A new campaign from Lucky Generals and director Brad Lubin gives a cheeky cultural update to Asda’s iconic value promise, starring a Yorkshire-accented baby with plenty to say.
For decades, “That’s Asda Price” has been a calling card for one of Britain’s best-known supermarkets, but in a retail world constantly evolving to meet customer expectations, even the most recognisable phrases need the occasional reboot.
This was the thinking behind Barnsley Baby – the first campaign from Lucky Generals since winning the Asda account – and a mischievous new spin on a heritage line.
The premise is simple: a mum does her weekly shop at Asda with baby Gary in tow. As she breezes through the checkout, pleasantly surprised by the total, she murmurs, “That’s good.” But it’s Gary – voiced by a gravelly Yorkshire accent – who delivers the campaign’s punchline, dropping a perfectly timed “That’s Asda Price” to the cashier’s wide-eyed amazement.
It’s a 30-second burst of humour and surprise, directed by Brad Lubin of Another Film Company, and it sets the tone for a wider platform built on making “That’s Asda Price” sticky, surprising, and culturally relevant once again.
“Our idea was to start making ‘That’s Asda Price’ part of the vernacular again,” say Lucky Generals creative directors Nick Bird and Lee Smith. “It’s a sticky, ownable line. Let’s make it mean something to people today.”
The idea of reviving the phrase wasn’t about nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. Asda had already reintroduced its Rollback to Asda Price initiative earlier in the year, dropping prices on over 10,000 products. However, the brand wanted more than just price cuts – it wanted a personality-led promise that felt meaningful to modern shoppers, especially in a climate of rising living costs.
“There’s an honest, no-nonsense sensibility to it that you can’t argue with,” says Lee. “No matter what part of the country you’re from, it resonates.”
By leaning into the brand’s Yorkshire roots and choosing a character as unexpected as a talking baby, the creative team struck a balance between familiarity and freshness.
“We started with a simple, relatable idea of a mum and baby shopping at Asda,” say Nick and Lee. “It allows us to make it look very everyday, which in turn makes the idea of a talking baby even more unexpected.”
Giving Gary a strong Northern voice wasn’t just about being cheeky – it was also about reflecting the brand’s heritage in a way that felt organic to the story. “If we give him a voice, it makes sense to lean into the brand’s Yorkshire roots for the first ad,” they add.
That said, the campaign isn’t stopping at Barnsley. Two more 30-second iterations are set to launch later this summer, each placing the “That’s Asda Price” line in the mouth of a new, equally unexpected character. It’s a creative device designed to build cultural equity around the phrase and to prove that value, when delivered with the right voice, never gets old.
For director Brad Lubin, the shoot came with its own set of challenges, not least of which was working with babies. “Nothing takes an audience out of a film faster than bad casting,” says Brad.
“We cast the baby first – identical twins, to give ourselves a better chance of getting the shots – and it was important to find a great actor who looked like she could actually be the baby’s mother.”
As for the voice, Brad and the team opted for a contrast and comedic approach. “The comedy depended on the baby’s voice being unexpected, so we cast a voice artist with a very deep Northern accent.”
The real challenge, however, was time. Babies can only be on set for a limited number of hours, and those hours don’t always coincide with the creative schedule.
“The babies were actually method actors and decided their character was ‘Upset Baby,’ which those little Daniel Day-Lewis characters played flawlessly,” Brad jokes. “Fortunately, we were able to capture some footage when they broke character and looked happy.”
Planning and flexibility were key. The team shot in a real, working supermarket and used multiple cameras to capture the footage quickly, all while keeping the set calm and timed to the babies’ nap windows.
It was all worth it, though, for the final result. It’s a playful, high-impact spot that puts a fresh spin on a brand built around consistency. As Lee puts it, “We’re not trying to reinvent the brand – just give it more standout in a crowded market. Humour is a great way to make ‘That’s Asda Price’ culturally relevant and meaningful again.”
With a blend of honest value, regional charm, and unexpected humour, the new campaign reminds shoppers why it mattered in the first place. And if you ever doubted that even babies know a good deal when they see one, Gary’s got something to say about that.
