Created by WCRS, "Pride and Breadjudice" sees Kay – famous for expressing skepticism for new-fangled culinary product, garlic bread – pitching a period romance, in which he casts himself as the company’s founder Thomas Warburton.
Pitched as an "epic tale of passion, flour, and a woman stood on a hill", Kay’s idea tells the story of Thomas falling in love with Ellen, who became his wife, and setting up the business in 1876.
Kay is from Bolton, Greater Manchester, where Warburtons is based. He follows in the footsteps of those other leading influencers, Sylvester Stallone and Kermit the Frog, who have both visited Warburtons HQ to pitch an idea in recent ads.
The ad, which weaves Kay’s signature style of comedy in with tropes from Jane Austen’s 1813 masterpiece, will debut on ITV on 7 October in a one-off, three-minute slot.
It was created by Gina Ramsden and Freya Harrison, and directed by Declan Lowney through Another. The media agency is Mindshare.
The longer spot is accompanied by a 60-second film in which Kay pitches a series of other cringeworthy ideas to Warburton. These will be supported with out-of-home, digital, social and PR.
Billy Faithfull, executive creative director at WCRS, said: "Warburtons takes baking seriously but never themselves. That’s the Warburtons way. We’ve always created Warburtons campaigns with this philosophy in mind, and the question ‘What would no other 141-year-old bakery business do?’ Let Peter Kay loose with the family history, that’s what.
"Not to be outdone by the Muppets and Sly, Peter insisted the script was dense with gags. So, we wrote and we wrote. So much so, that it spilled over into an extra minute. Well, you live and you learn. And you laugh, hopefully."
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