Pablo asks a cow for Flora Plant’s new global campaign

Flora has launched the latest iteration of its Skip The Cow brand campaign in partnership with creative agency, Pablo. Going live across 12 markets, the campaign is the next instalment for the plant-butter brand’s communications, initially launched in the UK in 2023. With a hero TV advert, supported by large-scale OOH & digital plans in all countries, Skip The Cow prompts consumers to think a little differently about the perceived normality of dairy.

Showcasing a product that’s just as rich & creamy as “udder butter”, the hero TV spot, titled “Bit Weird”, does just that. For the Skip The Cow commercial, Flora built a fully functional animatronic cow (they couldn’t exactly use a real one) lovingly named Susan. The cow was created to answer one simple question; “Is it a bit weird we spent all those years pumping the plants through a cow?”

The campaign launched across OOH & social in 2023, utilising a combination of high-impact OOH, special-builds & contextual communications located in commuter hubs for maximum impact. Winning an APG Gold award for Creative Strategy, an APG Special Award & a Peta Vegan Foods Award with its simple, single-minded message, Flora is now seeking to take this success to a broader, global audience – investing in AV & digital media worldwide.

With so much of the work focused on punchy, insightful headlines highlighting the weirdness of dairy – ensuring the thought & tone translated globally was of the utmost importance. Pablo London worked with their network of international Creative teams, alongside TAG to transcreate headlines which could carry this message in every market, without losing the humour or distinctiveness.

Vanessa Steffen, Head of Global Marketing at Upfield said:

“With Skip the Cow, Pablo has unlocked a very distinctive brand world for Flora that is able to travel across many markets and cultures successfully. We can’t wait to see the message of ‘dairy actually being a bit weird’ landing across the world.”

Dan Watts, Executive Creative Director at Pablo said:

“Working with the global team on the Skip the Cow campaign is a gift that keeps on giving. Just like milk from a cow’s udder. Although that’s pretty weird. Unlike Flora Plant. We’ve really enjoyed starting to see where this campaign can go creatively and look forward to much more to come in 2024.”

For the launch of the Skip The Cow campaign, Pablo London developed a stripped-back distinctive visual world. Whilst other butter brands might focus on food-porn & recipe shots, for Flora, the product packaging is front & centre, allowing space for the brand’s key messaging to be communicated through witty, punchy headlines. It also allows for one global creative platform, with the products & headlines updated to ensure relevance across markets.

The next challenge was how to translate this approach into AV whilst shooting for a global marketing team. The hero TVC was created to feel like one continuous shot, set within the grey brand world, so as to retain this distinctiveness & stand apart from Flora’s dairy-based competition. Working with Director Craig Ainsley, & Pablo’s in-house production function, Pablito, Ainsley employed motion-control cameras, allowing for multiple products & food items to be shot & seamlessly stitched together to create over 250 variants & adapts for use globally. The film is accented with an original composition by Strings & Tins, performed by cellist Yue Tang.

Launching alongside the TVC, the global campaign will be supported by ongoing investment into high-impact OOH, social, digital & press.

Pablo Credits:

• Executive Creative Director: Dan Watts
• Creative Directors: Oli Beale, Charlie Gee
• Planning Director: Joan Devereux
• Joint-Managing Director: Hannah Penn
• Business Director: Jamie Isaac-Richards
• Senior Account Manager: Amie Goldstein
• Producers: Karen Whitehouse, Jack Robinson
• Project Director: Katie Houghton
• Senior Creative Artworker: Viren Patel

Film Production Credits:

• Director: Craig Ainsley
• Producer: Greg Mills
• Production Company: Pablito
• Production Designer: Byron Broadbent
• Animatronics: Animated Extras
• DOP: Matt Taylor
• Editor: Max Windows at Stitch
• VFX: Untold
  • Artists:
    • Executive Creative Director: Dave Fleet
    • VFX Shoot Supervisor: George Rockliffe
    • 2D Lead / Online Supervisor: Pete Hughes
    • VFX Artist: Cristina Serell
    • VFX Artist: Tom Pegg
    • Online: Matt Clarke
  • Colour:
    • Colourist: Julien Alary
    • Colour Producer: Eli Sandal
    • Colour Assistant: Malin Imersland
  • Production:
    • Executive Producer: Tom Iggleden
    • Producer: Jordan Malonga
• Sound Studio: String and Tins
• Sound Design, Mix and On-Set Music Supervisor: Lawrence Kendrick
• Sound Design (Digital Films): Kasper Broyd
• Audio Producer: Laura-Leigh Smith
• Music Company: Leland
• Track Title: Serenade for Susan
• Composer: Philip Sheppard