After years of going without an Elfstedentocht (Eleven-cities skating tour), the ice was thick enough to hold thousands of skaters at the beginning of January 1997. At the end of the tour, three friends hacked a big piece of ‘Elfsteden ice’ out of the canal near the finish line. The value of this piece is enormous. All the more because there has been no Elfstedentocht (thanks to global warming) for over 11 years since the 1997 tour. The three friends from the town of Appelscha put the chunk of ice up for sale at the end of 1997. The proceeds would go towards the Red Cross water project. ETCETERA bought (their own) pieces of ice and sent them to their clients as an original New Year’s greeting.

Before the promotion, the word ‘Elfstedenijs’ didn’t get more than 100 hits on Google. After the promotion, the number of Google hits soared to over 12,000. The first 20 Google search result pages featured ETCETERA’s Elfsteden ice promotion.

On Marktplaats (eBay), the Elfsteden ice was an advert success with 14,500 viewings.The promotion website www.elfstedenijs.nl attracted over 13,000 visitors.De Telegraaf daily newspaper published various articles that featured the Etcetera brand in words and pictures.Total PR value > EUR 70,000 (investment