HB Ice Cream is an Irish ice cream brand founded in 1926 by the Hughes brothers at Hazelbrook Farm in Churchtown, Dublin. The name “HB” originally stood for both Hughes Brothers and Hazelbrook Farm. The brand became part of Unilever in 1973 and today operates under Unilever’s international Heartbrand umbrella, which unites local ice cream brands under a shared visual identity. [1] [2]
Design and History
HB’s visual identity has evolved gradually over the decades. A Dublin Business School retrospective on historic Irish brands notes that the logo “has evolved slowly over the years, with the most recent incarnation appearing in 2010.” [3]
The most significant shift in HB’s branding came after Unilever acquired the company in 1973. [4] Unilever consolidated its various national ice cream brands, including HB in Ireland, Wall’s in the United Kingdom, Good Humor in the United States, and Algida in Italy, under a single shared logo known as the Heartbrand. [5] The Heartbrand name derives from the brand’s heart-shaped logo. [6]
Before the Heartbrand was introduced, Unilever’s ice cream brands used a different logo featuring a blue circle with the local brand’s name over a background of red stripes. [7] The heart-shaped logo replaced these local designs in most countries, while the local brand names were retained. [8]
Prior to Unilever’s ownership, HB operated as an independent family business. The American company W. R. Grace acquired HB in 1964 and opened a new factory in Rathfarnham in 1967. [4] The Rathfarnham factory closed in 2003, ending the link between the brand and its original Dublin location. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The “HB” initials carry dual meaning, referencing both Hughes Brothers, the founding family, and Hazelbrook Farm, the original Dublin property. [9] The brand’s marketing in the late 1970s and early 1980s played on this letter-based identity with the slogan “Two Letters Spell Ireland’s Favourite Ice Cream.” [10]
Since joining Unilever, HB’s packaging has carried the Heartbrand heart symbol shared across the company’s global ice cream portfolio. The heart logo functions as a unifying mark that lets consumers recognize the product family across different national brand names. [6]
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