To mark the centenary of the nation’s favourite biscuit, TBWA has reimagined the humble Chocolate Digestive as one of humankind’s greatest creations, complete with landmark projections, a pop-up experience, and plenty of nostalgic reverence.
To mark the 100th anniversary of McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives, TBWA has launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign that positions the beloved snack alongside the wheel and the telephone in the canon of history’s greatest human achievements. And frankly, they make a pretty compelling case.
The campaign, which rolled out across out-of-home, digital, experiential and PR, takes a playful but purposeful approach to celebrating the “Choc Dig” – as the team affectionately call it – as a cultural icon. “The brief was to reassert the ‘Choc Dig’ as an irreplaceable British icon, using its 100th anniversary to elevate it from a mass brand to a timeless one,” says Matt Tassell, Creative at TBWA.
“We quickly realised that – despite its humble appearance and familiar reputation – the Choc Dig shares a number of traits with some of humanity’s greatest inventions.”
It’s a wry, knowing comparison, but one that’s underpinned by genuine admiration for the biscuit’s staying power and cultural significance. “The joke is we’re not joking,” Matt explains. “There’s a fun tension at play in the campaign, and the lighthearted tone of voice grounds the reverential visuals.”
This tension plays out beautifully in the creative. Posters feature a giant Chocolate Digestive hovering above landscapes like some sort of snack-shaped Stonehenge, while a limited-run pop-up – The McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives Experience – invited the public to indulge their inner biscuit nerd at London’s Piccadilly Lights.
“Our iconic poster campaign featured a Choc Dig looming large above all else, so it was only fitting that we ran it on Europe’s largest single digital billboard,” says Matt. “The fact that the Experience was hosted at the very base of the Lights, in the very epicentre of the nation’s capital, tied everything together in celebratory fashion and reinforced the magnitude of the Chocolate Digestive’s place in British culture.”
Of course, anniversaries like this are catnip for nostalgic Brits (myself included), but what elevates this campaign is the level of craft, humour and genuine storytelling across the full ecosystem. As Matt puts it, “We had a genuinely legendary product to play with and a simple, strong creative idea to anchor everything back to.”
That clarity of vision allowed TBWA to deliver a campaign that feels cohesive across channels while also giving collaborators and media partners a clear framework with which to align.
At the heart of that framework is a distinct tone of voice that’s affectionate, cheeky and quietly profound. It reminds people why they’ve loved Chocolate Digestives for so long but also hints at why they might continue to do so for the next hundred years. “We wanted to awaken some of that nostalgia and comfort,” says Matt. “And playfully articulate its place in the world we all live in.”
That articulation went far beyond traditional media into a series of large-scale activations, including DOOH takeovers and landmark projections, which brought the campaign to life in ways that felt both irreverent and ambitious.
“Bringing the DOOH and landmark projections to life meant juggling our big idea with even bigger tech,” Matt admits. “There was plenty of discussion around timing, permissions, pixel capabilities, and, of course, the weather (how very British). But the payoff was more than worth it.”
The use of cutting-edge digital media also speaks to the other narrative strand running through the campaign – one of innovation and reinvention. “The great thing about the Chocolate Digestive is that its longevity doesn’t define it exclusively,” says Matt. “It’s always on the front foot, pushing out new NPDs and fresh twists on its iconic blueprint.”
In other words, it’s not just a relic of biscuit history – it’s still a living, evolving part of British food culture.
That’s where this campaign really shines: it doesn’t just mark 100 years of something old; it positions McVitie’s as a brand that understands how to stay relevant. “Like any good innovator, McVitie’s is ever-curious,” Matt says. “Constantly developing new products, flavours, and collaborations to win over the next generation of biscuit munchers. It’s all about staying as relevant and pivotal to British culture today as it has been for the past century.”
There’s a lot to be said for a campaign that can simultaneously land a punchline, pull off a Piccadilly takeover, and plant the seed for future brand evolution. By treating the Chocolate Digestive with the same reverence (and irreverence) as history’s greatest invention, TBWA has made a case for the biscuit as a British icon that continues to delight, surprise, and unite people across generations.
I mean, can’t most problems be solved with a cup of tea and a biscuit?