Joining the pantheon of artsy noir filmmakers is an unexpected storyteller: Drumstick. In its latest campaign, the ice cream brand forgoes category cliches in favor of an irreverent, "Adult Swim"-style film. The story’s hero? A mysterious man with a lust for frozen delicacies.

Dr. Umstick’s search for a bride and the mysterious events that led to him falling unconscious on a carnival boardwalk are the puzzles at the heart of “Another Day, Another Drumstick,” a five-minute, stop motion film from agency Opinionated and production companies HouseSpecial and Gifted Youth. Dr. Umstick uses his philosophical musings to solve the problems of his heart with laugh-out-loud lines such as, “We were all four mini Drums to the wind,” while ignoring the insistence of his friends—a Barbie-esque figurine named Brü, a robot figure called Mr. Punky and Cabbage Patch-like doll Samantha—that his true love is the Drumstick that he’s had by his side the whole time.

After trips to the sauna and therapy, a round of golf, getting a tattoo and being knocked out by a mannequin head at a carnival, Dr. Umstick realizes he is “whole-heartedly, completely sandals-over-head in love with Drumstick” and the only reasonable course of action is to marry the ice cream and somehow conceive a child with it.

“You know what they say,” Dr. Umstick told Ad Age in an email, “do what you love and you’ll always be happy.”

Shorter variations of the film will air on TV and digital platforms, with a social activation coming this summer. The Drumstick website also features bios for Dr. Umstick in his friends, suggesting a life might await the characters beyond the short film.

"Our team set out to create a campaign that got us away from the everyday ice-cream scenarios,” said Kerry Hopkins, marketing director at Drumstick, in an email to Ad Age. “We love how Dr. Umstick, who himself is very multidimensional, brings this truth to life in both an unexpected and authentic way across a variety of channels and moments in the months to come."