Minions Cookout Chaos Delights for King’s Hawaiian

It’s only been a few weeks since we had another Despicable Me 4 tie-in ad from VW as Ad Of The Week, but the new movie is clearly making brand tie-ins and collaborations central to its launch, and that strategy is paying off for the brands it partners with, too.

The VW ad centered on lead character Gru, but bread brand King’s Hawaiian go for his scene-stealing servants and co-stars, the Minions. It’s set at a Minion cookout, with the little yellow creatures extremely over-excited at the chance to make sliders with King’s Hawaiian rolls. The opportunity sets off a grill arms race with terrible consequences (and not just for the Minions). But they do end up getting their sliders.

It’s another example of an ad which uses its guest stars really well. While the King’s Hawaiian product plays a crucial role here, this is basically an original, 30-second Minions skit promoting the film, with the tight writing and high production values you expect from a successful Hollywood franchise. And that’s perfect for this ad – people love the Minions! It’s silly, entertaining, and funny, at a time when humor is finally winning the respect of the wider industry again.

Bread products tend to be the poor relations within the baked goods category, as it’s also the home of cookies and other tasty snacks. Those popular products make it home for effective, feelgood advertising, with an average Star Rating of 3.3-Stars. But King’s Hawaiian easily beats that number, scoring a strong 4.3-Stars with this ad thanks to its humor and its delightful guest stars. It also scores an Exceptional Spike Rating, again well above the category average. Not bad for bread rolls.

Not all franchises are created equal. It’s questionable whether ad tie-ins with action movies or superhero films would work as well as animated comedies do. But the Minions in particular are one of those characters, like the Muppets, who seem to have the magic touch. That does create some risk for brands making Despicable Me and Minions tie-ins, as it’s impossible to create an exclusive association between them and your brand. But the pay-off for using them, in the form of improved emotional response, is clear. It’s up to each brand making a tie-in to craft a Minions story which gives their brand a suitable and distinctive role. King’s Hawaiian pass that test.