Speculations were correct, unfortunately

The speculations about H. R. H. Princess Madeleine and Mr. Jonas Bergström having problems in their relationship, unfortunately seem to have been true. A few days ago, the Royal Court announced that the young couple will separate. That means only one royal wedding will be held in the near future, so that gives me another few years to try to land the account of the next one. ;) I don't mean to be disrespectful, I feel sorry for Princess Madeleine, but I'm sure she will find happiness soon!

Ice cream wedding

I've been meaning to write a blog post about ice cream. Not only because I simply LOVE ice cream, but also due to the fact that the whole of Sweden wants to ride the wedding wave created by the royal wedding to come. GB Glace, Sweden's largest ice cream manufacturer, have a clown, Clovve, as their mascot. Clovve will get married to Clovina, at Sweden's largest amusement park, Liseberg, on the 16th of May. Cute idea, and to honor their marriage (or possibly to sell more ice cream ;) GB Glace have come up with a special wedding ice cream cone; "Bröllopsstruten". And kanal 5 (a TV station) has created a whole campaign site, and will live stream the wedding on their site on the 16th.

Picture from GB Glace.

So, why I decided to write the ice cream post just today was that I saw (on Facebook, thanks to Anders Sporring) that 7Eleven/GB Glace give out one free ice cream cone per person (they have 5000 to give out) if you log on to their site using your Facebook account. Then you enter your phone number and get an SMS coupon that can be used in 7Elevens all over the country. (On the site they also have a counter, that counts down so you can see how many of the 5000 free ice creams are left.)

So, first they have a campaign to draw more attention to GB Glace (Clovve getting married). Then they give out free samples to even more strengthen the brand and make people love it. Clever. They even get your email address and phone number; you give them up voluntarily, because you know you'll be getting one of their delicious ice creams, for FREE! Even more clever.

Picture from GB Glace.

But what happened next is a short tale on how marketing campaigns make people (me) buy something they maybe didn't need.

I'm on a no sugar/no carb diet. I do it for multiple reasons, but I try, as best as I can, to keep sugar/carb intake as low as possible. So I don't buy ice cream. But then I saw the offer on Facebook, and thought: "Wow, a free ice cream. I can't pass on that, diet or no diet." I went to the site, entered my information while my mouth was watering form the thought of the ice cream. I got the SMS coupon sent to my phone, and went off to the nearest 7Eleven. Since I am in Stockholm right now, you're never far from one. On the way there, I call my husband, to tell him about this great offer. He had (of course) already seen it on Facebook and said; "but here in the north, were we live, we don't have any 7Elevens, so I won't bother." We had a short argument about whether he was right or not (and I must admit that I think he was), but this also made my craving for ice cream even bigger. I arrive at my 7Eleven, happy, thinking about the smooth ice cream running down my throat, only to find that they were all out of the wedding cone, Bröllopsstruten. Total disappointment. So, I take the next best route; I buy another ice cream. Of course I am disappointed, but I still have my coupon, I'll get my free ice cream another day, and I also have another delicious ice cream to munch away at right now, in the sun.

Picture from 7Eleven.

So GB Glace and 7Eleven "win". I fell for a cheap PR trick, went into the store, and came out with something I really didn't need or was planning on buying. Good job! ;)

Now, enjoy your ice creams out there, and I'll try to be present at Clovve and Clovinas wedding to give you a report.

(And yes, Liseberg wins too, since I'm actually considering paying the entrance fee just to go watch a fictional wedding... ;)

(And of course you can "like" Clovve on Facebook...)

Picture from Clovve's page on Facebook.

Royal wedding web

Yesterday, the Swedish Royal Court released the royal wedding web. A web site with information about H. R. H. the Crown Princess Victoria's wedding to Mr. Daniel Westling. Check it out if you're curious about the program or anything else.

No royal wedding

For those of you who were hoping for double royal weddings this year, it looks like you might be disappointed. H. M. the Queen announced to a Swedish newspaper that Her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine won't be getting married to Jonas this year, as previously planned, due to many issues around the royal family.

In my opinion, this is probably better for Princess Madeleine. She gets more time to plan her wedding and she will hopefully not have to worry about two royal weddings being too much for guests, family and the country of Sweden.

Unfortunately this statement also causes a lot of speculations about the young couple breaking up etc, but let's hope that's not the case.

My previous post about H. R. H. Princess Madeleine and Jonas.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

Courageux

Last week I went to Åre Guld, the jewellery store in Åre, to talk to Magnus who owns the shop. Magnus is also a jewellery designer who designs for a brand called Courageux, and I thought I'd just share some of his ring designs with you. Enjoy!