McCoy’s Unleashes ‘The Beast’ of Flavour Cravers for KP Snacks Spot

ENGINE Creative’s latest campaign for McCoy’s crisps introduces 'The Beast,' a demanding creature whose cravings can only be satisfied by the extreme flavours of McCoy’s. 

Directed by Blinkink’s Joseph Mann, the series of ads are set in everyday scenarios in which a person snacking on some disappointing very plain crisps unleashes a furry long-armed Beast with a craving for flavour, who seeks out the nearest pack of McCoy’s.

The first ad in the series sees a woman at work direct her 'Beast' to a nearby convenience store, where the shopkeeper is eating new McCoy’s Peri-Peri Fire Pit. 

ENGINE Creative was briefed to position McCoy’s as a snack that turns up the taste volume on many levels, leaving the boring crisps behind. The agency’s response was to create a Beast whose craving for flavour must be satisfied, allying the truth of the brand’s intense flavour with the unexpected friction of a cheeky Beast who lives inside all of us, and who will stop at nothing in its craving for real taste. 

Ilan Arkin, marketing controller at McCoy’s, said: “We gave ENGINE a simple brief, to convey the fact that McCoy’s is full-on flavour and that when you need a flavour hit, only McCoy’s will do. At the first stage, the agency presented a visually impactful idea, ‘don’t deny The Beast’ that delivered on McCoy’s unique tone of voice, ensuring we would grab attention and communicate our message clearly. The TV shoot was during lockdown, but was a seamless process and a great team effort that has produced some amazing content that everyone at KP Snacks is very proud of.”

Billy Faithfull, chief creative officer at ENGINE said: “ Unprecedented times call for an unprecedentedly flavoursome crisp. McCoys has always satisfied the beast within, and that extreme craving, in this case, is naturally, represented by our beast's arm of an indeterminable length, taking you away from that wisp of a crisp that for some reason you mistakenly chose.”

The comedy of the Beast is in the puppet. By keeping everything in-camera, Joseph was able to deliver brilliant performance with natural spontaneity. Speaking about the process, he said... "Some scripts are literally a dream come true. To keep these films feeling as rooted in the real world as possible everything was shot in camera with very little post-production. Each long hairy flavour grabbing puppet was brought to life as a physical puppet measuring over 3m in length! Bicycle brake cables were used to give each hand its characterful articulated movements."

The campaign is aimed at an audience of 25-44 year old ‘flavour cravers’ who seek stimulation and adventure in life to punctuate the mundane. This desire to dial things up plays out in their choice of McCoy’s with its whole range of big, punchy flavours.

The 20-second and 10-second films are spearheading a campaign that will run on major terrestrial and satellite TV channels, as well as VOD on ITV, Sky and All 4, and in OOH locations close to stores. Media planning and buying is through Starcom. 

ENGINE also works with other KP Snacks brands including Butterkist and Pom-Bear.