Waitrose’s latest advert for a new ice cream flavour created by Heston Blumenthal continues its theme of presenting the celebrity chef as a modern-day Willy Wonka.

Blumenthal takes inspiration from a film for his new ice cream

It explores Blumenthal’s latest spark of inspiration, following a theme in Waitrose’s marketing of playing on where the chef’s notoriously outlandish flavour combinations come from. It is also satisfyingly seasonal, referencing the flurry of big-budget summer blockbuster films that come at this time of year.

The ad, created by agency BBH, features Blumenthal in a cinema wearing de rigueur 3D glasses rather than his trademark spectacles, watching a film about “the story of Heston’s incredible ice cream”. The narrator declares the product “an ice cream made of everything that is great about the movies”. The film shows a spaceship shooting lasers at a meteor field, making Blumenthal think of popcorn floating in space, which appears on the screen, and viewers are encouraged to think that leads to the creation of his Salted Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream.

The ad then moves on to the more standard Waitrose marketing style, showing Blumenthal creating a tub of the ice cream, complete with salt falling in slow motion into a cream blend and the chef lovingly mixing the ingredients.

It also promotes a half-price offer on Waitrose ice cream tubs, enticing shoppers to try the new flavour. Happily for Waitrose, the ice cream and the ad arrived just in time for the recent spate of hot weather.

The campaign isn’t a big deviation from other recent Waitrose ads, but clearly seems to be working for the grocer.

Waitrose, Heston’s Incredible Ice Cream