The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
DB Export Ultra got Vanilla Ice to call people before their freezer beers exploded
Text 'ICE ICE' to 423 and Vanilla Ice calls back in 34 minutes—exactly when a freezer beer hits perfect drinking temperature.
DB Breweries
the move
New Zealanders buy warm supermarket beer in summer, pop it in the freezer to chill fast, then forget it until it explodes—55% admitted doing it in the past year. For DB Export Ultra, a low-carb beer fighting a declining category, this national annoyance was an opening.
The Export Ultra Cold Call Back Service let people text 'ICE ICE' to 423; 34 minutes later rapper Vanilla Ice called back with a reminder. DB calculated that a room-temperature beer in a -15°C freezer reaches the optimal 5°C after exactly 34 minutes, so the call arrived at the perfect moment.
More than twenty pre-recorded messages rotated through the summer from December 2024 to February 2025. The announcement post became the brand's highest-performing post ever, reaching 2 million people in a country of five million with no paid support.
why it works
- 55% of Kiwis had already frozen or exploded a beer
- The reminder call arrived at the exact perfect-chill minute
- A celebrity voicemail made a utility feel like a gift
- The stunt was the message: Export Ultra solves summer
what transfers
A tiny utility that solves a real, funny everyday failure can carry a brand further than another ad—especially when the utility itself is the message.
what came after
The service ran December 2024 to February 2025. It took six Cannes Lions shortlists and won a Silver Media Lion and a Bronze PR Lion at Cannes 2025, plus a One Show 2025 recognition, making a joke utility the brand's most awarded work in years.
references
- Vanilla Ice Is Back With A Brand-New Invention
- DB Breweries | The Call Back Service
- Export Ultra and Special NZ Wins Two Cannes Lions for 'Cold Call Back Service'
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