Case study · Lifestyle · UK · June 2026
A footballer's nickname, a heatwave headline.
Chelsea footballer Cole Palmer launched COLE'D, a premium craft ice range, with the delivery app Gopuff. We ran the UK launch, built on the “Cold Palmer” nickname fans had already given him and timed to a summer heatwave.
releases in four days, from launch to heatwave
UK journalists and producers reached across national, regional, lifestyle and broadcast
red extreme heat warning, turned into the news hook
The challenge
A celebrity launch can read like an advert.
Editors and broadcasters are wary of famous names selling products, and breakfast television will not run anything that sounds like a pitch. COLE'D needed to be news, not promotion.
What we did
Ride the news, not the product.
We launched to regional and broadcast media, followed with a lifestyle release for the national consumer desks, and when the Met Office issued a red warning, moved straight into a heatwave release. Broadcast pitches were built around Cole himself, with every word of selling taken out.
The fans wrote the headline. The weather delivered it.
The launch
Four days in June.
22 June
The launch release on Cole Palmer's football shaped ice goes to regional and broadcast media across the UK.
22 to 24 June
A lifestyle release reaches national lifestyle and consumer desks. City AM covers the launch.
25 June
As the red warning lands, a heatwave release goes out, with Cole offered to breakfast television by live link.
In pictures
Where COLE'D was heard
