27 April 2026: A giant chocolate Cornetto Max disc appears to have smashed through the 783.5m2 Piccadilly Lights DeepScreen and crash-landed beside the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain (Eros), ripping up the pavement in a dramatic stunt created by Hot Pickle for TMICC’s Cornetto Max, a new range launch from their Cornetto brand.
Extending the DeepScreen animation (by Ocean Studio) beyond the display, the installation creates a seamless optical illusion that connects screen and street. Booked and operated in partnership with Ocean Outdoor and Landsec, the site is one of the UK’s most high-impact advertising platforms, with the potential to be seen by over 100 million people each year.
“Cornetto Max is unapologetically indulgent, so we wanted a launch that felt just as big and impactful,” says Emily Godding, Snacking Platform Lead & Senior Cornetto Brand Manager at TMICC. “Piccadilly Circus gives us an unrivalled stage, and combining the iconic Ocean Outdoor DeepScreen with real-world effects lets us create something people don’t just watch – they experience. It’s playful, disruptive and genuinely unmissable.”
The work marks the centrepiece of TMICC’s UK’s major campaign push behind Cornetto Max, designed to grab the attention of Millennials and wider audiences with a larger-than-life expression of the product’s playful indulgence.
Talking to the experience of the campaign, Esther Hadkins, Senior Account Director at Hot Pickle says: “From the outset, we wanted this to feel like more than just a visual trick. It was about creating a physical moment people could walk up to, interact with and share – a reward for being there in person.”
Both variants, Chocolate Hazelnut and Pistachio, are now available nationwide, with the campaign set to drive awareness at scale through a mix of high-impact outdoor, social amplification and experiential.
Photograph was taken by Kevin Moran.
