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2021 · Creative / Copywriter · BBH London
A poignant, beautifully paced campaign for Robinsons Cordials that captures the bittersweet reality of parenting—how quickly children grow up.
The film speeds through the milestones of a boy's life, from a toddler playing in the garden to an embarrassed teenager avoiding his parents, set to a subtle, understated vocal soundtrack. By keeping the product integrated naturally rather than forced, the story has room to breathe, landing a highly emotional connection with parents.
Insight · CPG · Film
Robinsons is a fixture of British childhood, which is both the brand's strength and its problem: a squash brand can easily become wallpaper. The brief was to make a familiar product feel emotionally significant again to parents. Toby Brewer wrote the film as a Creative / Copywriter at BBH London with art director Nikki Lindman, under ECD Nick Gill and Creative Director Dominic Goldman.
Parents do not experience childhood as a series of stages. They experience it as speed. One moment there is a toddler in the garden, and then, apparently overnight, a teenager who would rather not be seen with you. The bittersweet part is that the small domestic rituals, including the ones involving a jug of squash, are what mark the time passing.
Directed by Tom Tagholm through Park Pictures, "they grow up fast" races through the milestones of one boy's life in a single accelerating sweep, held together by an understated vocal soundtrack. The product is integrated naturally rather than staged, which leaves the story room to breathe and lets the ending land without sentiment being forced. The restraint is the craft: nothing is explained, and the emotional connection with parents does the work.