Ad of the Day: Müller

What do you get when you combine robots, '80s pop-culture icons, and giant vats of yogurt in an epic battle? The latest commercial from Müller, Britain's "most popular chilled pot dessert brand." (Sounds appetizing, right?) As part of the "Wünderful Stuff" campaign, its biggest-ever marketing push (which includes £20 million in integrated advertising), the company enlisted TBWA\London to create a commercial that premiered during the first round of The X Factor's live finals. They managed to get the rights to a slew of nostalgic characters, and this, it appears, was the result. The spot opens with KITT, the talking car from Knight Rider, swinging into a parking spot, only to get a ticket from a traffic cop. This is when things start to get freaky (which isn't to say a talking car is exactly normal). The Müller dairy truck in front of KITT transforms into a giant round robot with a terrifying, red, Joker-esque mouth, and proceeds to gobble up the cop and spit him out as . . . Yogi Bear. Now, as Yogi walks off into a crowd of working stiffs, giant berries begin flying from the sky, hitting the people below and turning them into Mr. Men characters (you remember the books). Soon, a fleet of glowing unicorns pulling Müller containers are racing down the street, as spoons catapult fruit at more unsuspecting people. This is followed by another inexplicable episode involving a tiny Tudor house about to be hit by a wrecking ball, which is saved by the Hanna-Barbera dog Muttley wielding a super-size rice-pudding container. Just when all looks safe (apart from the mayhem of innocent people being turned into cartoon characters), a menacing storm approaches. But it's no match for a set of magical yogurt hands that emerge from yet another Müller tub, which destroy the clouds and turn them into smiling rainbows. The city streets, which are now completely human-free, rejoice beneath. According to Dedé Laurentino, executive creative director at TBWA\London, the ad is supposed to "remind us to stir a bit of wonder in our days, and beat the mundane out of our lives." But it seems considerably more like the product of a rather intense drug trip gone wrong (there's nothing fun about that nightmarish, people-eating robot). The spot might "stir a bit of wonder" in some otherwise confused adults, but it also could instill a serious fear of fresh fruit in their children. CREDITS: Client: Müller Marketing Director: Lee Rolston Agency: TBWA\London Executive Creative Director: Andre Laurentino Creative Directors: Mike Nicholson, Paul Pateman Art Director: Paul Pateman Copywriter: Mike Nicholson Agency Producer: Jason Ayers Agency Assistant Producer: Natalie Spooner Business Director: Emma Massey Chief Strategy Officer: Zaid Al Zaidy Strategy Director: Toto Ellis Account Planner: Tom Claridge Account Managers: Justin Martin, James Rice Media Agency: MediaCom Production Company: Partizan Lab Director: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet Director of Photography: Glynn Speekaert Animation Director: Mustashrik Mahbub Production Company Producers: David Stewart, Isabella Paris, Henry Scholfield Editing Facility: Work Post Editor: Bill Smedley Postproduction: The Mill Postproduction Producer: Gemma Humphries Telecine: James Bamford Lead 3-D: David Fleet Lead Flame: Richard de Carteret Sound Studio: Jungle Studios Sound Engineer: Nigel Manington Music Supervisor: Platinum Rye Entertainment Music Score: Guy Farley

Brand Marketing

Ad of the Day: Müller

TBWA and an all-star cartoon cast serve up the craziest, scariest yogurt spot ever

Emma Bazilian

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Emma Bazilian