Ferrero Rocher ditches ‘Ambassador’ ads

Ferrero Rocher has finally killed off one of the most admired – and reviled – advertising campaigns of the past decade with the decision to axe the “Ambassador’s Reception” commercials in the UK.

The Italian chocolate company has appointed London agency Banks Hoggins O’Shea FCB to create a &£2.5m campaign for the luxury confectionery brand.

The Ambassador’s Reception, which ran for eight years, became a byword for bad taste European advertising, described as “so bad it’s good”. It was produced by Ferrero’s in-house advertising department.

Last Christmas, the company produced another ad showing a family building a giant pyramid of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, which was shown in rotation with the Ambassador’s Reception.

This year, Banks Hoggins O’Shea will produce a new ad which will launch at the end of this month.

The agency says the commercial “will be about Ferrero Rocher being special, in fact so special that sometimes it is difficult to give them away”.

Banks Hoggins O’Shea managing director Sven Olsen says: “It will have new music, and no visual or audible links with the previous advertising. It will have a much more modern approach.”

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