Mentos and Carter Vail Bring Back Iconic '90s Jingles

Mentos is bringing one of the '90s most famous jingles to TikTok, with a little help from creator/musician Carter Vail.

Developed in partnership with the creative team at Highdive, the Mentos brand is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the 'Freshmaker' with a playful new campaign that centres on its original formula - updated for a modern audience.

The campaign features nine videos that use the music of the iconic jingle, updated with lyrics that tackle modern problems with a wink, reminding us that while Mentos can’t fix everything, it can still make you smile.

The original jingle, first aired in 1990, became a cultural phenomenon, parodied by everyone from Clueless to Entourage to Foo Fighters. Before memes were memes, the jingle lived rent-free in our collective memory - and now, it’s back for a new generation.

The campaign taps into gen z and gen alpha’s growing obsession with all things ‘90s, bringing a playful sense of levity to TikTok feeds that are increasingly packed with heavy, overwhelming content.

Check out the social series here. 

The series touches on a range of modern topics and issues, from 'You Up?' which focuses on when you send a 'you up?' text to an ex, only to find out that they are now quite happy with a new, much better partner, to 'The Ick,' about a woman going on a date with the perfect guy, only to find out that he holds a spoon in a really weird way that gives her The ick, to 'Movie with Mom.'

To create the campaign, Highdive tapped musician and influential creator Carter Vail to lend his voice and comedic talents to the new jingles.

Carter’s comedic aesthetic makes a perfect pairing for the original jingle’s sensibilities.

His visual style and hilarious songs feel plucked right out of the ‘90s, serving as direct inspiration for the new 'Freshmaker' campaign.

Carter is also writing a version of the jingle on his own and producing a video, and the brand tapped another TikTok comedian and musician, Kyle Gordon (3M followers), to team up with him to create additional social content.

Highdive also hired a director with credibility from another '90s cultural institution for the project, working with SNL veteran Hannah Levy of Tool to direct each video.

To underscore each video's unique lyrics and amplify the humor of the jingles, the team used AI to generate some background images that pushed beyond what stock imagery would traditionally allow. In the end, using Carter's live performances with a combination of stock, AI and simple motion design, led to films that feel both representative of Mentos and organic to social platforms.

All nine videos, as well as Kyle and Carter’s versions of the jingle will be released in lock-step with the wider campaign, which begins rolling out on social (TikTok, iHeart, YouTube) and OLV on May 1st.