Jacob’s has launched a new brand platform, “Bakes It Better,” created by Boys + Girls and built around the realities, frustrations and humour of everyday family life.
The new campaign moves away from the polished portrayals of family life often seen in food advertising, instead focusing on familiar moments when plans go wrong but a Jacob’s biscuit can make things just a little better.
The first film in the campaign, Dinosaur, centres on a six-year-old’s birthday party and a father who has gone all-in on his daughter’s love of dinosaurs.
There is only one problem: on the morning of the party, she decides she likes unicorns instead.
While the painstakingly planned dinosaur theme may suddenly be redundant, her enthusiasm for Jacob’s Mikados remains intact.
The film is the first in a series of executions based around recognisable family truths, with a second film, Namaste, set to follow shortly.
The new positioning draws on what the agency describes as a longstanding truth about Jacob’s – that its biscuits are “baked with care and eaten with love” – and extends this into the idea that the care put into making the product can also make the moments around it better.
Jacob’s has been part of Irish households for more than 170 years and the campaign seeks to reflect contemporary family life in a way that is less idealised and more recognisable.
The films were directed by Tomas Jonsgården through Ponder, with the creative treatment relying on understated performances, observational details and a dry narrative voice to find humour in everyday family behaviour.
“We kept calling these an ad’s ad,” said Jake O’Driscoll, Creative Director, Boys + Girls.
“A sharp behavioural insight, a funny script, great performances and a product with a genuine role in the storytelling – dramatised to feel entertaining. Tomas understood that straight away.
“And there’s something very satisfying about making advertising that just does the fundamentals really well.”
Pat Stephenson, Chief Relationship Officer, Boys + Girls, said the campaign offered the agency the opportunity to work with one of Ireland’s best-known food brands.
“The opportunity to work with the amazing team at Valeo to create this brilliant master brand campaign for Jacob’s really epitomises what we love doing at Boys + Girls,” he said.
“Working with a beloved jewel of a brand, finding a real Irish insight that rings uniquely true and then executing with craft and careful expertise is the kind of work that puts a smile on everyone’s face – from those who encounter it through to everyone who had the opportunity to work on it.”
Dinosaur is rolling out across TV, VOD, social and digital, with Namaste due to follow as the next instalment in the Bakes It Better platform.
Credits
Agency: Boys + Girls
Chief Creative Officer: Rory Hamilton
Creative Director: Jake O’Driscoll
Senior Copywriter: Jack Walsh
Senior Copywriter: Michael Whelan
Art Director: Robin Carey Keatings
Executive Strategy Director: Tara Finegan
Chief Relationship Officer: Pat Stephenson
Executive Relationship Director: Caroline Keogh
Account Manager: Darragh Thompson
Head of Operations: Lauren McNinney
Head of Design: Colm Coonagh
Head of Production: Derek Doyle
Producer: Ben White
Client: Valeo Foods
Chief Commercial Officer: Sinead Mc Aleese
Marketing Director: Eimear Gorman
Marketing Manager: Máire Farrington
Director: Tomas Jonsgården
Production Company: Ponder
Executive Producer: Paul Hoimes
Producer: Magnus Akerstedt
Editor: Stephen O’Connell
Post-Production: Gabha
Post-Producer: Jess Felton
Grade: Outer Limits
Sound Engineer & Additional Composition: Will Farrell
Sound Studio: Blast
