From Warburtons’ Family to Yours: Behind the Star-Fueled Ad Lore

“Scratch below the surface at Warburtons, and you’ll find the truth,” said Jonathan Warburton to strategist and ECD Billy Faithfull when they first met 11 years ago - what would follow will go on to become a line-up of some of the most iconic TV ads in UK history. A fifth generation Warburton and chairman of the company since 2001, Jonathan has managed the Bolton-based company’s transition into the UK’s biggest bakery brand and is the culprit behind its pivot into unforgettable TV advertising. 

This winning strike continues today, with Samuel L. Jackson starring in ‘Mad About The Bread’. The campaign, directed by Emmy-nominated director Declan Lowney, sees a visibly enraged Samuel L. Jackson, as the voice of Jonathan Warburton, pacing through the Warburtons headquarters (and outside it), telling off Steve - a consumer on social media, who asked why so many other toastie loaves look exactly like the Warburtons one.

Billy Faithfull has been in on Warburtons’ path through branding and TV advertising even before the star-driven epics began - and it’s all connected. “The ads started out as letters from imagined consumers to Jonathan - based on real, absolutely mad and wonderfully warm letters he actually gets. The radio ads are still in this guise, but as funny character voicemails left on Jonathan’s phone.”

With time, the letters then morphed into a phone call from Sly Stallone, a visit from Kermit the Frog, Peter Kay, Robert De Niro and more. The previous campaign, for instance, starred George Clooney being ‘zoom-dumped’ by Jonathan in favour of a slice of delicious, perfectly toasted, generously buttered toast. Back in 2015, Warburtons saw Sylvester Stallone go to extreme lengths to deliver fresh bread in a reimagined ‘Rocky’ and ‘The Expendables’, where the Hollywood star acted alongside real-life Warburtons delivery drivers and bakers. 

But, as Billy reminds us, storytelling has always come first at Warburtons. Star power - second. “If you start by saying ‘How do I make an ad with Samuel L. Jackson, or somebody else in it?’, you’re going to make a celebrity ad like all the others. But the talent is obviously such a crucial part of the creative process nowadays, and often it’s been a real endeavour to find the right people for the idea we love.” This time, the creative collaboration with Matthew Freud and the talent team at Freuds was pivotal for the production. While they took the Warburtons team through the many twists and turns of finding the right person, and iterating the idea as they went, they still let the creative lead the way.

So, if the idea demands “Who could play a comedy-angry Jonathan Warburton, responding to a social post from a consumer?,” there could only be one name at the top of that list. “He was a laugh,” says Billy about Samuel L. Jackson on set. “Phenomenal energy, lightning-quick wit, a devilishly cheeky glint in the eye. No surprise, he swore a lot.”

While ‘Mad About The Bread’ follows suit with the rest of its campaign brothers and sisters - bringing Warburtons together with A-listers, while staying true to its branding and idea - there is more that carries the concept through. Humour has been part of Warburtons branding ever since Jonathan took the lead and it’s only gotten better. The tagline ‘From Our Family To Yours’ lends itself to comedic opportunities because, as the Warburtons team says, “Humour is an essential pillar for family life; humour is the glue that binds a family together, as much as love and loyalty.” They add, “It’s strange to imagine comedy not being a central pillar for Warburtons.”

The brand being quintessentially Northern - born and bred in Bolton - also adds to the flavour and level of the comedic impact. “We take our baking seriously, but never ourselves. That’s a phrase that hangs in the air of every conversation about the work,” says the Warburtons team. “How can we elevate the brand without looking too big for our boots? Humour, self depreciation, taking the mick, but never in a mean way. That’s the key, and it’s what Brits want from their ads. Laughter is the essence of life. It’s a wonder why so many brands shirk their responsibility to entertain their audience as payment for attention.”

While ‘Mad About The Bread’ remains consistent on all of these threads successfully, it pokes some friendly fun at all the toastie wannabes on the market. “It’s flattering that there are toastie loaves out there that look suspiciously similar to Warburtons Toastie, it’s funny and consumers spot the lookalikes. Making out that Jonathan is livid about it, while using Sam as the mouthpiece, we could use it as an entertaining excuse to talk about what Warburtons do.”

So, ‘Mad About The Bread’, being a brilliant exercise in branding and comedy that it is, also showcases all the things the baking firm feels deeply passionate about but might be quite hard to express in an otherwise entertaining manner. In comes Declan Lowney, the director, who has been involved with the continuation of the campaign for almost twelve years now.

“He was an integral part of the campaign’s inception and evolution over time, along with Simon Monhemius and the brilliant crew regulars who are a joy to work with and we love seeing them again every 18 months or so when a new campaign comes around.” There are a few words to be highlighted here - quality, humour, a family atmosphere and a commitment to delivery. Declan, Simon and production company Merman all stand for those things. 

“I’ve always had a great rapport with Jonathan,” says Declan. “And he’s always so supportive of our creative endeavours. He gets it - he’s one of the best clients I’ve ever worked with.” And although working with ‘the best clients ever’ is a breeze, there’s always the inevitable challenge when in the Warburtons world. “The most challenging aspect was to not constantly be stuffing our faces with delicious, buttery, toastie loaf, courtesy of our food stylist,” he laughs. “But once that smell comes into the studio, it gets harder to concentrate on the job at hand.”

