Pillsbury
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In advertising, you often have to work within existing brand campaigns, and with “other people’s ideas.” Sometimes it feels like a chore. But occasionally, you get an opportunity to breathe new life into a beloved character who hasn’t really done much in a while.
The existing “Made at Home” campaign wasn’t unique: families at home during mealtimes. Pillsbury was focused on product and clichéd storytelling, neglecting the brand’s key difference: The Doughboy
Our task was to bring some personality back into the campaign—Doughboy’s personality, to be specific. We let him stretch his legs, gave him spoken lines, and made him a part of the family instead of just a branded prop.
Process
The new Doughboy had an updated design—he’s more dough-colored, his kerchief is blue, etc.—but more than that, he needed a bit more personality. The brand design team at JKR made many of the nuts and bolts design decisions before I got involved. My team’s job was to bring him to life as a more fully-formed character.
This new campaign and his new look meant we went back to the drawing board—literally. We started with pencil sketches to design a set of expressions and a range of poses to help develop his new personality.
Like any other animated character, we started with the scripts and explored Doughboy’s specific actions, gestures, posture, and facial expressions.
We also developed a new voice—more dialogue from Doughboy meant he needed his high-pitched falsetto softened.
Like any other animated character, we started with the scripts and explored Doughboy’s specific actions, gestures, posture, and facial expressions.
We also developed a new voice—more dialogue from Doughboy meant he needed his high-pitched falsetto softened.
The Scripts
Our approach built on the existing "Made at Home" campaign, which highlighted authentic family moments during mealtime, but often left little room for the Doughboy.
We shifted to more character-driven comedy spots, avoiding the typical "food porn" and "bite-and-smile" approach. These are animated spots in live-action homes, with the Doughboy interacting with family members and food.
The Doughboy is more than just a mascot—he talks with the kids, makes faces, plays games, etc. In short, he’s a full-fledged member of the family.
It’s always fun watching scenarios evolve from ideas to doodles into final shots and polished animation.
The Doughboy is more than just a mascot—he talks with the kids, makes faces, plays games, etc. In short, he’s a full-fledged member of the family.
It’s always fun watching scenarios evolve from ideas to doodles into final shots and polished animation.
The Spots
We developed an ambitious approach for shooting and animating the campaign, with UK director Chris Balmond bringing us down onto the tabletop at Doughboy’s level. We worked to make these different from anything the brand has done previously.
Each spot has a visual flourish combining camera moves and Doughboy’s physical performance to give viewers a new perspective on his world and give our clients some great-looking close-ups of their products.
Music
Made Music developed a mnemonic (they call it a “sonic logo”) and a brand melody for the Pillsbury in previous work. For this campaign, we worked with them to arrange these themes into custom scores with different tempos, instrumentation, and genres to match the tone of each spot.
The holiday spots showcase the range we created from our central theme, all leading up to a consistent mnemonic.
Social and Digital
As a part of the TV production, we planned and shot video concepts for social media. Each spot had unique shots with scenarios for social content. These videos helped maintain the creative standard across media, and supplemented the standard reformats and cutdowns used in various digital platforms.
Agency: BBDOMW
Role: CD / Art Director
Credits
CD/AD: Chris Corum
CW: Jacob Guenther
CW: Jacob Guenther
GCD: Tess Nyberg
CCO: Brock Davis
CCO: Brock Davis