National Ice Cream Day? Do a good deed: Buy a friend an ice cream
Ice cream sales over the same period jumped by around a third, with the global market now worth around $113bn. Sales in the Middle East are growing at more than 4 per cent annually.
Of course, there are various factors behind the soaring sales of these frozen treats. As living standards and disposable incomes have increased in many countries, spending on affordable luxuries has gone up too.
Distribution channels have improved. Health-oriented varieties have emerged (vegan, dairy-free, low-sugar ice cream, anyone?). Premium offerings and unique flavours are vying for our attention.
However, it is still tempting to ponder that one of the benefits of sweltering summer temperatures around the world is the increased excuse we have to cool off with a scoop or two of our favourite gelato.
Particularly on July 20, which is National Ice Cream Day in the United States, a date many brands and retailers in the Gulf have adopted as part of an unofficial World Ice Cream Day.
While we shouldn't downplay the importance of consuming calorific foods in moderation, it's undeniable that ice cream has short-term stress-relieving benefits and rich storytelling potential.
Its emotional resonance is immense. The same is true of many humble products we buy. As we look to find material for the brands and corporations we represent, ammunition to make them more authentic, charismatic and relatable, it is worth reflecting that inspiration is often closer to hand than we think.
I remember visiting my grandparents as a child on Sunday afternoons during the summer holidays. When I heard the ice cream van at the bottom of their street, I would beg my grandmother for change to buy myself a vanilla cone with a chocolate flake. Vanilla, strawberry or chocolate. We have the same life-long attachment to flavours as we do to brands of cola and sports teams.
Trips to a seaside village near my family home wouldn't be complete without visiting Nicholls, a family-run establishment which has been making ice cream on the premises for more than 80 years. My grandparents are long gone but the memory of buying myself an ice cream there with my mum, dad and sister is undimmed.
Equally vivid is the memory of eating ice cream in Maidan Square, the central public square in the heart of Kyiv, as a university graduate thirty years ago, the same spot where hundreds of thousands would protest government corruption in the Euromaidan uprising of 2013-2014.
It is a peculiar quirk of human nature that whenever certain geopolitical stories appear in the news today, my first thought returns to that happy experience of eating ice cream in Maidan Square years ago.
It is easy to understand why occasion-based marketing has become such a well-established tool in the armoury of brands and corporations in the Middle East. Valentine's Day, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day, which was a particularly big one this year.
Each in their own way attempts to tap into the emotional circuitry that governs our behaviour and purchasing decisions.
Isn't it comforting to think that somebody somewhere is easing their troubles with a few scoops of vanilla or Bubblegum Tornado?
So let's hear it for Ice Cream Day, wherever you may be.
By Stephen Worsley, Regional Managing Director, Golin MENA
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Campaign ME
7 days ago
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National Ice Cream Day? Do a good deed: Buy a friend an ice cream
If there is an upside to climate change, could it be that ice cream sales are going up? The average global temperature over the past decade was more than 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Ice cream sales over the same period jumped by around a third, with the global market now worth around $113bn. Sales in the Middle East are growing at more than 4 per cent annually. Of course, there are various factors behind the soaring sales of these frozen treats. As living standards and disposable incomes have increased in many countries, spending on affordable luxuries has gone up too. Distribution channels have improved. Health-oriented varieties have emerged (vegan, dairy-free, low-sugar ice cream, anyone?). Premium offerings and unique flavours are vying for our attention. However, it is still tempting to ponder that one of the benefits of sweltering summer temperatures around the world is the increased excuse we have to cool off with a scoop or two of our favourite gelato. Particularly on July 20, which is National Ice Cream Day in the United States, a date many brands and retailers in the Gulf have adopted as part of an unofficial World Ice Cream Day. While we shouldn't downplay the importance of consuming calorific foods in moderation, it's undeniable that ice cream has short-term stress-relieving benefits and rich storytelling potential. Its emotional resonance is immense. The same is true of many humble products we buy. As we look to find material for the brands and corporations we represent, ammunition to make them more authentic, charismatic