← Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
The Iceman Cometh: How Ice Transformed Our Lives
00:27:28
This week, we look at the marketing of ICE.It may sound like a strange topic, but our obsession with ice - as a product - is only 200 years old.The history of ice marketing starts with an amazing…
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- [00:02]
Terry O'Reilly
Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell and Beatles confidant Astrid. But coming up, I talked to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talked to Double Fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Koch. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth, who designed the sergeant Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success and please do me a favor. Follow the beatleology Interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat.
- [01:26]
Ryan Reynolds
My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for Career day and said he was a big roasman. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day.
- [01:41]
LinkedIn Advertiser
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- [01:57]
Soundcore Advertiser
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- [02:45]
Ryan Reynolds
Hey there Ryan Reynolds here. It's a new year and you know what that means. No, not the diet resolutions. A way for us all to try and do a little bit better than we did last year. And my resolution, unlike big wireless, is to not be a raging and raise the price of wireless on you every chance I get. Give it a try@mintmobile.com switch $45 upfront.
- [03:07]
Mint Mobile Advertiser
Payment required equivalent to $15 per month new customers on first 3 month plan only taxes and fees, extra speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited. See mintmobile.com for details.
- [03:18]
Apostrophe Podcast Producer
This is an Apostrophe Podcast production. We're going to show you our big new Studebaker.
- [03:31]
Terry O'Reilly
Start the car.
- [03:38]
Apostrophe Podcast Producer
Mamma Mia, that's a spicy meatball. What love doesn't conquer, Alka sells her will.
- [03:44]
Ryan Reynolds
What a relief.
- [03:53]
Soundcore Advertiser
You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly.
- [04:03]
Terry O'Reilly
During the Great Depression, attendance at hockey games started to decline. So a Pittsburgh arena owner named John Harris decided to try something. He hired Olympic figure skater Sonja Henny to perform between periods during the Games. It worked. Whenever Harris booked a figure skater to entertain during intermissions, more and more people came out to see the game. One day during a hockey intermission in 1940, Harris had an idea. Why not create an ice carnival with figure skaters that could fill his arena during the hockey off season? So Harris hired professional skaters, comedians, clowns, jugglers, barrel jumpers and a long line of skating chorus girls. And together with nine other arena owners, he formed the Ice Capades. Harris dubbed the skating chorus girls the Ice Capettes. He structured the performances like a vaudeville show with an interesting mix of acts. Harris hired a 16 year old figure skating champion to be the star of the show, promoting her as the Queen of the Ice. She would begin each show performing a dramatic skating performance to a classical piece of music like Tchaikovsky. Then the fun would start as the Ice Capettes would file out and do Rockette like pinwheels at center ice. At first, reviewers were taken aback by the show. The sultry moves by the Ice Capets were eyebrow raising and figure skating couples flirted and touched in ways that weren't acceptable on a ballroom dance floor. Reading the reviews, Harris toned it down and made sure it remained family friendly. The clowns and the jugglers and the barrel jumpers made the entire show feel like a PG rated Las Vegas review on ice. By 1952, the Ice Capades was a massive success that toured throughout Canada and the United States. That year, Harris struck a deal with Disney that allowed the show to use Disney characters and music. The crowds swelled Because Disneyland hadn't opened yet, and this was the first time fans could see their favorite characters in real life. The main attraction that year was an ice skating rendition of Cinderella based on the film, which had been released two years earlier. Soon, the Ice Capets were joined by a chorus of male counterparts called the Ice Cadets. There were adaptations of Broadway plays, funny storylines, and elaborate skating numbers that made use of many of the 150 people now working on the show. The Ice Capades became so popular that it dragged portable ice makers along to create ice surfaces in places where there was no ice, like baseball stadiums. The Ice Capades made Harris a rich man, eventually selling his interest in the show for $5.5 million. Soon, the ice Capades had competition. The Ice Follies featured celebrity ice skaters. And later, Disney started its own version called Disney on Ice. Ironically, the Ice Capades created its own demise. It made figure skating so popular that people were now drawn to watching figure skating competitions on television. And the Olympic figure skating events became highly rated. As a result, fewer and fewer crowds felt the need to go to the Ice Capades to enjoy figure skating. After six decades of huge box office, the Ice Capades melted away in the 1990s. The Ice Capades only existed because of one specific ice. Artificial ice, to be precise. Today, we look at the marketing of ice. You may think it's an odd topic, but the history of ice and the way ice has been marketed has led to the birth of endless products. While man discovered fire some 400,000 plus years ago, our obsession with ice is less than 200 years old. And the history of ice is a story of a bold entrepreneur with a vision, a clash of ice companies, and a long list of brands that has transformed our lives.
