Huron Expositor, 2014-11-12, Page 3Wednesday, November 12, 2014 • Huron Expositor 3
Hensall's ice truck gets immortalized
Whitney South
Huron Expositor
There are few Canadians who
haven't seen it.
A working truck, made
almost completely out of ice,
took to the streets of Hensall
late last year, breaking records
and launching a battery created
by Canadian Tire into the inter-
national spotlight.
Now, Canadians have a
chance to own their very own
ice truck, in miniature of course.
Fashioned by the creative
minds at Iceculture, the ice
truck first made its debut on
New Year's Day during the NHL
Winter Classic.
The catalyst for the successful
ad campaign, a version of the
vehicle is now available as both
a model and MegaBloks set.
For cofounder of Iceculture,
Julian Bayley, the immortaliza-
tion of his company's creation
came as quite the surprise.
"We did a job for Canadian
Tire in Niagara Falls and one of
the girls said - by the way, did
you know there's a toy coming
out?" he said, explaining how
employees found out about the
collectible. "It was a surprise
definitely."
Bayley went on to say even
though the flyer still hadn't
even come out yet, some stores
were already carrying the items
but employees had a difficult
time trying to track down a toy
of their own. "Stratford had 200
in stock at the beginning of the
week and yesterday they had
two left. They were out in Exeter
and they're almost out in
Goderich. It's crazy."
In fact, both toys are already
up for auction on Ebay.
Though the toy truck may
lack a few details, like the air
freshener hanging from the
rearview mirror, the model is
resin and made to scale. The
packaging includes a mention
of Iceculture itself, as well as
the truck's record-setting tour
through the streets of Hensall,
alongside a photo of three
sculptors working on the vehi-
cle. Meanwhile, the MegaBloks
set is made almost entirely of
clear ice blocks and has three
mini -figures and a garage.
The ice truck campaign was
created to promote a battery,
created by Canadian Tire to
stand up to Canadian winter
temperature as low as minus 40
degrees.
"That was probably the most
successful campaign I've ever
been associated with, it was
very very clever," said Bayley,
adding he was told the battery
sales went 40 per cent over pro-
jections due to the success of
the campaign. "They wanted to
freeze a battery in ice and that
wasn't going to be very sensa-
tional, so we were talking and
suggested making an ice truck.
We didn't know if we would do
it - we'd never done one, but
they bought into the idea and
we did it."
Those bold enough to brave
the stands at the Winter Classic
itself saw temperatures of minus
12 degrees, not to mention a ton
of snow; a perfect look at a harsh
Whitney South, Huron Expositor
Lisa Hanlon, CNC technician in charge of carving
the original ice truck, displays the new resin model
being offered by Canadian tire, while Iceculture
cofounder Julian Bayley shows off the MegaBloks
version of the now famous truck.
Canadian winter.
For Bayley, it was a match
made in heaven.
"Nothing could've been bet-
ter so they just flew off the
shelf," he said. "They sold out of
everything and that's what
makes it a very successful cam-
paign and, when you think
back, it's nice to be associated
with it:'
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