Meanwhile, at a marketing company somewhere in London….

"OK people, gather round.

"Today, we’ve got a mountain to climb – with 2 broken legs, a blinding snowstorm and a 38 stone Sumo wrestler strapped to our back. This really is the Mount Everest of marketing….

"We are right up shit creek – and the paddle shop is on half day closing. This is our rock and our hard place, this is our nadir, this is the almost impossible brief.

"Today, we’ve got to devise the marketing equivalent that’s almost as difficult as selling sand to Arabs and ice to Eskimos."

"Sounds like a pretty tall order, Chief – I mean, Arabs have got loads and loads of sand haven’t they – and it’s a bit cold to be putting ice in an Eskimo’s G&T?"

"I was being ironic. The proposition is that everything is possible – no matter how improbable, if you devise the correct marketing strategy. So, when we are trying to accomplish something very, very difficult we use the analogy that whatever our brief is – it's still not as difficult as selling sand to Arabs or ice to Eskimos - which would obviously be virtually impossible to do".

"Well, what is it, what's all the fuss about then? What’s it all about, this ‘almost impossible’ brief?

"Genetically modified crops – or 'G.M.' for short. Her Majesty’s Government has tasked our Company to handle the marketing for this tricky ‘hot potato’ – and ‘sell’ it to the Great British public as a good and wholesome foodstuff"….

"So let’s unlock the grey matter and do some creative power thinking, and let’s do it now, people".

"Hmmm"

"Hmmmmmmm"

"Hmmmmmmmmmmm"

"Chief"

"What?"

"Can we have a go at the ‘sand to Arabs’ brief instead?"