- [09:11]
Soundcore Advertiser
You're under the influence.
- [09:22]
Terry O'Reilly
Not long ago, I read a terrific book titled From Mixed Drinks to Skating, A Cool History of a Hot Commodity by author Amy Brady. It got me thinking about ice. The history of ice merchants. How ice was originally marketed, how it is sold, and how man made ice led to a multitude of products that we take for granted today. Products that could not exist without ice. In North America, our obsession with ice started in the 1800s. Back then, ice was a luxury. It was difficult and dangerous to harvest from lakes. It was expensive to store, and only the rich could afford ice houses. So ice became known as white gold. It became a symbol of status. Enter a man named Frederick Tudor. Born to a wealthy Boston family in 1783, Frederick enjoyed the benefits of ice because the Tudors had servants and a large ice house. Each winter. Those servants risked their lives by cutting 100 pound blocks of ice out of a nearby pond by hand using giant saws, then harnessed horses to pull the huge blocks onto land, then into the backs of wagons. Dangerous back breaking work. Frederick Tudor was the black sheep of the family. He quit school early and constantly chased get rich quick schemes, annoying his parents to no end. So his father sent Frederick and his brother on a months long trip to Cuba, hoping the long voyage would give Frederick time to rethink his future. When the ship reached Havana in the spring, the temperature was blistering and the brothers didn't know how to cope with the oppressive heat. Then spring turned into summer and the temperatures became unbearable. Back home they could cool themselves with ice, but there was no ice to be found in Cuba. Even the rum drinks were served warm. Eventually the brothers sailed back to Boston. As the ship pulled into the harbor, an interesting idea popped into Frederick's mind. He wondered, could you ship ice to hot climates? Don't go away. We'll be right back.
- [12:07]
Ryan Reynolds
My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for Career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day.
- [12:21]
LinkedIn Advertiser
Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to be to be.
- [12:37]
Ryan Reynolds
Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two year contracts, they said, what the are you talking about?
- [12:52]
Terry O'Reilly
You insane Hollywood?
- [12:54]
Ryan Reynolds
So to recap, we're cutting the price of mint unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch $45 upfront.
- [13:03]
Mint Mobile Advertiser
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- [13:07]
Soundcore Advertiser
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- [13:54]
Terry O'Reilly
In .all caps In 1805, Frederick Tudor attracted some investors, bought a ship and modified the ship's hold to prevent the ice from melting. On a long journey, he set sail for the tropics loaded with 130 tons of ice cut from a Massachusetts pond, eventually landed on the Caribbean island of Martinique and began selling chunks of ice to the people there. The very next day, furious customers came running back to the ship accusing Frederick of cheating them. They screamed that the ice they purchased had melted. In that moment, Frederick Tudor realized something. People in the tropics didn't know how to handle ice, use it, or store it. He had another epiphany too. In order to succeed, he couldn't just sell frozen water. He had to sell a lifestyle. And if his hunch was right, he would be rich. So Frederick went back to Boston, loaded up another ship with ice, and sailed to Cuba. Havana had a cafe culture, so he offered several pounds of ice to local baristas for free on the condition they allow him to demonstrate how to serve their drinks chilled. At first, customers were suspicious of drinks with ice floating in their cups. But once they tried the cool drink, they loved it. Word spread and demand soared. This time, Frederick charged a steep price for the ice. He showed them how to store ice, then instigated step two of his strategy. Frederick Tudor told the baristas he would give them more ice for free if they would now allow him to demonstrate how to mix it with salt, fresh cream, and fruit to make ice cream. Soon, ice cream became an obsession in Cuba. With that success, Frederick set his sights on the southern states, specifically New Orleans. It was a major city, a busy trading port, and was blisteringly hot in the summer. He sent his brother with a