TMICC is leaning into healthy hedonism with its Hydro:ICE brand – and it glows in the dark.
(Image: The Magnum Ice Cream Company / Unilever)
Unilever’s soon-to-be demerged business wants to diversify beyond traditional ice cream formats
What’s new with Unilever’s ice cream business?
- The Magnum Ice Cream Company launches Hydro:ICE, a kiwi and lemon-flavoured ice pop
- Product targets ‘healthy hedonists’ aged 25 to 44
- Hydro:ICE contains vitamins, magnesium, and glows in dark
- Launch precedes Unilever’s ice cream demerger in November
Unilever’s ice cream business hasn’t even demerged yet and it’s already launching a new brand.
Ice pop offering Hydro:ICE is being released by The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC), and represents the kind of “fast-moving innovation” the business is “driving forward”.
It’s also a sign of TMICC’s intention to diversify beyond traditional ice cream formats.
Who is launching Hydro:ICE – TMICC or Unilever?
- Unilever’s ice cream business, The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC), is now operating as a standalone company within the Unilever Group.
- Reorganising TMICC in this way means that Unilever has completed its “internal separation”, including setting up legal entities and new operating models. TMICC is expected to demerge from Unilever mid-November 2025.
- TMICC will continue to sell Unilever’s iconic ice cream brands into 80 countries, maintaining its position as the largest ice cream company in the world.
TMICC leans into ‘adult functional refreshment’
Unlike the vast majority of Unilever’s ice cream portfolio, Hydro:ICE is not made with dairy.
It’s a kiwi and lemon-flavoured ice pop offering that aims to meet a very different market need: less cool ice cream snack on a hot summer’s day, more refreshing boost in high-energy environments. TMICC is calling the category “adult functional refreshment”.
The new brand soft-launched at renowned beach club Blue Marlin on the party island of Ibiza.
Hydro:ICE is sweetened with real sugar and comes in at 77 calories. Inside the ice pop offering is a liquified gel core enriched with vitamin C, B2 and the electrolyte magnesium. And it glows in the dark.
The product will be sold in retail as well as via a mobile delivery system within Ibiza clubs, which brings Hydro:ICE directly to people on the dancefloor.
Targeting a different kind of consumer
Hydro:ICE is designed for consumers leaning into ‘healthy hedonism’ – a persona TMICC describes as an active 25-44 year old who prioritises hedonism alongside wellness.
These are pleasure seekers with a wellness twist: active, experience-driven individuals who want to feel good, look good, and live well, according to the soon-to-be-demerged business.
For TMICC’s chief creative officer Julien Barraux, the innovation reflects how “modern consumers live and eat”. It’s more than a product launch, he says.
“It’s the kind of culture-driven innovation The Magnum Ice Cream Company aims to embody, expanding beyond traditional ice cream, creating new demand through experiences that resonate with today’s digitally connected consumers.”
Unilever prepares for TMICC demerger
The launch comes three months ahead of Unilever’s planned ice cream demerger. The multinational first announced plans to spin off the business last year.
Since then, the business unit has developed a name – The Magnum Ice Cream Company – and named its current leader Peter ter Kulve as CEO.
It’s also been announced that the demerger is anticipated for mid-November this year, when TMICC will be listed in Amsterdam, London and New York.
Brands implicated include Ben & Jerry’s, Wall’s, Magnum, and now, Hydro:ICE.
