Elton John Enters Rap Scene in New Snickers Ad

Captain Fantastic Elton John, best known for captivating audiences with bitter sweet ballads and world-conquering anthems, is back with a bang in a new multi-million pound Snickers ad campaign, as you’ve never seen him before. The clever new ad, out September 1st, sees Elton venture into the hip hop genre as the personification of American artist, Boogie amidst a rap battle, when he’s lost his edge due to hunger.

The film kicks off at a house-party with an MC battle featuring up-coming talent, Emarr Kuhomano and Monique Lawz, before Elton steps up to the plate wearing his iconic red glitter jacket and glasses. Out of place in a cipher, Elton lets rip one of his biggest hits ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, whilst the crowd look puzzled. Oxford-born UK rapper Femi Nylander takes matters into his own hands, getting the beat back on track by offering Elton a Snickers bar - wherein the real Boogie returns on form.

Elton John says: “Most people already know I’ve long been an advocate of hip-hop and that’s why I wanted be a part of this – I got to hang out with Boogie and some great hip hop talent from the UK too! Moreover, I love the direction the new Snickers ads have humorously portrayed being off your game when you’re hungry, but in a way that’s current and relevant to young people, especially considering hip hop is one of the biggest music genres in the world today.”

Dale Green, Snickers Global Brand Director, says: "Building on the ‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ theme, which has connected so well with consumers, we’re glad to see this latest instalment take the story a step further.

“When we developed the rap-battle concept, we knew Elton John would be the perfect fit to help bring this to life.  His unique blend of music, style and humour is instantly recognisable around the world and works well with our Snickers brand.”

The campaign was created by AMVBBDO, and directed by the incredibly talented and award-winning music video director Andreas Nilsson. Anne Batz and her team at Talent Republic collaborated with Mars Wrigley Confectionery UK and AMVBBDO on the campaign and were pivotal in securing the stellar line-up of talent.

It will air in 60 and 30 second cinema and TV spots from Saturday September 1st across the UK, US, Germany and Russia. Additional behind the scenes content and unseen video snippets will be released over the next few days, available to view via the Snickers website www.snickers.co.uk or the Snickers Facebook channel.

Boogie, who is signed with Eminem’s Shady Records, will release a music video for his upcoming single “DE JA VU” also shot by Andreas Nilsson in the same location. The promo, sees the camera loop through set over and over again to create a déjà vu effect.

“De Ja Vu” will be used as the soundtrack to a series of Snickers Instagram stories and YouTube pre-rolls containing bespoke content and will also get an exclusive feature on Elton John’s Apple BEATS by Dre podcast “Rocket Hour”.  The social-first approach also uses Instagram swipe up videos incorporating Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” lyrics to create additional hip-hop content.

Boogie, who himself was recently endorsed by Rihanna and is now signed to Eminem’s Shady Records, says: “Working with Elton on the set of the new Snickers ad was everything I expected and more – he’s generous with his time, funny and fantastically talented! Between him and fresh new hip hop talent like Femi Nylander, Emarr Kuhomano and Monique Lawz – it was an incredible coming together of multi-talented people.”

This latest ad builds on the advertising campaigns previously spearheaded by celebrities Joan Collins, Stephanie Beacham, and Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean – in which we saw Mr Bean as a particularly ill-suited Kung Fu Master.