Aldi’s ice bath stunt brings organic phenomenon into the mainstream

An Aldi promotional stunt by Taylor Herring has gone viral, simply by demonstrating its ice bath product on a busy street.

A simple, but undeniably effective, bit of marketing for Aldi's £29.99 inflatable ice bath has captured the attention of social media this week.

The supermarket brand took advantage of a London heatwave, which saw a 480% surge in ice bath searches, to put its thrifty wellness offering in full public display.

The stunt perfectly embodies Aldi's long-standing strategy to make trending products accessible, use humour and create cultural moments.

Our take

Taylor Herring nailed it with the ice bath stunt by tapping into a cultural zeitgeist which, although on people’s radars, somehow needed lifting into the mainstream.

Ice baths as a phenomenon were sitting in a sweet spot: they were a popular discussion point at high-end gyms and on ‘alpha male’-orientated fitness channels, via proponents like Wim Hoff, but not yet truly ‘mainstreamed’.

Part of what was holding ice baths back from mass appeal was the price point, a hurdle which Aldi overcame to allow the ‘therapy’ to reach a whole new market.

The stunt itself, meanwhile, is brilliant because of its simplicity. There’s an inherent absurdity and fascination with ice baths. Aldi simply had to show it being used to grab attention.