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.
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“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
