’s right. For 30 years, we've shared happiness via six billion sticks annually in Pakistan. In order to overcome electricity challenges, a top issue for the past three years, we're continuing on investing and innovating. Starting in 2021 at our factory, then distribution centres, and now Priceboard, we're committed to reduce energy dependency progressively, aiming to reach more Pakistanis.’
Barbara Scala, Wall’s Ice Cream global brand director said, “We have teamed up with the Pakistan team to create awareness about the daily disruptions affecting our consumers, customers and commercial partners. Wall’s priceboard is the most penetrated and effective media display, it’s the house of our brands and the beacon of ice cream. The solar panel priceboard is a unique and innovative solution to invite consumers to enjoy their ice creams and customers to supply ice cream without disruption.”
The Solar Priceboards are currently in the prototype phase as part of Wall’s global commitment to the environment. These will soon be integrated into existing initiatives that utilise solar energy in cabinets, kiosks, and ice cream carts at beaches, parks, and other sales points. To find out more about Unilever Pakistan green energy initiatives in the world and also in Pakistan; please visit here.