Heat generates plenty of lolly

Birds Eye Wall’s marketing director Michael Hebel is on dangerous ground when he claims summer volume of his ice cream rose by two to three per cent this summer “after accounting for the weather” in “Lolly brands feel the heat” (MW October 20).

Methods of accounting for the effect of extraneous factors such as weather on sales can only be reasonably reliable if those factors are within known and previously experienced limits. This summer’s weather was outside previous experience in terms of rainfall and sunshine, in most parts of the UK, so Hebel’s two to three per cent growth might be wishful thinking.

I hope he’s right, but I would not want to invest millions of pounds of new plant on his (perhaps unfounded) theory.

Steve Raper

Director

Optima Marketing Solutions

Bath

Avon