For years, Pillsbury was focused on beauty shots of food and bites + smiles. Meanwhile, their iconic Doughboy mascot had been relegated to the sidelines. He was treated as a prop. An end card. A logo.

So how do you turn a mascot back into a main character? How do you push a rotating roster of clients and stakeholders beyond the safety of the bite and smile? How do you balance comical storytelling with product news and rational selling points?

Well, you’d probably start with something like this.