Dolmio® launches new global brand platform

A new brand strategy & a creative campaign designed by The&Partnership marks a new chapter in the brand’s life

Paprika in spag bol? Hot sauce in lasagne? Peanut butter in pasta sauce? Whatever happens to be your favourite twist on a Dolmio meal, we say “Dolmioooo-Yeahhhh!” in this new Dolmio® global brand campaign developed with The&Partnership and Blinkink.

The campaign – featuring the first piece of broadcast work delivered by The&Partnership for Dolmio® since its appointment as global creative agency of record for Mars Food & Nutrition in 2021 – kicks off an important new chapter in the life of this much-loved brand. It launches a fully reworked brand identity, complete with an updated logo and pack design, and a new global brand platform with a signature tagline: “Dolmioooo-Yeahhhh!”

The&Partnership developed the new brand strategy and creative, working with BAFTA nominated directors Jonny and Will at Blinkink to bring the idea to life across TV, online video, and social. It will be further amplified through PR and influencer activity orchestrated by Ketchum. The brand visual identity was created by Elmwood.

Number one^[1] Italian wet cooking sauce brand in the UK, Dolmio® has been a trusted mealtime favourite for households across the nation for decades,

“Our new Dolmioooo-Yeahhhh! brand platform really captures the essence of our broader Dolmio brand refresh: joyful, distinctive and full of big-hearted oomph. We've heard from consumers time and again that Dolmio is a trusted and loved brand in their households, so our goal was to harness these positive emotions and use them to build renewed brand relevance and preference. We're excited about the new work created with The&Partnership and can't wait to see its response now we've gone live”. sharesChantal Barcelona, Global Brand & Content Senior Manager for Mars.

Key to the inception of the new brand platform was the research insight that  many home cooks have their own, happily inauthentic take on classic pasta dishes. Consumers confessed to adding anything from paprika to milk or peanut butter in their spag bol, based on their household’s favourite tastes.

The campaign brings this insight to life with the help of two new brand characters, who appear at a critical moment in the cooking process to personify the little voices in your head: the one that worries you should be doing things the proper ‘Italian’ way, and the one that encourages you to do what feels good for you and your loved ones. 

Nick Moss & Dan Northcote-Smith, Creative Directors at The&Partnership add:

“Everyone has seen the Italian guy losing his mind on Tiktok about how Brits cook Italian food. Well, “Dolmio-Yeah” is the new platform encouraging us Brits to do it even more. Sorry Italian TikTok guy. The question was, how do you turn this insight into a long-term creative platform? Meet our little pasta mates, Yeah and Nahh.” 

The campaign has been live in the UK since 22 June, with other markets to follow in due course. The redesigned packs have already hit shelves. The TVC aired for the first time on ITV London, during Coronation Street and will be live until September, supported by the digital, social and PR activity.