A New Format for a Classic
The Colin the Caterpillar brand has long since expanded beyond the original chocolate log cake that defines it. Marks & Spencer has attached the name to mini rolls, button biscuits, gummy sweets, and even non-edible items like mugs and planters. One area that remains relatively unexplored, however, is shareable, take-home frozen desserts.
A new design concept addresses this directly, proposing a 480ml tub of Colin the Caterpillar ice cream. The packaging uses the familiar green branding and Colin face, placing it squarely within the existing M&S product family. The flavour, Vanilla & Milk Chocolate, is a straightforward interpretation of the cake’s core components: a simple base that mirrors the buttercream filling and chocolate sponge.
The Salted Caramel Core
The key feature highlighted in the mockup, and in the accompanying caption from its creator, is a ‘Salted Caramel Core’. This detail moves the product beyond a simple translation of the cake into ice cream, introducing a new flavour element not found in the original.
Salted caramel has become a staple flavour profile in the UK desserts market over the last decade, and M&S uses it across many lines, from cheesecakes to chocolate spreads. Its inclusion here would position the ice cream as a more contemporary product than a direct, nostalgic copy of the cake. A liquid core is also a common feature in premium ice cream tubs, suggesting the product would be aimed at the higher end of the supermarket freezer aisle.
M&S Product Branding
Marks & Spencer often creates small, distinct ranges identified by a single word. The supermarket currently sells, for instance, a duo of ‘Flip Dips’, one in Red Pepper & Cream Cheese and another in Basil with Pesto Drizzle. These are presented as a coherent pair.
Curiously, the ‘flip’ descriptor appears on a wildly disparate and seemingly unconnected list of other products available in the UK, though not from M&S. These include everything from a Gardman Flip Top Seed Feeder and a Clementoni Disney Baby Mickey Flip Phone to a Smidge Flip Straw Bottle. It’s a quirk of product naming where one word can be applied across completely different categories with no obvious link.
What the real range looks like
While the Colin tub is a new concept, M&S does have a small range of ‘Flip Dips’ including a Red Pepper Cream Cheese Dip and a Basil Dip with Pesto Drizzle. Curiously, the ‘flip’ branding is also applied to a wide, unrelated assortment of items from different manufacturers, such as the Smidge Flip Straw Bottle and the Clementoni Disney Baby Mickey Flip Phone, making it difficult to place the conceptual ice cream within a single coherent range.
- Gardman Flip Top Seed Feeder
- Floss Rock Waterpad Flip Book Space
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Citrus 1 2l
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Citrus 900ml
- Clementoni Disney Baby Mickey Flip Phone
- M S Flip Dip Red Pepper Cream Cheese Dip
- M S Flip Dip Basil Dip with Pesto Drizzle
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Summer Blush 1 2l
- Locknlock Kitchen Caddy with Flip To Lid 5l
- Smidge Flip Straw Bottle Summer Blush 900ml
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a real Colin the Caterpillar ice cream?
- Yes, but not in this format. Marks & Spencer has previously sold Colin the Caterpillar ice cream sticks, which consist of vanilla ice cream with a chocolate sauce core, coated in milk chocolate and sprinkles. This tub is a new concept.
- What flavour is the original Colin the Caterpillar cake?
- The original Colin the Caterpillar is a chocolate sponge roll cake filled with chocolate buttercream. It’s covered in a hard milk chocolate shell and decorated with chocolate beans and a solid white chocolate face.
- Is the Colin the Caterpillar ice cream tub real?
- No. The Colin the Caterpillar ice cream tub is a Snackfish, which is a fictional product concept. The image is a mockup created by the online creative page UK Snack Attack and is not on sale anywhere.
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You have been Snackfished!
Snackfish :
[sn-a-ck-fish] verb
A snack that lies about its legitimacy as an official product online for internet clout and attention. Most commonly fabricated in Adobe Photoshop or using the unofficial Snackfish AI