Start the Day the Totino’s way

It’s easy to skip breakfast. And it’s even easier to skip breakfast as a teenager. In fact, 75% of teens start their day without anything to eat before heading off to school.

That’s why Totino’s Pizza Rolls, the General Mills brand beloved across the country for their iconic, delicious and easy-to-prepare Pizza Rolls, decided to take on the breakfast challenge…by introducing new Totino’s Breakfast Snack Bites.

Partnering with Dentsu Creative, the agency responsible for establishing the brand’s comedically unhinged tone with campaigns like Area 425, the brief was to convince Gen Z teens that Totino’s Breakfast Snack Bites could be a quick and tasty addition to their hectic morning routines.

The campaign spots feature wholesome morning scenes around the breakfast table, infused with Totino’s bizarre and unexpected tone, based off of the insight that nostalgia resonates with Gen Z, a generation that loves the 90s for its comfort and escapism, even though they didn’t grow up in that era or truly experience it. Source

So, they tapped into the visual language of commercials from the 80s and 90s to create the campaign: Start the Day the Totino’s Way.

Using retro music, including original, hilarious jingles created by Butter, and a throwback visual style to lure viewers into a feeling of nostalgia, the spots quickly introduce absurd moments of Totino’s humor, featuring everything from creepy sun puppets to a mom with a Totino’s mustache to disembodied arms in freezers trying to steal your breakfast.

To bring the idea to life, Dentsu Creative partnered with Emma Debaney of WW7, who immediately understood the vision for the campaign. Collaborating with her on every element of the work, from casting, to set design, to shooting on Digital Bolex for a retro feel, everyone from the brand to the agency to the production partners remained perfectly aligned in bringing that warm, sunny, yet weird and wacky vision to life.

Taylor Roseberry - Brand Experience Manager, General Mills: "Totino’s is all about making every day epic, and we’re bringing everything fans love about us to the morning. I’m thrilled with the creative vision Dentsu Creative brought to this campaign by infusing iconic 80s and 90s breakfast nostalgia with an absurdly funny and unexpected Totino’s twist."

Alyssa Ollis - Group Creative Director, Dentsu Creative adds: "I’m so fortunate to have led Totino's creative for Dentsu the past three years and am beyond thrilled with the results the work has garnered for the brand. It takes brave clients to continue to push the level of absurdness and their surreal tone, year after year. They know what their brand stands for and what teens are willing to stop scrolling for."