Bringing a popular TV character back from the dead is more than a National French Fry Day stunt for McCain.

Barb, a character from Stranger Things, made an early exit during the show’s first season, resulting in social chatter and online petitions from fans to bring her back.

McCain enlisted Barb’s actor Shannon Purser to deliver a message about regenerative agriculture in an ad that launched on National French Fry Day last week, pointing out how – like her character – some things never come back once they go away. As she rides around a potato farm on a tractor, Purser details how much healthy soil gets lost every year, as well as the regenerative agriculture efforts McCain is making to ensure sustainable growing.

Michael Embir, marketing director at McCain Foods Canada, tells strategy the CPG is putting a lot of effort into sustainability and wants 100% of its potato acreage to be practicing regenerative agricultural practices by 2030.

The challenge, Embir points out, is making a complicated idea about restoring soil health into something that’s simple and resonates with consumers. Also, he says, it needs to align with a recurring theme of championing the power of “togetherness” that McCain’s advertising typically plays on, such as in McCain’s emotional appeal to moms on Mother’s Day.

Embir says the Barb character was a “cool” way to talk to younger consumers, one of its core targets, and a group which is particularly interested in sustainability.

“I don’t know if we are going to be be bringing things back from the dead as part of an overall campaign, but it’s definitely something we are going to be looking into as we develop our next round of creative around sustainability,” Embir says.

The campaign, created by Rethink, will primarily be running in online video and social. UM handled the media buy.

Ad spend, Embir says, is line with previous efforts, but says the campaign will be in market for longer than what would normally happen around National French Fry Day. One way McCain will be extending the messaging will be with influencer partnerships that will run for the next three to five weeks, which reprsents a “longer term commitment” for McCain when it comes to influencers.

Last year, McCain entered the metaverse with Regen Fries – fries made from regenerative potatoes – as part of its “#SaveOurSoil” initiative. Partnering with Roblox, McCain entered a space where younger audiences could begin to understand the challenges currently facing the farming community.

“For certain we are going to be doing more sustainable messaging,” Embir says, adding that with its experimental “Farms of the Future,” it showcases what regenerative agriculture is, and taking customers out there to see what it’s doing to innovate production practises.