Warburtons ads are unashamedly fun and certainly stand out in the ad break. Pulling in Hollywood greats like Stallone, De Niro and The Muppets, Warburtons has a history of working with some seriously big stars – and making the most of them.
Warburton’s latest campaign, Mad About the Bread, featuring Samuel L Jackson, is no different. The storytelling advert clearly positions Warbutons Toastie loaf as the authentic product – directly addressing questions of similarity with other products. Samuel L Jackson poses as Jonathan Warburton who has seen a social post suggesting other toastie loaves are basically the same as Warbutons. And he reacts in a classic Jackson angry rage.
The advert highlights the effort that goes into making the perfect Toastie loaf, ‘packed full of the bakery’s unique blend of wheat and 147 years of baking expertise’. SLJ teaches us all a lesson about quality wheat, Warburtons knowhow and some of its inventive product-testing techniques.
The supporting billboard campaign incorporates the actor’s distinctive personality and Warburton’s distinctive orange packaging with plenty of bread-related puns:
- It butter be Warburtons
- Don’t be fooled by deep bakes
- Just because it’s orange doesn’t make it Warburtons
We love this. It might be the best thing since sliced bread – sorry. In fact, that’s almost all that needs to be said. The use of celebs/famous actors in ads has a chequered past. The key is to magnify the things they are famous for, not just cast them because they are available. Direct Line and Harvey Keitel is a great example, and this works because it is full on Samuel L. and he is amazing at it. The joke is well made, nice baking executive, gets Hollywood A-lister to play him in ad to give it some added chutzpah. The way it’s shot, a fast-paced journey through the multiple reasons why all bread is NOT the same, is equally clever. It supplies all the reasons to believe that Warburtons is not the same as the own label products that are stealing its identity. Again, using SLJ might have been an excuse to miss out on these rational product difference, but heck, no… it’s the whole point of the ad. All this whilst still being very funny. Brilliant and we believe this commitment by brands to magnify their differences – with confidence – works.
Watch the TV campaign ad below or find out more about Warburtons here.