The £9.7m ($13.39m) campaign kicked off with an advert premiered on ITV during ‘Good Morning Britain’ this morning and will continue throughout the year.
The 60-second ‘Pixar-esque’ animation, entitled ‘Crane’, features crane operator Rodney going about his work dozens of metres above the ground.
Below him, colleagues are enjoying the camaraderie of a tea break, complete with McVitie’s biscuits.
He waves but is not noticed.
As the day wears on, Rodney begins to feel isolated and becomes gloomy.
When he is convinced everyone has forgotten him, he is surprised with a little tea party of tea and McVitie’s biscuits laid out on a steel beam he is lifting.
He looks down and sees his colleagues waving.
The takeout: “Sometimes the little things are actually the really big things.”
Connected yet removed
According to Sarah Heynen, VP of marketing at disconnected pladis, UK & Ireland, despite being more connected than ever before digitally, people are essentially drifting further away from human connections.
“That’s why we’re so excited about our new ‘Sweeter Together’ campaign: Because it has a very real message about the importance of togetherness,” she said, noting that, although trivial, biscuits have an immensely powerful influence in bringing people together.
“We truly believe McVitie’s enables these moments every day.”
A second 30-second TV advert, entitled ‘Brows’, will air later this year and follows Zoe’s first day in a new job under a seemingly ‘grumpy’ boss.
Her sense of isolation and nervousness disappears when a colleague breaks the ice by sporting a pair of McVitie’s Jaffa Cake eyebrows in a comedic takeoff of Brows the boss.
Intensive process
Nexus Studios produced the animated ads – described by Heynan as ‘modern day fables’ – at the recommendation by pladis’ advertising agency Grey London.
She told BakeryandSnacks the process began in February last year, undergoing eight months in development and another four in production.
“Animation allows you to create characters that are warm and rich, but also human,” Heynan told us.
“We are really pleased with the end result.”
pladis’ fully integrated ‘Sweeter Together’ campaign also includes cinema, mobile, social and in-store activities.
A major in-store promotion will run across all McVitie’s biscuits and will enable consumers to win a myriad of prizes including family holidays, while convenience retailers will also be given a chance to win cash prizes.
Pladis – formed in 2016 – is one of the fastest growing companies in the snacking sector with annual revenues of £2.2bn ($3bn).
Its product portfolio includes sweet and savory biscuits, wafers, cakes, chocolate, gum and candy under the well-known brand McVitie’s, Jacobs, Ulker and Godiva Chocolatier.
The company has a global workforce of over 26,000 staff working in 34 factories in 13 countries.