shipload of ice to teach the bartenders there how to serve a cold cocktail. Frederick's entire ice load sold out in days. Soon, the bartenders began to experiment with ice, learning how its shape and size could alter the taste of cocktails. They realized ice could be chipped or crushed or shaved. Frederick's ice would change the city forever. Today, New Orleans is known around the world as the cradle of drinking culture, and it was only the beginning. While Frederick Tudor would one day die a wealthy man, he now had lots of rivals who employed fleets of ships and trains to transport their ice. With competition, the price of ice fell. So more people could afford it. They stored their ice in new contraptions called ice boxes. Those ice boxes transformed the public's relationship with food for all time. Prior to ice, people would salt their meat to keep it from spoiling. Fruits and vegetables rotted quickly. But ice boxes kept food fresh, lowering the rate of food poisoning. And the country was suddenly healthier. Meanwhile, in the mid-1800s, a doctor down in Florida named John Gorey was treating patients for yellow fever and theorized that cooling their body temperatures could be a way to treat the ailment. But Goree knew he would never be able to afford the amount of ice he required. So he created a rudimentary ice machine. It made the first mechanical ice and it would change the world forever. Goree also knew that cold air falls. So he suspended a metal bed pan filled with ice from a hospital ceiling, drilled holes in the bottom and opened a window to create a breeze. Within minutes, the room started to cool down. In effect, Gorey had created the world's first air conditioner. He patented his idea in 1851, but was attacked in the press as a charlatan. Behind the scenes, it was the natural ice merchants mounting an aggressive campaign against Gori's mechanical ice. It would take a decade before the man made ice age would begin. As with any perishable commodity, time is the enemy. But with the ice industry flourishing, the world started to change. Items like seafood could now be packed in ice and shipped to distant cities. Fruits and vegetables could be ice packed and transported long distances. As a result, scurvy was virtually eliminated. Breweries welcomed ice as it allowed for year round brewing for the first time. Ice also allowed for apples to be shipped far and wide. And because even the poor could afford apples, they used apples to make everything from pies and pastries to breads. Apples became so prevalent in the U.S. the phrase as American as apple pie was born. In theaters, huge ice blocks were placed in front of large fans to cool the audiences. When the shows were popular in packed auditoriums, the fans worked harder and the ice blocks melted faster. This inspired critics to call hit shows blockbusters. As the ice industry boomed, it didn't take long for the business to become cutthroat. Between 1880 and 1920, ice became one of the biggest industries in North America, employing 90,000 people, providing over 42 million tons of ice each year. As cities became more industrialized, rivers that ran through towns became polluted, so ice companies ventured further afield to cleaner lakes. All this competition created rivalries specifically between companies that produced ice made by machines versus companies that still harvested ice out of frozen lakes. Natural ice companies began an aggressive marketing campaign saying their ice was God made and that artificial ice was blasphemous made by man. But man made ice would eventually win out because it wasn't seasonally dependent on winter. Around 1919, General Motors bought Frigidaire and began mass producing refrigerators. They didn't sell well at first. Like Frederick Tudor discovered, the public had to be sold on the idea of a refrigerated lifestyle before they could be sold. Refrigerators Advertising promoted refrigerators as magic machines. Put a little water into something called an ice cube tray and in a matter of minutes you had an endless supply of cubes, even in the summer. Author Amy Brady revealed that ice companies did everything they could to discourage refrigerator sales because it would destroy their business. But it was to no avail. In the 1930s, General Electric began manufacturing even cheaper refrigerators.
- [22:42]
Apostrophe Podcast Producer
Your kitchen can be especially wonderful if you get the new General Electric refrigerator home freezer combination. It's everything you ever dreamed about.