Over the years, Dec and the usual suspect Warburtons crew have developed a symbiosis and understanding on set that rarely exists on massive projects nowadays. “We pack in the gags, layer in the easter eggs, but it all just flows,” says Billy. “Dec’s experience and reputation in the British comedy worlds of Ted Lasso, Father Ted, Alan Partridge, and Little Brain, means that he can do all that whilst creating space for big stars to feel comfortable and not feel like they’re being rolled out in some ropey ad campaign. As someone who’s out in LA in pilot season, when the stars ask who the director is before they agree to the job, Dec’s name comes with a lot of clout and plays its role in getting them over the line.”

Speaking of names, ‘Mad About The Bread’ also wasn’t particularly something that the team obsessed over and instead, let the storytelling lead the way. The process unravelled the truth naturally. While most people online search for recognizable names or the brand’s name, a great campaign name still plays a pivotal role in how an idea takes flight. “We had the idea of Sam playing Jonathan, so that he could say things Jonathan couldn’t. Somewhere ‘Mad About The Bread’ pitched up, on a deck slide probably,” says the Warburtons team. “It felt very intriguing as an intro. A pun on ‘Mad About The Boy’ perhaps?”

Looking more closely at the film, the production teams behind it take “a surgical approach” to the timing in order to ensure every bit of juice is squeezed out of the production time. “No minute is wasted in the march to get an arsenal of stuff for a proper 360 campaign,” says Billy. For a range of reasons, from health and safety to hygiene, the film had to be shot on sets in a warehouse rather than an actual Warburtons factory. But, all the bakery elements are for real, Declan reminds us.

This, however, wasn't always the case with the brand films. Jason Watts, VFX supervisor at Freefolk who has been one of the crew regulars, explains that originally the team used to close down a bakery to shoot plates in order to slot them behind Jonathan Warburton's green-screened office set. “We used these in all the previous ads, but it has always meant we’ve been restricted to shooting the office with those perspectives, angles and specific lighting,” he says. “The nature of this ad and how Declan wanted long tracking shots of Jackson’s dialogue meant that we had to rethink.”

So, whilst on set, Freefolk opted to rebuild the bakery entirely in CG, freeing up Declan to shoot in any way he felt maximised the performance and also for the DP to light the office without having to consider the eight-year-old legacy bakery shots that had been previously used. 

After the shoot was done, Freefolk headed to the largest Warburtons bakery they could find and filmed away - everything they needed to reproduce the space. “Built in Houdini, the factory heavily leaned on custom procedural setups, which allowed us to build with efficiency while maintaining fine-grain control over every element. This hybrid procedural/handcrafted approach meant idea exploration and art direction could happen organically, while allowing the team to make macro adjustments down the line and really fine-tune the layout and look.”

And while the two minutes and ten seconds run time was full of post work and challenges that came with each shot, Jason is categorical: “We most enjoyed making a bakery that Jonathan Warburton likes the look of.” Besides this, working with much the same team for eight (for some more) years makes these jobs just as easy to enjoy as challenging.

For Ben Leeves, sound designer at Jungle Studios, the biggest challenge on the script was mainly the dialogue coming from Samuel directly to camera. With very few voice over sections, unlike previous iterations of the campaign, the sound had to fit around and enhance without interrupting Samuel’s flow. Sound design was used to “bolster, not overwhelm.” 

Parallel to that, music played a huge role in fitting the striking Hollywood blockbuster look of the film. When finally found, the chosen track - ‘The Wedge Paradiso’ - made perfect sense. After a lot of prep work by the production and transfer teams, the film was graced by the perfect monologue, accompanying track and some incredibly subtle sound cues (peep the laptop break at the start). “The social mixes are a real treat too,” jokes Ben. “If you haven’t seen them, have a look. A judicious use of the swearing ‘bleep’ sound effect was needed!”

However, the Hollywood movie vibe isn’t built for a day - Marty McMullan, colourist at Freefolk, poured his heart into helping the Warburtons toastie loaf look just as delicious and inviting through the screen. “With subtle uses of blues and greens throughout the film, we gave the Warburtons brand a contrasting background to pop against.” He also took care of creating a certain moodiness and imposing quality to the grade, which lent itself perfectly to the “juxtaposition of the everyday situations, adding comedic value.”

Regardless if it’s Samuel L. Jackson fuming over online comments and copycats, or the actual Rocky running up the stairs with a bunch of toastie loaves in pursuit of the perfect delivery, Warburtons is and has always been led by the storytelling. 

The familial feel of the bakery is inevitably reflected on set - where for years now, as if closely following a tradition, the same faces come together every 18 months or so to make history, helmed by the brilliant filmmaking style Declan Lowney brings with him. No traditions go without change, of course, so while adhering to the carrying pillars of the brand’s identity - humour, quality and family - the crew of regulars likes to switch it up every time, bringing the UK even more reasons to love the legacy of Warburtons.

Looking back at the experience of making the latest film, Declan leaves us with this: “We got the angriest man in showbiz to play the nicest man in baking. It was a marriage made in heaven!” Keep your eyes peeled for what’s to come next.