TL;DR
A viral SpongeBob meme - “Is Mayonnaise an Instrument?” -continues to do serious numbers online. So, we decided to finally answer the question with a legitimate academic study carried out by some of the worlds leading music experts.
In 2001 during an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants Patrick Star asked the question “Is mayonnaise an instrument?”. He was told “No Patrick, mayonnaise is not an instrument.“
This sparked a debate within that fandom that has lasted 25 years.
As the world’s No.1 mayonnaise, and a brand that needed to connect with a younger audience, we felt Hellmann’s had a responsibility to answer that question for the fans.
But we had to be legit. So, we went to the Global Head of Music Technology at Northumbria University to prove it.
We also launched the Hellmann’s Lectures, where Professor Raymond MacDonald taught online classes on how to play mayonnaise.
Not content with that, we then went on the create a song where the only instrument used was mayonnaise. Hilariously, that song was then remixed by DJ A Skillz for a club night and danced to by ravers.
RESULTS:
- 2.2 billion impressions
- $10.4 Million earned media value
- 24,700% increase in organic mentions
- 99% positive sentiment
TL;DR
TikTok launched the ‘Bold Glamour’ filter which was an affront to the beauty of real women. We asked influencers to literally turn their back on it and social media did the rest.
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In early 2023, TikTok introduced a brand new revolutionary filter which caused a huge stir in the media. The Bold Glamour filter presented an "ideal" of beauty, and it looks very real. Almost too real.
Dove has always fought against damaging and unrealistic expectations of beauty, so we encouraged everyone to #TurnYourBack on the Bold Glamour filter as part of Dove’s #NoDigitalDistortion mission.
The influencer-led campaign was devised and rolled out in less than a week. Kicked off with creators sharing their feelings on the filter, and the damage it can do to people and their perception of what constitutes beauty.
It went on to win the Media Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2023.
Role: Global Creative Directors
TL;DR
Charli xcx had her brat tour poster banned by the ASA. We saw an opportunity. Filled the real bag with a sandwich and fed the fans. Putting Hellmann’s authentically into culture.
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In June 2024, the Advertising Standards Authority banned the GRAMMY-nominated Charli xcx's tour poster, suggesting the baggie it showed was anything but an innocent sandwich bag. Her response? Adding a sandwich, obviously, to prove otherwise and inviting fans, in a TikTok video (9.6 million views) to bring their own sandwiches to her sell-out arena shows.
Sandwiches being a hero Hellmann's food, we saw an opportunity and seized it. Bringing the poster to life and filling them with free 'Club Classic' sandwiches to keep queuing fans fed at the tour's Birmingham stop.
The results speak for themselves with Reddit posts, Tweets, TikTok and Instagram videos declaring the whole thing a hit. What’s more, Charli xcx even shared the 'Club Classic'-filled sandwich bag on her social channels, and the bags have since popped up on Ebay and Vinted.
Another example of bringing Hellmann’s into cultural conversations by giving back to the fans, rather than co-opting their fandom or simply turning a branded asset brat-green.
Role: Global Creative Directors
TL;DR
Young girls were changing their faces through filters to look older. Conforming to what the world thought they should look like and damaging their mental health as they did so. We reversed this to highlight the dangers and show the power of real beauty.
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80% of girls are now using retouching apps by the age of 13, according to research. This formed the basis of our new global campaign for Dove - a sequel to the groundbreaking 'Evolution' film. But this time instead of the media distorting their images, now the girls are doing it to themselves with the face apps and retouching tools.
The entire campaign was devised, produced and shot remotely during the 2nd Lockdown in the UK in 2020.
Film directed by Benito Montorio
Photography by Sophie Harris-Taylor
TL;DR
Hellmann’s needed to reassert their place as the OG mayo. So we took them back into the world of humour, reminding people that great taste leads to…consequences.
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Director: Harold Einstein
Role: Global Creative Directors
TL;DR
We sweet talked Springsteen into giving us his most iconic track, and then asked H.E.R. to collaborate on reimagining it. The result was an anthem of confidence for a new generation of girls. Launched at Super Bowl (2025) and landing 27.2 Billion earned impressions.