- [22:52]
Terry O'Reilly
Fridges drew more power than any other household appliance because they ran 24 hours a day. So the more fridges GE sold, the Greater its electrical profit. Don't go away. We'll be right back.
- [23:13]
Ryan Reynolds
My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day.
- [23:28]
LinkedIn Advertiser
Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to be. To be.
- [23:44]
Ryan Reynolds
Hey there, Ryan Reynolds here. It's a new year and you know what that means. No, not the diet resolutions. A way for us all to try and do a little bit better than we did last year. And my resolution, unlike big wireless, is to not be a raging and raise the price of wireless on you every chance I get. Give it a try@mintmobile.com switch.
- [24:04]
Mint Mobile Advertiser
$45 upfront payment required. Equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only Taxes and fees. Extra speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited. See mintmobile.com for details.
- [24:14]
Soundcore Advertiser
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- [25:15]
Terry O'Reilly
By the 1940s, ice companies began delivering blocks of ice to households and icemen were as common as milkmen. But icemen were a little more strapping. They would heave 50 pound ice blocks off their trucks and carry them up staircases and down narrow hallways. They were brawny and virile, and unlike milkmen who left their wares on the doorstep, icemen would enter homes when most husbands were at work and a muscular iceman could set hearts aflutter. Eugene Oneills famous play the Iceman Cometh originated from the running gag that salesmen would arrive home to find their wives in bed with the iceman. In the 1956 movie the Girl Can't Help it, there is a scene where a curvy Jayne Mansfield walks by an iceman and his 50 pound block of ice melts on the spot. When you stop to think about all the products and brands that were created as a result of man made ice, it's staggering. When automobile culture took off, the portable ice chest was invented. Today we call them coolers. Artificial ice made indoor rinks possible, which led to the business of Hockey. By 1931, the NHL had 10 franchises. Arenas became fancy with heating, padded seats and concession stands that sold food and ice filled drinks. In 1949, Frank Zamboni invented a machine that could recoat the ice. He called it a Zamboni. Soon it was repairing ice at the Winter Olympic Games. Today There are about 2,800 indoor rinks in Canada and it's estimated There are over 550,000 hockey players, male and female, on the ice right now in Canada. Curling is said to have originated in Scotland in the 16th century. The first curling club in Canada opened its doors in Montreal in 1807. Today, Curling Canada boasts over 1,000 indoor curling clubs across the country. Next, the ice cream industry exploded.
- [27:56]
Apostrophe Podcast Producer
Have an ice cream festival at your house. Hundreds of flavors to choose from, hundreds of ways to serve it. Serve ice cream a new way every day.
- [28:05]
Terry O'Reilly
Last year, ice cream companies churned out 1.3 billion gallons of ice cream. The average Canadian eats about 4.5 liters of ice cream, the equivalent of 85 scoops. Americans eat 20 pounds of ice cream per year. But that's nothing compared to the consumption of ice at places like bars, restaurants and hospitals. A typical restaurant needs to have 1.5 pounds of ice on hand for each guest. A typical salad bar requires 35 pounds, or 15 kilograms of ice per cubic foot. The typical cocktail bar needs 1.3 kilograms, or 3 pounds of ice per customer. When you think of how busy some bars are, you can only imagine how much ice they go through. Hospitals use ice for meals and medical purposes. They require 4.5 kilograms, or 10 pounds of ice per patient per day. Not to mention the number of lives saved via transplants with delicate organs being transported packed in ice. Grocery stores require 13.6 kilograms, or 30 pounds of ice per cubic foot display. Prisons need 7 pounds per inmate per day. Hotels need 2.2 kilograms, or 5 pounds per room. And there is usually an ice machine on every floor. That's a whole lotta ice. Tim Horton says that icy drinks account for 40% of its beverage sales. Now. Its most popular product is the iced cap. Cold drinks account for 75% of Starbucks beverage sales. Last year, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz said cold has taken over, and it has surprised the company. The younger the customer, the colder the drink order. Cold drinks can potentially reap bigger profits for coffee chains because they tend to cost more. And customers often customize their cold drinks, which makes them even more expensive. Gas stations and convenience stores also