2026 Winner

For South Asian consumers, who rarely see their culinary heritage reflected in the frozen food aisle, the category had long felt disconnected from their tastes and expectations. To break habitual purchasing and reposition itself as a modern, culturally fluent brand, McCain leaned into hyper-authenticity, importing exact recipes like Masala Fries and Chili Garlic Bites from its India portfolio. This commitment carried through to a cinematic launch inspired by Bollywood “masala” films, anchored by a 3.5-minute short shot entirely in Mumbai with local talent, choreography and production. The rollout mirrored a true film release with trailers, movie posters and even a dedicated IMDb page. McCain also sent “Flavour Premiere” kits to South Asian creators and food influencers, complete with authentic spices and cinematic touches, to drive genuine first-taste reactions and social proof among a flavour-conscious audience. Within five weeks, the campaign drove a 214% sales increase versus McCain’s previous innovation launches and, over three months, generated $1.25M in retail sales, proving that authentic cultural representation can boost both relevance and commercial impact.

Credits

CCO: Aaron Starkman
CSO: Sean McDonald
ECD: Leia Rogers
CD, Writer: Jordon Lawson
Sr AD: Sheldon Rennie, Jamie Gurnell
Copywriter: Sophia Storti, Julie Day-Lebel
CD, Writer: Karine Doucet
Strategy: Elyse Sanders, Meg Siegel
Account Services: Kai de Bruyn Kops, Joshua Gilmore, Dawson Yates, Aïcha Diallo, Queenie See
Producer: Laura Rioux, David Fraser-Winsby, Gurbir Grewal, Claire Khan
Production Co: Sky High Films
Director: Nitin Menon
EP: Karishma Sahi
Line Producer: Gurmeet Singh Sodhi
Producer: Varun Mohta, Jerrin T Joseph
DOP: Yash Khanna
Production Designer: Patanga Art (Ajay Chodankar & Vipin Kumar)
Choreographer: Longinus Fernandes
Stylist: Maxima Basu
Product Stylist: Goldwin Fonseca
Product DOP: Sanket Satam
Food Stylist: Swati Desai
Pack Maker: Prakash Adakhale
HMU Artist: Sara Capella
1st AD: O’keef Attari
DA: Raaghav Dhingra & Varsha Shajikumar
2nd AD’s : Aishwarya M Chodankar & Prutha Kadam
Direction Intern : Yash Shetye
Production Controller: Shubham Singh
Production Manager: Mihir Limbachya, Sneha Rajuri
Casting: Godfrey Edge
Hero Cast: Siddharth Manoj & Ria Nalavade
Post Producer: Niyaz Khan
Post Supervisor: Wilson Dsouza
Offline Editor: Krishna Shukla
Colourist: Vineesh Vijayan
Online Studio: Sally’s, Amit Chitnis
VFX: FHOA
Sound Studio: Boing
Music Director: Abhishek Arora
Lyricist: Siddhant Kaushal
Engineer: Tilak Goswami
Singers: Arnab Chakraborty, Hamsika
Musician: Kishore Sodha
Photographer: Rishabh Daga
Stills Production: Sky High Films
EP: Karishma Sahi
Retouching: Jonathan Cesar & Fred Bailleul
Studio Type & Assembly: Fred Bailleul
Proofreading: Davina Haisell, Marie Helene Lessard
Media: Universal McCann Worldwide, Inc. (Canada)
Connections Planning: Joanna Janisse, Stephanie Pickfield, Rica Kiyoshima
Partner & Co-Founder: Howard Lichtman
Client Services: Wendy Castillo
ACD: Cyril Kirian
AD: Vibash Shetty
GAD: Valentina Wong
Account Supervisor: Siddhesh Desai, Rae Berhe
Managing Director, Media: Abhijeet Ray
Media Director: Lilian Lo
Sr Media Planner: Dhvani Chhaya
Influencer Marketing: Sakthivel Yadav
Head of PR: Meredith Burns
PR: Sara Lemmermeyer, Kristel Dupont, Kaitlyn Vian, Tara Lush Benson, Christina Avril-Dieudonné
Managing Director, CAD Retail: Matt Koehler
Director Marketing Retail: Michael Embir
Sr Brand Manager, Potato: Jennifer McNair
Brand Manager, Potato: Nadia Eghbali
Associate Brand Manager, Potato: Stefanie Marushko