Our Story

The History of Plastic Promotions

In 1987 John Allen started to sell whipped ice cream from his petrol filling station forecourt using conventional point of sale material provided by his mix supplier. At the end of his first year he had sold a disappointing 1.5 tones of ice cream. He felt that not only was he missing passing trade but some of his regular customers seemed oblivious to the fact that he sold ice cream. John discussed this problem with his brother-in-law Gilbert Irvine. They concluded that a larger than life model of an ice cream cone would be a more effective way of saying "we sell ice cream" than his conventional signs.

Gilbert then produced a 6 foot model of a whipped ice cream complete with flake for display on his forecourt. John noticed an immediate increase in his sales. In the next full year he sold more than 4.5 tones!

John was now being asked by other retailers where he had obtained his giant cone and realising there was a potential market he started to record these inquires. From this information, and after some other market research John and Gilbert formed Plastic Promotions Limited to produce giant advertising models using the 6 foot ice cream cone as their first product. Now the giant ice cream cone has became common site of the summertime even appearing on a limited edition 1st class stamp!