Ed Sheeran's eighth album, "Play", will be released this Friday, but the matching ice cream flavor drops today.
Making music a a multi-sensory experience has always been elusive. You can gaze at the album cover or a poster while listening – or, as of recently, you can actually taste the album. British singer and four-time Grammy winner Ed Sheeran is now providing exactly that: Just a few days before the release of his eighth studio album, he's inviting his fans and ice cream lovers to dig into his music – quite literally.
The singer-songwriter describes his latest as a return to "big pop" – an energy that is reflected in the new complementary "Play Pink" ice cream flavor, which is based on pink punch, refined with dragon fruit and contains small pieces of guava cake. The limited edition is available in most "Van Leeuwen" stores in New York City while stocks last.
Generating buzz for an album with your own ice cream flavor is not a new marketing strategy, but it's effective. Van Leeuwen is also no stranger to collaborations with celebrities: Earlier this summer, the company teamed up with Kylie Jenner to launch a peach and mango sorbet that was only available for a day – to match her new lip balm. In June 2024, there was a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter, which resulted in an espresso ice cream that was sold across the US.
The idea of combining the an album release with an ice cream flavor is not just successful in across the pond. Last June, Veganista celebrated Billie Eilish 's album launch in Germany by presenting ten new, limited edition flavors. It shows: ice cream is increasingly becoming a sweet means of music marketing.