and relatable, it is worth reflecting that inspiration is often closer to hand than we think. I remember visiting my grandparents as a child on Sunday afternoons during the summer holidays. When I heard the ice cream van at the bottom of their street, I would beg my grandmother for change to buy myself a vanilla cone with a chocolate flake. Vanilla, strawberry or chocolate. We have the same life-long attachment to flavours as we do to brands of cola and sports teams. Trips to a seaside village near my family home wouldn't be complete without visiting Nicholls, a family-run establishment which has been making ice cream on the premises for more than 80 years. My grandparents are long gone but the memory of buying myself an ice cream there with my mum, dad and sister is undimmed. Equally vivid is the memory of eating ice cream in Maidan Square, the central public square in the heart of Kyiv, as a university graduate thirty years ago, the same spot where hundreds of thousands would protest government corruption in the Euromaidan uprising of 2013-2014. It is a peculiar quirk of human nature that whenever certain geopolitical stories appear in the news today, my first thought returns to that happy experience of eating ice cream in Maidan Square years ago. It is easy to understand why occasion-based marketing has become such a well-established tool in the armoury of brands and corporations in the Middle East. Valentine's Day, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day, which was a particularly big one this year. Each in their own way attempts to tap into the emotional circuitry that governs our behaviour and purchasing decisions. Isn't it comforting to think that somebody somewhere is easing their troubles with a few scoops of vanilla or Bubblegum Tornado? So let's hear it for Ice Cream Day, wherever you may be. By Stephen Worsley, Regional Managing Director, Golin MENA
Sharjah 24
06-07-2025
- Sharjah 24
AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands
As farms across the United States face a shortage of laborers and weeds grow resistant to herbicides, startup Aigen says its robotic solution -- named Element -- can save farmers money, help the environment and keep harmful chemicals out of food. "I really believe this is the biggest thing we can do to improve human health," co-founder and chief technology officer Richard Wurden told AFP, as robots made their way through crops at Bowles Farm in the town of Los Banos. "Everybody's eating food sprayed with chemicals." Wurden, a mechanical engineer who spent five years at Tesla, went to work on the robot after relatives who farm in Minnesota told him weeding was a costly bane. Weeds are becoming immune to herbicides, but a shortage of laborers often leaves chemicals as the only viable option, according to Wurden. "No farmer that we've ever talked to said 'I'm in love with chemicals'," added Aigen co-founder and chief executive Kenny Lee, whose background is in software. "They use it because it's a tool -- we're trying to create an alternative." Element the robot resembles a large table on wheels, solar panels on top. Metal arms equipped with small blades reach down to hoe between crop plants. "It actually mimics how humans work," Lee said as the temperature hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) under a cloudless sky. "When the sun goes down, it just powers down and goes to sleep; then in the morning it comes back up and starts going again." The robot's AI system takes in data from on-board cameras, allowing it to follow crop rows and identify weeds. "If you think this is a job that we want humans doing, just spend two hours in the field weeding," Wurden said. Aigen's vision is for workers who once toiled in the heat to be "upskilled" to monitor and troubleshoot robots. Along with the on-board AI, robots communicate wirelessly with small control centers, notifying handlers of mishaps. Future giant? Aigen has robots running in tomato, cotton, and sugar beet fields, and touts the technology's ability to weed without damaging the crops. Lee estimated that it takes about five robots to weed 160 acres (65 hectares) of farm. The robots made by the 25-person startup -- based in the city of Redmond, outside Seattle -- are priced at $50,000. The company is focused on winning over politically conservative farmers with a climate friendly option that relies on the sun instead of costly diesel fuel that powers heavy machinery. "Climate, the word, has become politicized but when you get really down to brass tacks farmers care about their land," Lee said. The technology caught the attention of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud computing unit. Aigen was chosen for AWS's "Compute for Climate" fellowship program that provides AI tools, data center power, and technical help for startups tackling environmental woes. "Aigen is going to be one of the industry giants in the future," said AWS head of climate tech startups business development Lisbeth Kaufman. "I think about Ford and the Model T, or Edison and the light bulb -- that's Kenny and Rich and Aigen."