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2025
Returning to the Super Bowl this year our Dove #KeepHerConfident campaign again highlighted the prejudice girls face in sports.
This year’s campaign came to life through film, DOOH, partnerships and activations.
2024
Dove and Nike teamed up to create ‘Body Confident Sport’, a program created for sports coaches to better understand girls and change the way they coach them. We announced the partnership in 2023 with the help of Venus Williams, before launching it to the world with Dove’s first Super Bowl spot in 18 years.
The ‘Hard Knocks’ film was voted the #6 best Super Bowl ad of 2024. A targeted social campaign followed using real girls who opened up about their actual body hang ups around sports.
Role: Global Creative Directors
TL;DR
Gen-Z carry their favourite condiments with them when they leave the house. We collaborated with luxury fashion brand Chopova Lowena to create the ultimate condiment carrier. We then got it onto the catwalk of London Fashion Week, and onto the arm of Julia Fox.
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British Vogue called it one of “the Most Viral Moments of SS25”.
We call it the ‘Margaret bag’.
Debuting at London Fashion Week Sept 2024 to high acclaim, our must-have Hellmann's x Chopova Lowena collaboration handbag comes complete with a unique holder for a jar of Hellmann's mayo, a Victorian silver spoon and an antique-style blue lid charm.
The bag serves as a way to bring a heritage brand into culture by collaborating with the UK’s fashion brand of the moment. Based on actual consumer insights that millennials are carrying condiments with them, it felt like the perfect partnership.
The limited edition bag is currently available to buy at Dover Street Market London.
TL;DR
When a guy set fire to a cafe because they didn’t have mayo for his sandwich, we immediately reacted to the news story with a brand new service for businesses. Ensuring that this kind of thing would never happen again.
A customer got so angry about there being no mayo for his sandwich, that they burned down a cafe. The story was covered by global news media and so we saw a chance to make a difference. We reacted quickly and created "Covered by Hellmann's" a B2B offering that promises establishments to forever keep them supplied with Hellmann's, and if there were ever again any incidents that occurred because of ‘Hellmannslessness’, then we would be there to cover the costs.
Helping the first cafe got a lot of attention from people and news outlets all over the world. so Hellmann's launched the platform globally, from Turkey to Chile. From small family owned restaurants to an entire burger chain in Brazil. This quick action, starting with a simple online post, ended up changing how Hellmann's works with businesses globally.
One of those ‘You’ve got an hour, do something.’ briefs. We created a series of posters to cover a work in progress hoarding over the McDonald’s site at Piccadilly Circus while it updated to digital.
It picked up a fair few awards including a ‘Wood Pencil’ at D&AD.
We created a fully integrated campaign for the NSPCC called ‘Share Aware’. Two very shareable films were followed by a series of online tools, booklets, and family agreements which helped parents to start conversations with their children about what they share online, and how they share it.
The campaign was immediately adopted by every police force in the country, and used as a teaching tool in hundreds of school assemblies.
Three short cinema spots which ran before the main feature and ahead of the BBFC rating certificate. Each spot was matched to a specific film release ('Captain Fantastic', 'Little Men' and 'The Light Between Oceans’) which paid off our message.
McDonald’s was one of our favourite accounts to work on while at Leo Burnett. Here are some of the highlights.
McDonald's ‘Festive’.
Our McDonald’s Festive campaign paid homage to the unsung hero of Christmas, the postman.
McDonald's 'Iced up'
We launched McDonald’s Iced Fruit Smoothies with TV, print and outdoor. The campaign returned £6 for every £1 spent.
Ronald McDonald House Charities
We shot this for a total production budget of £10K. In just one evening it raised well over £200k to build a new Ronald McDonald House for families with extremely sick children right next to Evelina London Hospital. They even auctioned our little night light for over £5k to help.
McDonald’s ‘Great Tastes of America’.
What started out as a campaign of five separate 30” ads soon turned into one. Typical. Never mind, we powered on anyway and managed to shoot in the lush sunshine of Miami, FL.
Our latest work for Barclays demonstrating the useful features of their banking app. Created at BBH.
