Back in the dark ages, when I was doing my marketing degree, one of the challenges we were set was to think about seasonal businesses. It was taught to us as the “Ice & Coal” theory.

See, before every modern kitchen had a fridge it had an ice box. Every week in summer it needed a fresh block of ice, delivered by horse and cart. In winter, before gas and electric heaters, people warmed their homes by burning coal, not very green but they didn’t know what we know now. So, the same horse and cart business that delivered blocks of ice in summer delivered bags of coal in winter.

Smart, right?

It applies to lots of seasonal businesses today. If you’re Streets Ice Cream, business booms in summer but drops to near zero in winter. Similarly, if you sell swimming pools. Or underfloor heating. Or beach cabanas. Plus, there are less obvious businesses that fluctuate. Pest control is busiest in spring. So are real estate agents (can’t be a coincidence).

So, what do you do? And how does that get you to Cannes?

You need creative thinking beyond just advertising. Look at some of the killer work which won big last year on the Cote d’Azur. At its core, Runner 321 is not an advertising idea. Neither is Where to settle. Nor AdLAM.

The big winners at Cannes are solving a business need or human problem, then adding advertising.

Recently, I found my new favourite Australian example of Ice & Coal. Picture this. You’re running a business in Australia that relies on snow. But not just a little snow. It’s got to dump a metre of white stuff before a single customer is interested. You’ve got large infrastructure costs. You have a significant wages bill. Then there are repairs, energy and admin. The old plan was simple. Charge massive rates in winter, make as much as you can, then shut down in summer.

But that’s not what management at Thredbo Resort is doing.

Its ski lifts are open normal hours. Lift ticket sales are booming. There are long queues to get on the gondola. Adults. Kids. Men. Women. All demographics are enjoying the mountain without the white stuff. How?

Mountain bikes have taken over the mountain.

It’s genius. A tiny bit of staff retraining. A small modification to the lifts themselves. Sure, there’s some cross over in the winter-summer audiences but there are also lots of completely new customers.

The shoulder businesses are also thriving. Ski rental shops becomes bike rental. Snow-proof clothing stores shift to mud-proof. The restaurants. The cafes. The supermarkets and bottle shops. They’re all lively at a time when, in the recent past, they were deserted.

Ice & Coal.

Now, if they only had a killer advertising campaign to go with it. And a decent Cannes Lion case study video.

Rob Morrison is a rarity in advertising – a grey-haired creative. Rob’s experience includes time as a Creative Director at Ogilvy, BWM (now Dentsu Creative), George Patts (now VML), Campaign Palace and Wunderman. He now runs his own consultancy – morrison.collective.

Here are two more opinion pieces from Rob Morrison:

Cover image by Courtnie Tosana on Unsplash