There are infinite dimensions to which Rick and Morty have traveled. Still, there’s a universe they haven’t explored yet. But things are about to change: Through a partnership among Adult Swim and creative agency Grey, the famous duo landed in a Pringles commercial, within a dystopian world of which we get a glimpse for just 30 seconds. The creatives thought that this would be just enough for us to immerse ourselves in a parallel universe, although we would have wanted a bit more…
The commercial was released just in time for Super Bowl and, as you can imagine, a teaser launched in advance was the one to announce the full spot. And just like that, we can all see that people are simply hungry for a piece of a good commercial. Yet, this isn’t the first time when a company has created a teaser to announce the big commercial that it is about to come. Remember that John Lewis ad for which the brand launched a trailer? Yes, we kind of seen it all: there are ads for ads. That’s how brilliant this industry is.
Now, let’s return to this weird world the New-York-based agency imagined just in time for the Big Game. In the half-of-minute-long video, we see Rick, Morty, and his sister Summer. Rick and Summer are sitting on the couch whilst watching a Pringles ad about flavor stacking. Actually, this snacking technique is a recurrent theme in the brand’s Super Bowl ads, promoting it every year since its beginning in 2018. While the two characters are immersed in the Pringles world, Summer suddenly asks Rick how much does the brand of chips pay for the people playing their ads. “Hardly anything,” Ricky adds.
Morty appears out of nowhere and he is all excited about the stack of Pringles flavors. But Rick quickly finds out that there’s something wrong with Morty’s behavior, so he unmasks his grandson only to find out that he is a robot. This is the exact moment when they find out they are trapped in a Pringles commercial. Worst is that they don’t even get out. The cherry on top is that an army of Mortybots steps into the scene and the entire screen is filled in with Pringles.
“With alternate universes taking a front seat in pop culture with television and movies, we love how ahead of trend Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland were when developing the concept for the show,” said Gareth Maguire, Senior Director of Marketing for Pringles. “The Pringles brand aims to do the same with flavor development and product innovations. As a result, when identifying a partner for our ad campaign this year, their forward-thinking attitude combined with the show’s popularity and a younger audience made this partnership a natural fit.”
“Rick and Morty is the biggest comedy show around, so of course we were extremely excited about their first trip to the Big Game,” said Jill King, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Partnerships, Adult Swim. “With Pringles’ fun personality and devoted audience, there’s no better partner for Rick and Morty’s big debut. There are a lot of Rick and Morty fans out there, and they’re all going to go crazy when they see it, but it’s going to be so fun sharing it with an even wider audience, who we are confident will love it too!”
The 30-second spot is created by Adult Swim in partnership with Grey Group and aired during the second quarter of the game. The ad is supported by a fully integrated marketing campaign including PR, digital, social media, e-commerce, and a special, Pringles Pickle Rick edition that fans can find on store shelves starting with the beginning of February.