De Niro stars in GoodBagels blockbuster, but will it roll in the dough for Warburtons?

Robert De Niro is the latest A-list celebrity to star in a string of ads from Warburtons, the iconic English baked goods giant. Previous ‘episodes’ have featured high-profile celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone and the Muppets, with the manufacturer ramping up its marketing efforts over recent years in an attempt to overcome stagnating category growth.

The Oscar-winning actor turned back the clock in a play on the 1990 smash-hit Goodfellas, playing a familiar role as a New York mafia boss. The juxtaposition of walking-brand-asset-for-an-iconic-bakery Jonathan Warburton and attempting-to-reboot-his-movie-career Robert De Niro could have been jarring for consumers, but contextually it works.

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Warburtons were willing to give the majority of screen time to De Niro – unsurprising given his rumoured appearance fee – while the narrative itself was built entirely around the brand and its products. The cinematic approach masterfully intertwined a healthy dose of humour, resulting in viewer attention and engagement being maintained throughout. Feelings of amusement and happiness were amongst the strongest emotions elicited by the ad.

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Many clients are surprised to learn that using a celebrity in an advertisement has no more than a fifty-fifty chance of working. But when it does – as ‘GoodBagels’ shows – the upside is far-reaching.

Celebrities aren’t just powerful because of their ability to generate engagement and evoke an emotional response, but more importantly they provide brands with a platform to leverage the values and associations they possess. This has the potential to drive positive outcomes for the brand in both the short- and long-term.

Even in the absence of a heavy product sell, ‘GoodBagels’ was extremely persuasive, with a strong short-term sales uplift expected. How is that possible, you ask? Well, if Warburtons can afford to pay a big, famous, international celebrity to feature in its advertising, then it stands to reason that they must also be a big, trustworthy and reputable brand. This transference of associations is interpreted as a quality assurance; if the brand is well-known and successful then there must be a lot of people who like it.

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Much of the existing goodwill toward Warburtons is centred around nostalgia and heritage. It is recognised through iconic assets; delivery lorries, the city of Bolton, and Jonathan Warbuton himself – however, these are all from a very different world to Hollywood.

This is the challenge facing Warburtons as it attempts to delicately balance its iconic – yet somewhat dated – perceptions, with associations of modernity and innovation. Because of this, people didn’t consider ‘GoodBagels’ to be a strong fit with their expectations of the brand – one of the few areas where performance wasn’t off the charts.

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Regardless, ‘GoodBagels’ is a highly effective piece of creative that will ‘roll in the dough’ for Warburtons. Changing embedded attitudes and developing new brand cues won’t happen overnight, or even over the course of a few executions. Instead, continuing to use and build upon the brand’s existing assets makes a lot of sense. Greater branding clarity will come with time so long as Warburtons can foster the positive sentiment that has carried the campaign so far.

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