The campaign forms part of the brand’s biggest-ever annual ATL investment, totalling £3.5m
Pip & Nut, the UK’s number 1 nut butter brand, is taking its Obsession Spreads campaign to national TV and the London Underground this September.
Building on the success of its award-winning Obsession Spreads platform, the campaign celebrates Pip & Nut’s obsession-inducing taste and the lengths fans will go to for their favourite nut butter. The TV ad brings this idea to life through the brand’s iconic squirrel, fixated on one thing: getting to a Pip & Nut jar, playing on the familiar, single-minded nature of obsession.
The campaign will run across Sky, Channel 4 and ITV from 1st – 30th September, with a major out-of-home campaign launching across the London Underground from 7th September. The creative has achieved a 5.9 ‘Exceptional’ Star Rating, placing it in the top 1% of TV ads according to System1 data.
The campaign marks a major moment in Pip & Nut’s long-term brand-building strategy, forming part of the brand’s biggest annual investment in ATL media to date. Its wider media activity this year will reach an estimated 63% of UK adults, with Pip & Nut investing £3.5 million in marketing across 2026.
But while Obsession Spreads is back on screens, there’s one important new development: the Pip & Nut squirrel finally has a name.
After thousands of votes, meet Cyril
After years of appearing in Pip & Nut’s advertising, the brand’s iconic red squirrel has consistently prompted one question from brand fans: what is his name?
Pip & Nut handed the decision over to its community, inviting followers across its social channels to submit suggestions before putting the top three names to a public vote. The response generated thousands of votes and comments, with one name ultimately emerging victorious.
Today, Pip & Nut has finally revealed that its much-loved mascot is called Cyril.
To mark the occasion, the brand has gone all out with an intentionally over-the-top naming ceremony, held among the trees near Pip & Nut’s London office and complete with all the emotional theatrics of a wedding. The ceremony content will launch across Pip & Nut’s social channels alongside the campaign, bringing the story of Cyril’s naming to life.
Now officially named, Cyril returns to screens today in Pip & Nut’s acclaimed The Nut Drop TV ad, while the brand’s iconic mascot takes centre stage across its London Underground OOH campaign from 7th September.
Jacq Ellis-Jones, Marketing Director at Pip & Nut, commented:
“We’ve always known that our squirrel is one of the most recognisable and loved parts of Pip & Nut, but the number of people asking us what his name was made us realise we had to do something about it. We thought, if our community cares enough to name him, we should give them the final say.
“The creative is deliberately simple: our squirrel has one thing on his mind – getting to a Pip & Nut jar. It taps into that familiar, slightly irrational feeling of obsession, while giving us a distinctive and playful way to showcase what makes Pip & Nut so irresistible. The squirrel is such a recognisable part of our brand, so taking that asset from the Underground into TV gives us a really consistent way to build the brand and bring Obsession Spreads to an even bigger audience.
“Cyril is a playful extension of that world. We wanted to have a bit of fun with the reveal, build some intrigue and give our community something to get involved with, while continuing to invest in the consistent, distinctive brand building that we know works for us. This is our biggest-ever annual ATL investment, so it’s a significant moment for Pip & Nut – and we’re excited to see where our obsession takes us next.”
The September campaign is another step in Pip & Nut’s long-term brand-building strategy, using the distinctive world of Obsession Spreads and its iconic squirrel to create consistency and recognition across TV, OOH and social.
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