Warburton’s Celebrate 150 Years With Another Baking Blockbuster

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Warburtons have a reputation for showstopping ads. They pull out all the stops to make blockbuster ads guest-starring big names that get people talking and laughing. For their 150th anniversary as a brand, you’d expect them to do something really special. And they have: a funny, freewheeling ad which takes a tour across a century and a half of baking history with narration from none other than Morgan Freeman.

The ad, developed with agency Joyful & Triumphant, has plenty of other surprises and references too – a Paddington cameo got our Test Your Ad commenters talking, for instance. Like every Warburtons ad it starts with Jonathan Warburton in his office, but this time what awaits him is a celebrity voice, not a celebrity himself. Freeman’s unmistakable tones take us through scenes from the first ever Warburtons loaf to the moon landing, with plenty of jokes on the way.

Next the commercial gets a bit meta, with Freeman interrupting the action to ask what a crumpet is, in one of the ad’s funniest scenes. And then it’s time for an emotional finale as the newest child in the Warburton family is welcomed into the world, and the ad promises a bright future for the brand.

It’s a spot that lands on many levels, scoring an exceptional 5.2-Stars on Test Your Ad Pro, putting Warburtons into the top bracket of ads. You can see how it achieves that when you look at the “Types Of Happiness” report in Test Your Ad Pro, and see that Warburtons scores well above the norm on two of the most effective kinds of positive response, ‘Uplifted’ and ‘Amused’. Most effective ads manage to create one of those responses, but managing both is trickier, and the ad’s pivot from laughs to that final sentimental scene takes an already strong commercial to the next level.

As well as that exceptional Star Rating predicting long-term effectiveness, Warburtons gets an exceptional short-term Spike Rating and a very strong 94% Brand Fluency score too. The Key Message takeouts (available in Test Your Ad Pro) showed that Warburtons is landing the message that it’s a proud family brand with an 150 year heritage, and that its products taste great too. All in all, the bakery brand have another blockbuster on their hands.

It’s worth unpicking a couple more of the elements Warburtons use to get that result, though. The first is their use of a Fluent Device. Jonathan Warburton has become a star of these ads in his own right, leveraging an asset that only a family business can. Him waiting in his office for the latest superstar knock on the door has become a Fluent Device that recurs in multiple ads and primes audiences for what they’re about to see. That way, Warburtons can have their effectiveness crumpet and eat it – showcasing new characters and stars each time while keeping familiarity high with Jonathan himself.

The other thing Warburtons do so well here is pack in historical and cultural references. There’s a multitude of scenes, jokes and things to spot in the ad, which sets it up for a long on-screen life and makes it easy to break down for shorter social and video content. Cultural references are one of the great effectiveness enablers, as we know from the work of Orlando Wood in Look Out. And from “Pride And Breadjudice” to Paddington, Warburtons always know how to bake a great reference in.