Sharjah 24
21-06-2025
- Sharjah 24
'Turkish salmon': the Black Sea's new rose-coloured gold
"Our exports surged from $500,000 in 2017 to $86 million last year, and this is just the beginning," said Denizer, general manager of Polifish, one of the Black Sea's main producers of what is marketed as "Turkish salmon". In its infancy just a decade ago, production of trout -- which in Turkey is almost exclusively farmed for export -- has exploded in line with the global demand for salmon, despite criticism of the intensive aquaculture required to farm it. Last year, the country exported more than 78,000 tonnes of trout raised in its cooler northern Black Sea waters, a figure 16 times higher than in 2018. And it brought in almost $498 million for Turkish producers, a number set to increase but is still far from the $12.8 billion netted by Norwegian salmon and trout giants in the same year. Russia, which banned Norwegian salmon in 2014 after the West imposed sanctions over its annexation of Crimea, accounts for 74.1 percent of "Turkish salmon" exports, followed by Vietnam with 6.0 percent, and then Belarus, Germany and Japan. Spectacular success Stale Knudsen, an anthropologist at Norway's Bergen University and a specialist on Black Sea fishing, said Russia offered "an available market that was easy to access, near Turkey". For him, the "spectacular success" of trout is also down to Turkey's experience and the technology used in farming sea bass and sea bream, a field in which it leads Europe. Turkish producers have also benefitted from the country's large number of reservoirs where the fish are a raised for several months before being transferred to the Black Sea. There, the water temperature -- which stays below 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 Fahrenheit) between October and June -- allows the fish to reach 2.5 to 3.0 kilogrammes (5.5-6.6 pounds) by the time they are harvested. Last, but not least, is the price. "Our 'salmon' is about 15 to 20 percent cheaper than Norwegian salmon," said Ismail Kobya, deputy general manager of Akerko, a sector heavyweight that mainly exports to Japan and Russia. "The species may be different but in terms of taste, colour and flesh quality, our fish is superior to Norwegian salmon, according to our Japanese clients," Kobya told AFP at Akerko's headquarters near the northeastern town of Trabzon, where a Turkish flag flies alongside those of Russia and Japan. Inside, a hundred or so employees in long blue waterproofs, green head coverings and rubber boots behead, gut, clean and debone trout that has an Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification for responsible farming practises. Disease risks "Over the last two years, many Turkish producers have moved to get those certifications," said Knudsen, though he does not believe such labels are always a guarantee of sustainability. "I think the rationale behind that is not only to become more sustainable, but is more importantly a strategy to try to enter the European markets... where the Norwegians have some kind of control," he said. In a 2024 study, researchers from a Turkish public institute raised concerns that "the rapid growth of the trout farming sector... led to an uncontrolled decline in the survival rate" of the fish. Pointing to the "spread of diseases" and "improper breeding management", the researchers found that nearly 70 percent of the trout were dying prematurely. Polifish, which also has an ASC certification, acknowledged a mortality rate of around 50 percent of their fish stocks, predominantly in the reservoirs. "When the fish are small, their immune systems aren't fully working," said its deputy general manager Talha Altun. Akerko for its part claims to have "reached a stage where we have almost no disease". "In our Black Sea cages, the mortality rate is lower than five percent, but these are farming operations and anything can happen," Kobya said. Fake fish Visible from the shore, the fish farms have attracted the wrath of local fishermen worried about the cages, which have a 50-metre (165-foot) diameter, being set up where they cast their nets to catch anchovy, mackerel and bonito. Mustafa Kuru, head of a local fishermen's union, is a vocal opponent of a farming project that has been set up in his fishing zone just 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the Georgian border. "The cages block the movement of the fish and what happens then? The fish start leaving the area," he said, accusing the trout farmers of pumping chemicals into their "fake fish". He said a lack of fish stocks in the area had already forced two boats from his port to cast their nets much further afield -- off the western coast of Africa. "If the fish leave, our boats will end up going to rack and ruin in our ports," he warned.
