The bunny: a character, a crunch and a recognisable ending

Read the campaign story

Lijjat Papad’s bunny advertising combined a puppet, a musical format and a distinctive laugh with the product. The character made a packaged food visible through performance rather than through a celebrity endorsement or a detailed ingredient explanation. The puppet’s presence and recurring ending provided recognisable elements that could survive different viewing occasions. This entry treats the bunny advertising as one creative family, not as a new campaign each time the commercial was repeated.

The creator’s website dates a Lijjat commercial to 1980, while a later interview recalls the bunny’s creation around 1978–79. Those statements concern related but not necessarily identical milestones. Without a contemporaneous first-broadcast record, this case leaves the numeric launch year unknown and describes the work as originating around the late 1970s and early 1980s. It does not turn an approximate recollection into an exact advertising launch date.

Editorially, the combination works as a set of memory cues. A visual character, a sound and a repeated finish can help viewers recognise an advertiser before they consciously process a full message. The product’s crisp texture has an obvious relationship with sound, while the puppet gives that sensory association a personality. The lesson is not to reproduce the tune or character, but to design a coherent set of original assets that belong together.

A small food business could develop an original illustrated character and a short, rights-cleared sound mark. Test each separately and together with adult customers: can they identify the brand, and do they understand the product category? Keep packaging readable and ensure any sensory description matches the actual product. Avoid assuming that a cute character justifies directing advertising at children without considering applicable rules, nutrition context and parental expectations.

Longevity is not the same as a measured sales effect. People remembering a commercial years later may reflect repeated exposure, limited media choice, affection for the craft or several factors together. This case therefore makes no causal claim about market performance. Its practical contribution is a reminder that distinctiveness can be built from modest, repeatable elements rather than constant novelty. Preserve the recognisable core, update the surrounding execution when necessary and document ownership so a useful asset does not become impossible to reuse because the rights were never clearly agreed.

Build an asset set

Make visual and audio cues reinforce one another.

Secure rights early

Document ownership and reuse permission for characters and music.

Test attribution

Check whether recognition leads to the correct brand, not just nostalgia.

A small test for another brief

Develop an original character and short sound mark for adult testing.

Correct unaided brand and category attribution.

Do not release until rights and any child-facing implications are reviewed.

• Commission original assets with written reuse rights.
• Create a short product-led demonstration using both cues.
• Test separate and combined brand recognition with adults.