Wonder Bread takes its fair share of abuse, but this campaign from Canada is a lot of fun—appropriately light and fluffy, and more fulfilling than you might think.
Produced by The Hive in Toronto, five ads use a pleasant stop-motion technique to show someone making a sandwich—though actually, it looks like the sandwich is making itself. The person is then heard in voiceover having a conversation with a loved one—a chat that is then cleverly mirrored somehow in the prep of the sandwich itself.
Example: A son who has recently gone off to college gets a call from his mom. As they're talking, he seems mildly exasperated by her questions about whether he's homesick. He flatly denies it. Yet we see that he's cutting the crusts off his PB&J, undercutting his protestations subtly and delightfully.
Each spot ends with the on-screen line, "The greatest thing since …" and a phrase relating to that particular ad. (The mom-son ad closes with "The greatest thing since moving out.")
The sandwiches become like little emotional canvases where small family stories can play out—pop art for the unpretentious. It's a nice, repeatable structure—one that TV viewers have surely come to recognize and enjoy. It's the kind of campaign where you'd probably feel inordinately happy when a new execution comes on.
The visual style draws you in, and the interplay between the animation and dialogue keeps you engrossed. The scenarios are simple and relatable, and they cast the brand as a ubiquitous and welcome bit player in warm everyday dramas.
As for "The greatest thing" line, Wonder Bread is often credited with creating the phrase. But you can get the real story here.
CREDITS
Client: Wonder Bread
Agency: The Hive, Toronto
Executive Creative Director: Simon Creet
Associate Creative Directors: Brad Van Schaik, Klint Davies
Director: Shin Sugino
Postproduction: AXYZ
Sound: Grayson Matthews
Producer: Jennifer Cursio
Planner: Michelle Prowse
Account Director: Skye Brain