Tip Top ice cream truck 'breaks down'

"Thanks for your help at our breakdown. There were lots of melting Trumpets and lots of happy people!" Tweeted by Tip Top after their truck broke down by Grey Lynn park. Photo / Twitter @tiptopnz

What could be better than a sunny Saturday in the park? How about a broken down ice cream truck giving away its loot before it melts?

In a stunt by Tip Top ice cream, 1500 free ice creams were given away in 90 minutes on Grey Lynn's Williamson Ave.

"OH NO! Our truck has broken down in Grey Lynn. Come get a free Chocolate and Salted Caramel Trumpet before they melt," the company said on Twitter.

Williamson Ave resident Anthea Baker said her kids went out a few times to collect ice cream.

"We've now got a few in the freezer," she said.

"The ice cream truck had broken down and of course they couldn't keep the ice cream frozen so they were very kindly giving them out to everyone in the neighbourhood and people who were in the park.

"There were a lot of happy children and a lot of happy adults, too."

Tip Top spokeswoman Minna Reinikkala confirmed that the truck hadn't actually broken down and it had been a publicity stunt to draw attention to its new products.

"We wanted to do a bit of a creative marketing campaign leveraging our social media followers. So rather than giving people a little spoonful of ice cream in the supermarket we thought 'what would happen if a truck broke down? Could we get people to come down and try our new ice cream?'

"And it seemed to work a treat," she said.