McVities Celebrates 100th Birthday With Ambitious Outdoor Campaign

Some inventions change the world and just make it better: electricity, sliced bread, the wheel. And proudly part of that famous, illustrious, revered group is the Chocolate Digestive. As pladis-owned McVitie’s celebrates a century of dunking perfection with its iconic biscuit, the bold new £8.75 million campaign proudly declares it: the nation’s greatest invention.

The campaign ‘100 Years of the Nation’s Greatest Invention,’ developed in partnership with TBWA\London, has ignited a bold, brand-wide celebration, using the iconic chocolate digestive as the creative catalyst for a nationwide biscuit extravaganza. Back in 1925, McVitie’s reinvented the wheel with the creation of the beloved biscuit, changing the biscuit game forever. A century later, this crumbly, chocolatey classic is still going strong, proving that while some inventions fade, the truly great ones, like McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives, stand the test of time.

To mark 100 years of the iconic McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives, McVitie’s is launching a tongue-in-cheek campaign that proudly crowns it the nation’s greatest invention. The brand is celebrating this milestone with the same wit and warmth that has made the biscuit a beloved staple in British households for a century. After all, can you really imagine life without them?

pladis’ media agency MG OMD and their OOH specialists Talon are bringing to life striking OOH, DOOH featuring the chocolate digestive as the star at Piccadilly Lights, social, and radio executions, humorously placing the humble biscuit alongside the world’s most groundbreaking innovations, such as the wheel, the telephone, and sliced bread. Using contrast humour and a playful shift from the grand to the everyday, this creative approach highlights an unexpected truth - that the McVitie’s Chocolate Digestive might just be a quietly brilliant feat of engineering.

Bringing the campaign to life in spectacular fashion, McVitie’s, TBWA\London, Grand Visual and Pixel Artworks with media by MG OMD staged a unique projection event on London’s skyline. Using cutting-edge hologauze technology, iconic landmarks such as the lastminute.com London Eye and Tower Bridge served as the backdrop for a dazzling display, cementing McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives' place in history. These were later crafted into social films where the biscuits appeared directly on the landmarks. A special large-scale live projection lit up the waterside County Hall, a high-footfall location that ensured maximum visibility and impact.

An immersive concept store - The McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives Experience - will launch alongside the campaign, executed by consumer PR agency Taylor Herring. Opening from 2nd – 5th May, this pop-up experience will give fans the chance to get involved with the celebrations through one-of-a-kind biscuit-based artwork, exclusive and limited-edition merchandise and, at the heart of the experience, the Biscuit Bar. Visitors will be able to sample an exclusive range of innovative treats, specially curated by McVitie’s Head Development Chef, Robert Craggs. Think bold and unexpected flavour pairings that reinvent the classic favourite.

McVitie’s are also offering the chance to win £100 every 100 minutes via an on-pack promotion that is running throughout the UK and ROI, to giveaway over £100,000. McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives will also be front-of-mind in stores across the UK. Executed in partnership with pladis’ shopper agency To Boldly Go, shoppers will be disrupted during their path to purchase by front-of-store displays, sampling trucks, store media, in-aisle and other touchpoint POS.

As part of the celebrations, To Boldly Go are also using their recent Ocean Outdoor Digital Creative Competition Grand Prix prize win to expand the centenary campaign across Europe using spectacular large format Ocean Outdoor screens. Launching with an unmissable ten-minute domination of London’s Piccadilly Lights, the campaign will also take over spectacular large format Ocean Outdoor screens in London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Helsinki.

Aslı Özen Turhan, Chief Marketing Officer at pladis UK&I, said: “Very few things in life stay loved for a century, but the chocolate digestive has stood the test of time. It’s been there for tea breaks, late-night snacks, and countless moments in between, always delicious, always dependable. This campaign is a fun, celebratory way to mark 100 years, highlighting what makes McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives so special. Because when something has been adored for this long, it’s more than just a biscuit, it’s part of our culture, our history, and, let’s be honest, our best tea-time companion.”

Paul Jordan at TBWA\London, said: “When a product is as simple and beautifully designed as the chocolate digestive, it's easy to take it for granted. So, the humble biscuit is well overdue a little respect. And that's exactly what we have given it. Sitting proudly atop a plinth, haloed in magical light with headlines that compare the nation’s favourite biscuit to some of mankind's greatest inventions - and the joke is - that we're not joking.  McVitie's Chocolate Digestives are perfection.”

Credits

Brand – pladis

Chief Marketing Officer: Aslı Özen Turhan

Marketing Director: Benazir Barlet-Batada

Marketing Manager: Eleonore Lagny-Delatour

Senior Brand Manager: Imaan Riaz

Brand Manager: Eleonore de Saint Perier

Brand Manager: Solene Conanec

Senior PR & Social Media Manager: Kate Williams

Creative Agency – TBWA\London

Executive Creative Director: Paul Jordan

Creatives: Matt Tassell and Marc Owens

Chief Strategy Officer: Raquel Chicourel

Strategist: Bhrena Marino

Business Directors: Gareth Hughes and Max Phillips

Account Director: Sophie Perry

Account Executive: Yael Setty

Agency Producer: Ben Etheridge

Media agency – Manning Gottlieb OMD

Executive Director: Tom Cocker

Business Director: Ryan Cummins

Head of Social: Ardel Amani

Account Director: Hannah Marsden

Social Account Director: Katerina Schenk

Social Account Manager: Laura Gadsby

Out of Home Agency – Talon

Sarah Jorge - Investment Director

Hannah Butler - Client Director

Dynamic Out of Home Agency - Artbot

Oliver Thurtle – Head of DOOH

Nathan Bennett - Head of Business Development

Adriano Pinheiro - Developer

Soča Kodrič – Senior Project Manager

Coral Hoeren – Graphic Designe

Creative Out of Home Agencies – Grand Visual + Pixel Artworks

Kelly Woodward - Executive Producer

Zoja Micunovic – Senior Producer

Tom Davis – Creative Director

Lewis Benfield – Lead Artist

Sean Lamonby – Senior Artist

Sean Ventress-Bone - Senior Artist

Haaziq Farook – Technical Lead

Kirsty Laidlaw - Technology Coordinator

Joss Payne - Senior Production Manager

Elena Uvarova - Production Coordinator

Lucy White – Junior Project Manager

Emma Lang -  Client Director

Cooper Koulias-Amai - Senior Project Manager

Lauren Kilgannon - Senior Creative Producer

Production Company – Katy Niker

Photographer/Director: Paul Zak

Dop: Rob Streeter

Producer: Katy Niker

Editor: Alex Mead

Retouching: Mark Wesley

Post and Grade – Coffee & TV

Sound engineer: Chris Southwell

PR Agency – Taylor Herring

                Chief Creative Officer: Peter Mountstevens

                Director: Jemima Dalton

                Senior Account Director: Alissa Stroud

                Account Manager: Shadia Muse

                Brooke Bolcho: Account Executive

                Elle Castle: Head of Production

                Dave McDonogh: Senior Producer

                Daveen Chi: Producer

                Archie Young: Producer

                Suzy Nash: Producer

Shopper Creative Agency – To Boldly Go

Shopper Media Agency - Capture