How Merryn the Obsessive Cornish Farmer “Broke” the Stereotypical Provenance Ad
Merryn is a consummate farmer. She lives for her veg harvest and always has. Growing up in Cornwall, it’s all she ever wanted to do. And she’s obsessed with the details of ploughs, polytunnels and soil health. She’s a delight.
She’s also the new face of Ginsters – the UK’s leading savoury pasty brand – and the comic protagonist of its new campaign created by TBWA\London and brought to the screen by Biscuit Filmworks director Rosie May Bird-Smith.
The new brand platform focuses on highlighting the quality of the ingredients within a Ginsters pasty to tackle the misconception that it is a low-quality cold snack to be eaten on the go. In fact, Ginsters prides itself on the quality of its products, which are ideal for lunchtimes. Its ingredients are sourced from local and British suppliers with no added artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.
To find out how Merryn came to life, LBB’s Alex Reeves spoke to TBWA\London’s Jess Smith, strategy partner, creative Duncan Brookes and Biscuit Filmworks director Rosie May Bird-Smith.
LBB> Where was the brand when this campaign began, in terms of sales and its perception?
Jess> Despite being a fabric of the nation brand and Britain's number-one pasty (and pastry), Ginsters has poor quality perceptions. This is despite the brand’s commitment to quality ingredients and great-tasting products. The brand has been impacted by inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, but hasn’t lost its leadership status within savoury pastry. The cost-of-living crisis has meant that the focus on quality and overall value is more important than ever. You have to be worth paying more for, which is why the brand will continue to invest in quality and taste. The new brand campaign, ‘Taste the Effort’, does this and will unlock growth with a new target, British families.
LBB> Where did the idea begin to create a central character and why did it end up being a farmer?
Duncan> The brief was to talk about the top-quality ingredients in Ginsters pasties. Apparently, this was a point not everyone was convinced on.
Interestingly, it was built into the brief to avoid doing a traditional ‘farm’ ad. We could see why. There’s loads of provenance ads involving people in Hunter wellies padding about lush farms with ruddy-faced farmers. Sometimes those people try to look impressed, sometimes they point at things, sometimes they describe a cabbage as ‘incredible’.
But we reckoned you could do a provenance ‘farm’ ad, as long as you broke it. The first script was about a Ginsters farmer who’s annoyed that people don’t appreciate their veg.
Ginsters bought the character, but not the script.
LBB> How did you develop Merryn as a character? What were the important decisions and fun parts of that process?
Duncan> Her wardrobe and collection of folky veg-themed art were part of Rosie’s vision. The latter came from us wanting a lateral way to show Merryn’s obsession with her veg, and making a 30-second ad work harder as a piece of storytelling. The bric-a-brac included photos of Merryn clutching giant prize-winning veg, and paintings of some marrow dreams she might have had.
When I was thinking about Merryn’s voice as a writer, I looked at what the funniest relationship between an obsessive person and a camera crew filming a documentary about them would be. This brought the ideas of shooting the ad in mockumentary style, and her being a big fish in a small pond. She’s master of her 40-acre universe, and devoted to her vegetables in the way that an opera singer might be to their voice. This meant her dialogue in the script was a mixture of people in my hometown in the west country. Around there, people have this way of describing things - using really bold images, wild hyperbole, but always delivered with dead seriousness.
LBB> How did that become the script that introduces us to Merryn's world?
Duncan> Once we had the comic tension of a farmer treating veg-growing like an art, it was a case of how exaggerated the scenes should be. I liked the idea of starting from a controlling farmer dressing up as a scarecrow themself - just about believable, then ramping to the absurdity of a controlling farmer interviewing worms.
LBB> And Rosie, what were your priorities in translating script to screen?
Rosie> This was a fantastic script to work on from the get-go, so I just wanted to make sure I did it justice really. And for me, that meant making it feel completely authentic; less like a piece of performance and more like an actual documentary catching Merryn going about her daily business. So when it came to finding our main woman, it was all about who was the best with improvisation. I’d fire off a load of questions and it just so happened to be Lauren who came back with the best answers – hilarious and just completely Merryn from the first time we met her. We then carried that process through to the shoot – the whole thing being question and answer.
LBB> What will you remember most from the shoot?
Rosie> Potentially Lauren constantly slipping off of her scarecrow pole due to the rain. Or maybe Alan the trained crow refusing to fly anywhere at all and just sitting on her arm. But the bit that probably tops it all was when Lauren – by some miracle – got so into character that she actually managed to shift a 400 kg plough. Which she then followed up with ‘See. Strongest quads in Cornwall’ – all improvised of course. Queen.
LBB> Is there a moment that you particularly like from the finished film?
Rosie> That’s a tough one - we had a lot of fun on the mantelpiece scenes. But I think the plough takes the biscuit for me. We let the camera roll there for about an hour and don’t think I’ve ever deliberated more over which take to use – they were all gold. There were ones where she slipped, ones where she pretended to be a horse, ones where she asked Graham to grab the ice pack for her back. I’ve got a whole reel of plough outtakes that I watch when I need a laugh…
