Robert de Niro plays a mafioso bagel boss in this U.K. spot for Warburtons

Actor follows appearances by the Muppets and Sylvester Stallone in the bakery brand's ads

Published On
May 14, 2019

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Robert de Niro is the latest Hollywood megastar to appear in an ad for U.K. bakery brand Warburtons, following previous spots  featuring the Muppets and Sylvester Stallone

The new spot, created via Engine, promotes Warburtons' bagels and sees de Niro hamming it up as a sinister mob boss who confronts company chairman Jonathan Warburton at the company factory in Bolton and tries to pass the bagels off as  his own. Cue lots of Sopranos-type jokes—chainsaws, grave-digging in the dead of night to bury packs of bagels and more. Meanwhile, Warburton gets the wrong end of the stick entirely and thinks it's a film pitch. Asked "How does it end?" De Niro responds in dark tones, "Not well." 

The ad was produced out of Another Film Company and directed by Declan Lowney, who also helmed the Muppets and Stallone ads, and it's fun, with a suitably self-mocking appearance by de Niro (although arguably his turns in films like "Meet the Fockers" have already gone some way to showing there's a lighter side to his serious acting credentials). 

Billy Faithfull, chief creative officer at Engine, says in a statement: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to do an integrated marketing campaign starring an Oscar-winning mobster, a bagel and a fifth-generation family-owned bakery brand."

Warburtons, meanwhile, is capitalizing on a growing British appetite for bagels with the launch of two SKUs, Plain and Cinammon & Raisin. According to Nielsen, bagels are now the second largest sector in the U.K.'s Sandwich Alternatives market. 

Credits

Date
May 14, 2019
Client :
Warburtons
Agency :
Engine
Creative Direction :
Billy Faithfull
Creative Direction :
Matthew Freud
Creative Team :
Charlie Gee
Creative Team :
Tian Murphy
Account Handling :
Matt Edwards
Account Handling :
Emma Marsland
Account Handling :
Lauren Nuttall
Account Handling :
Megan Seaby
Account Handling :
Hannah Shelley
Strategy :
Ronaldo Pegoraro
Strategy :
Olivia Stubbings
Strategy :
David Blackett
Agency TV Producer :
Sally Lipsius
Agency TV Producer :
Camilla Hempleman-Adams
Agency TV Producer :
Nosisa Majuqwana
Integrated Project Manager :
Maddy Macrae
Integrated Project Manager :
Chelsea Chapman
Designer :
Connie Boulton
Designer :
Patrick Gibson
Production Company :
Another Film Company
Director :
Declan Lowney
Producer :
Simon Monhemius
Post Production :
Freefolk
Editor :
Leo King
Edit :
Stitch
Sound :
Ben Leeves
Sound :
Jungle
Music :
Ed White
Music :
Leland

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