Mascots are truly back in 2025

A Kraft Heinz ad, dropped during this year’s Superbowl, squeezes the most amount of mascots into one advert we’ve ever seen

Flashback to 2024, and a day in the life of the average brand mascot was verging on the dystopian. Kellogg’s Cornelius the Cockerel was relying on (quite literally) a poultry wage. The Kool-Aid jug only managed to stay relevant thanks to the phrase ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’, while the Pillsbury Doughboy was deemed a little too un-PC for Gen Y’ers.

In 2025, this all changed. 

Kellogg’s kicked off the mascot comeback when it dropped a swaggering ode to its plucky frontman with an advertorial tour de force by the animators behind Harry Potter. And now, Kraft Heinz is at it, with an integrated campaign for delivery brand Instacart that brings together a wide range of companies, including many of its iconic brand ambassadors.

Instacart made its Super Bowl debut in 2025 with a star-studded commercial featuring a line-up of iconic brand mascots.

The 30-second spot, titled ‘We're Here’, was created in collaboration with advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day LA.

The ad showcases beloved characters such as the Old Spice Guy (portrayed by Isaiah Mustafa), Heinz's Wiener Dogs, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Chester Cheetah, the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Clean, the Kool-Aid Man, and the Energizer Bunny.

The mascots all have their time to shine, being depicted delivering groceries to a family, highlighting Instacart's role in bringing products directly to consumers' homes.

Our take

Well, I called it, didn’t I? *raises his hand to high-five Creative Moment readers*.

In my Kellogg's piece, linked above, I anticipated the return of ‘the mascot’, thanks in part to impressive advances in CGI. Looking back, the genesis of this trend was taking root at Christmas, with Asda’s gnomes and Kevin the Carrot winning plaudits.

There’s more to the newfound relevance of mascots, however. In 2025, the power of differentiating your brand is arguably more important than ever in a world where companies selling their wares on Temu, Amazon, and the like, can create identikit products at the drop of a hat.

Mascots also play nicely into the recent trend toward making adverts less about worthy messaging and more about humour, frivolity and catchiness.

It was a joy then to see this little exercise in mascot-overkill by Kraft Heinz, who shamelessly indulged in a bit of ‘fan service’, with every character repping their unique identities to the fullest.