—The ad was created by Joyful & Triumphant and Freud Communications—
By Charlotte Rawlings
Warburtons has unveiled the latest Hollywood star to front one of its ads with Samuel L Jackson making an appearance at the brand’s HQ in Bolton. Jackson plays the role of Warburtons’ chairman, Jonathan Warburton, in an ad named “Mad about the bread.”
The Pulp Fiction star addresses the camera and tells viewers he’s been enlisted by Warburton to play the chairman in the ad. Warburton hopes his choice of casting communicates his “furious anger” at people who underestimate his bread.
Jackson addresses a comment made online by a man called Steve, who questions the similarity of Warburtons’ Toastie loaf to its rivals.
This prompts Jackson to respond: “What gives?! What gives tweetie-pie is me—Jonathan Warburton. I GIVES! And hell hath no fury like a baker scorned, Steve.”
The ad proceeds to show a montage of the efforts that go into producing a Warburtons’ Toastie loaf, with Jackson testing for softness, butterability and bounceback. He even pays Steve’s parents a visit to swap their “Warburtons wannabe” toast for the Warburtons Toastie.
The ad concludes with Jackson kicking down the door of the chairman’s office to be met with the real Jonathan Warburton, who says: “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
The ad was directed by Declan Lowney through Merman and created by Joyful & Triumphant and Freud Communications. Billy Faithfull, Andy Lee and Jonny Porthouse formed the creative team and the script was based on an idea by Hugo Isaacs and Chris da Roza.
“Spending time with the family talking about quality, you realize doing things properly is a family trait, bred (or baked?) into the current leadership,” said Faithfull, executive creative director at Joyful & Triumphant.
“‘Take your baking seriously, but never yourselves,’ said Jonathan’s father, Derek. So we figured the most unserious way to bring to life the Warburtons maxim was to cast Hollywood’s most serious monologist Samuel L Jackson as Jonathan Warburton.
“We hope people will think twice before questioning the unique quality of a Warburtons Toastie, at least for the next generation or two.”
Jackson is not the first A-list celebrity to star in a Warburtons ad, joining the likes of George Clooney, Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone.
Jackson added: “It was a pleasure to meet the man at the helm of Britain’s biggest family bakery. And what an honour to follow in the footsteps of ‘Bolton alumni’ George Clooney and Robert De Niro. We had a lot of fun on set so I hope people enjoy the finished product—the ad and the Toastie loaf.”
The campaign will run across social, wider digital, TV and out of home.
“Mad about the bread” will go live on social media from Sept. 20 and will air on UK TV from Sept. 22. Media planning and buying was handled by Mindshare.
“We pride ourselves on the care that goes into making sure that every single loaf is as fresh and high quality as possible,” said the real Jonathan Warburton.
“Quality is truly at the heart of our 147-year-old business, and this new ad is a real celebration of that passion. Inviting big-screen hero Samuel L Jackson into the business was a uniquely memorable experience, and we hope to bring some light-hearted humour to viewers at home—while reminding the nation that our Toastie truly offers our customers the best of the best.”
