As for the famous dialogue, it remains intact because it’s “sacred language — we didn’t even think about changing it,” Pagan-Muñoz said. “It wasn’t an option.”
easter eggs
Life executives have long discussed bringing Mikey back because many consumers remember the character fondly, Scupham said. Even those who don’t know him or didn’t watch Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s were open to meeting him in a current setting, according to the brand’s research.
“Mikey was always in my memory structure, and that proved to be true for many consumers,” Scupham said.
Life has worked with outside advertisers in the past, with Scupham saying many of them balked at the idea of ​​a reimagining of Mikey, preferring to launch new stories. This made it a challenge to partner with PepsiCo’s in-house creative group D3, whose leaders trusted the brand’s instincts.
Calling on director Lisa Rubisch and shooting in Vancouver this summer, the creative team added music because it felt “the right energy,” Pagan-Muñoz said, and rounded out the cast with more family members.
But there are easter eggs for keen-eyed viewers, like Mikey’s red fire engine shirt, his brown-haired lookalike, and of course, the brother’s reaction picture. (There are no longer three brothers, who were real-life brothers in the original ad; now there is also a sister.)
Ad Trivia: “Three Brothers” came from up-and-coming copywriters Edie Stevenson and Dave Clark during Mad Men’s heyday at DDB. The duo has been credited with rejuvenating the slice-of-life concept, a TV advertising trope that had grown tired.
The low-tech, low-budget venue has become “an industry game changer, moneymaker and pop culture crown jewel,” according to Clark’s son Tim Clark, a current Forbes contributor who inspired the Mikey character.