4Creative animates the unsung heroes of Bake Off: the ingredients

Boy, is there a lot to be excited about this season of Bake Off. We might be on our 14th season, a juncture when any normal TV show might have run its natural course, but not this show. Channel 4 is kicking things off with a new co-host (Alison Hammond!) and a plucky campaign from 4Creative and animation studio The Line.

4Creative describes the 60: ad as an “ingredient odyssey”. It opens on a six-pack of eggs (from Fielding’s Farm) rolling down chopping boards to escape to the Bake Off tent. Soon, raspberries, butter, flour, and chocolate squares are along for the ride through lakes and grubby roads to be used as ingredients in a cake which definitely wouldn‘t pass FSA regulations.

The Line are well known for its its brilliant work in 2D, and the ad – directed by JuanPe Arroyo and Tim McCourt (directors at the studio) – features a mix of animation and live action. “The animation style created by The Line gave each ingredient a unique personality – from the smooth, suave butter, to the feral little raspberries, bringing subtle jokes to every scene,” says 4Creative. “Using real ingredients moving as they naturally would, allowed us to blend the everyday and the mundane with the magical.”

It’s all very cute, even when the judges eat the ingredients we’ve grown so fond of. But not to worry, the trail features the strapline ‘Everyone’s excited, even them’, assuring us their demise is all for the greater good.

“Bake Off is a very special thing, so it stands to reason that even those getting cracked, mixed, whipped and dipped all in the name of a showstopper, are equally as excited about its return,” Lynsey Atkin, ECD at 4Creative, explains. “It’s been great fun seeing the ingredients come to life and we hope people are as excited as we are, to welcome Channel 4’s biggest show back to our screens,” says Channel 4 marketing director Amber Kirby.

The spot debuts in the UK tonight (30 August) and will be accompanied by a wider multimedia campaign promoting the series launch in September. After 4Creative’s brilliant looping idents this June, the agency seems to be continuing to roll out inventive work.