ENGINE Creative’s latest campaign for UK crisps brand McCoy’s introduces ‘The Beast’, a demanding creature whose cravings can only be satisfied by the “extreme flavours” of McCoy’s.

Directed by Blinkink’s Joseph Mann, the series of ads are set in everyday scenarios, where a person snacking on “very plain crisps” unleashes a furry, long-armed Beast with a craving for flavour, who seeks out the nearest pack of McCoy’s.

The first ad in the series sees a woman at work direct her Beast to a nearby convenience store, where the shopkeeper is eating new McCoy’s Peri-Peri Fire Pit.

While another commercial sees a Beast burst through the forehead and beanie of a man eating plain chips with his mate, then through an adjacent wall to grab a McCoy’s Muchos Nachos Cheese crisp from a pair of women eating them with guacamole.

ENGINE Creative said it was briefed to position McCoy’s as “a snack that turns up the taste volume on many levels”, leaving so-called boring crisps behind.

The agency’s response was to create a Beast whose craving for flavour must be satisfied, allying the truth of the brand’s intense flavour with the unexpected friction of “a cheeky Beast who lives inside all of us”, and who will stop at nothing in its craving for real taste.

“We gave ENGINE a simple brief, to convey the fact that McCoy’s is full-on flavour and that when you need a flavour hit, only McCoy’s will do,” McCoy’s marketing controller Ilan Arkin said.

“At the first stage, the agency presented a visually impactful idea, ‘don’t deny The Beast’ that delivered on McCoy’s unique tone of voice, ensuring we would grab attention and communicate our message clearly.

“The TV shoot was during lockdown, but was a seamless process and a great team effort that has produced some amazing content that everyone at KP Snacks is very proud of.”

ENGINE chief creative officer Billy Faithfull added: “Unprecedented times call for an unprecedentedly flavoursome crisp.

“McCoys has always satisfied the beast within, and that extreme craving, in this case, is naturally, represented by our beast’s arm of an indeterminable length, taking you away from that wisp of a crisp that for some reason you mistakenly chose.”

The creative agency said that much of the comedy of the Beast is in the puppet. By keeping everything in-camera, ENGINE said Mann was able to deliver performances with natural spontaneity.

Speaking about the process, he said: “Some scripts are literally a dream come true. To keep these films feeling as rooted in the real world as possible everything was shot in camera with very little post-production.

“Each long hairy flavour grabbing puppet was brought to life as a physical puppet measuring over three metres in length! Bicycle brake cables were used to give each hand its characterful articulated movements.”

ENGINE said the campaign is aimed at an audience of 25 to 44-year-old “flavour cravers” who seek stimulation and adventure in life to punctuate the mundane.

This desire to dial things up plays out in their choice of McCoy’s with its whole range of big, punchy flavours.

The 20-second and 10-second films are spearheading a campaign that will run on major terrestrial and satellite TV channels, as well as VOD on ITV, Sky and All 4, and in OOH locations close to stores. Media planning and buying is through Starcom.

Credits for the campaign are as follows:

Executive creative director: Billy Faithfull

Creative directors: Sonny Adorjan, Olly Courtney

Creative team: Andy Lee, Jonny Porthouse

Account team

Client MD: Ed Norrington

Account manager: Megan Seaby

Senior account director: Rosa Stanley

Senior account director: Alex Worthington

Strategy team

Chief strategy officer: Gen Kobayashi

Strategy director: Elisa Edmonds

Senior strategist: Laura Sammarco

Agency project manager: Louisa Lewis

Agency executive producer: Debbie Impett

Agency producer: Georgina Moxey

Agency assistant producer: Olive Andrews

Director/Production Co: Joseph Mann/Blinkink

Executive producer: Bart Yates

Producer: Joshua Smith

DOP: Alex Barber

1st AD: James Sharpe

Editors: Stitch Editing

Editor: Max Windows

Producers: Alice Clarke, Angela Hart

Post-production: Freefolk

Colourist: Paul Harrison

Flame artist: Andy Copping, Jason Watts

Post-producer: Cheryl Payne

Audio production: Wave Studios

Sound engineer: Tony Rapaccioli

Audio producer: Ornela Peka

OOH typography: Eva Cremers (Jelly London)

OOH CGI: Neil Stubbings (Jelly London)

OOH CGI packs and crisps: PICS

Media planning/buying: Starcom