sell a ton of ice by the bag. Have you ever looked closely at an ice cube? Generally speaking, it's clear at the top and cloudy down below. That's because ice freezes from the top down, pushing impurities to the bottom. Today, perfectly clear ice has become all the rage. Companies now specialize in making clear ice. Clear ice cubes don't only make a cocktail look more beautiful. They are also free from impurities and keep drinks colder for longer periods of time. Mixologists and ice specialists have become very creative. They freeze things like edible flowers, mint leaves and peppers inside $14 ice cubes. There is a long list of specialty cocktail ice providers that can etch ice cubes with a brand name or the name of the bar. Or an embossed logo. Cubes now come in all kinds of novelty shapes like skulls and pineapples. There is an International Packaged Ice association and its motto Ice is Food, which at first glance seems strange, but then again, think of how much ice you consume over the course of a year. It's all come a long way from Frederick Tudor's original idea that ice could become a hot commodity. Ice is such a basic part of our lives, we rarely give it a second thought. Even though the use of year round ice is relatively new, it has created endless industries, products and brands and has created entire marketing categories. In North America alone, we use over £360 billion of ice per year. Ice isn't going away, it's getting fancier. And as temperatures increase, the demand for ice is increasing too. But some ice is going away. As author Amy Brady says in her insightful book, maybe in the future we'll have to send blocks of ice not to warm climates, but to ones that used to be cold. Ironically, people seek out ice to stay cool as the planet grows hotter. And as the planet grows hotter, the natural ice that sparked the appetite for cool continues to disappear. Thanks to Frederick Tudor, we have become obsessed with ice. And that's a cold, hard fact when you're under the influence I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Airstream mobile recording studio. Producer Debbie O'Reilly Chief Sound Engineer Jeff Devine Research Patrick James Aslan under the Influence Theme by Casey Pick, Jeremiah Pick and James Atten Gauden Tunes provided by APM Music. Let's be Social Follow me at Terry oinfluence this podcast is powered by Acast. Hey, want to read next week's Fun Fact? Just go to ApostrophePodcasts cat and follow the prompts. See you next week.
- [34:15]
Ryan Reynolds
Fun Fact hi, this is Eileen from beautiful Brockville, Ontario. Ever wonder why ice floats? The reason is because ice is less dense than water.
- [34:36]
My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for Career Day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day.
- [34:50]
LinkedIn Advertiser
Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to be to be.
- [35:06]
Soundcore Advertiser
Enjoy a brilliant sleep experience with Soundcore from Anchorage stressed out by your partner's snoring? Having trouble falling asleep? Waking up too easily? Suffering from poor quality sleep? Now put on Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds. Experience unparalleled pressure free comfort perfect for side sleepers. Choose your favorite sound in your curated playlist. Feel your body getting lighter and lighter and enjoy a full night of peaceful sleep with the A20's long lasting battery. Then wake up feeling fresh with a personal built in alarm. Get the sleep you deserve with Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds. Discover more on soundcore.coms o u N D C O R E Soundcore. Use code sleep at checkout to get $30 off sleep in all caps ACAST.
- [35:58]
Terry O'Reilly
Powers the World's Best Podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.
- [36:04]
Jonathan Fields
It's the question that's on everyone's mind. How do you live a good life? How much do work, health, relationships matter? What about happiness meaning money and love? What if you're alone or anxious, ill or in pain? These are the questions we explore weekly on the top ranked Good Life Project podcast hosted by me, award winning author, four time industry founder and perpetual seeker Jonathan Fields. Every week I sit down with world renowned experts, iconic writers and researchers and while everyone from Olympic gold medalists to world shaking activists, a list celebs, musicians and more, all with a single goal to help understand what it truly takes to live a good life and to feel a little less alone along the way. Listen to the Good Life Project podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
- [36:49]
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- [36:55]
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Acast.com.