Mikey's Back in a New Life Cereal Ad Directed by Lisa Rubisch

After all these years, he still likes it

Director Lisa Rubisch has fond memories of Life cereal’s famous commercials starring a pint-sized, picky eater named Mikey. “I feel like the original ad played throughout my entire childhood. I can recite it from memory, line by line, after all these years,” she says. The first Mikey spot debuted in 1972 and won numerous kudos, including Clios, back in the day.

Fast forward to Rubisch’s “Mikey’s Morning,” a fresh spot developed with PepsiCo’s in-house agency D3. It introduces a modern Mikey. Like his Nixon-era predecessor in the role, this tyke digs into a bowl of Life and gives the cereal a big thumbs up.

Here, Rubisch, who is represented for ad work by Park Pictures, talks about tapping into nostalgia, casting a new Mikey and creating a chaotic but happy family home while shooting the spot over two days in Vancouver.

MUSE: The new ad feels like today, but it also taps into my fondness for the original ad. Am I correct to assume that’s no accident?

Lisa Rubisch: Yes, exactly. This new ad obviously departs from the original in song and self-awareness—like breaking the fourth wall. But we wanted to plant little Easter egg homages throughout—Mikey’s mop-top head of dark hair and his red sweater, down to the two buttons on the shoulder. The way he leans on his hand while he eats. The infamous bowl slide. Things like that.

Why do so many people still know and love Mikey after all of these years?

The ad feels authentic, long before authenticity became a buzzword in every board and treatment. The boys were real brothers and their sing-song, thick Long Island accents made it infectious. The fact that the two brothers push it on the little brother is classic. I am the oldest of three sisters, and this is accurate in sibling deviancy. 

Mikey was three years old when that commercial was shot. The fact that he is the silent observer, a deadpan face full of freckles, the fact that he’ll do whatever his older brothers tell him to do is classic youngest sibling behavior.

The commercial also captured a moment. There is no bite and smile. Mikey doesn’t even say anything. He just digs into that bowl and feasts with gusto the way you do when you genuinely like something. I don’t think you could make that commercial today with such a soft sell. Same goes for the Oscar Mayer Wiener kid. I love the spontaneity and courage of a light touch.

What kind of brief did you get from D3?

The feedback Pepsi had been given was that people wanted their real lives reflected in the advertising. They did not want to see a perfect family living a perfect life. So, the agency came up with morning chaos, but it was important to everyone that it not feel too harried or negative.

The original ad starred three brothers. This new one features mom and dad, and Mikey has a brother and a sister.

This was in the script—agency- and client-driven. 

And Mikey sings! What drove that decision?

I think they wanted to do something memorable and playful that departed from the original while simultaneously playing tribute.

It was crucial to cast the right Mikey, and Hudson, the kid who now plays the role, is so great.

We cast for Mikey in four cities—NYC, L.A., Toronto and Vancouver. We found our Mikey in L.A.

Full disclosure—I worked with Hudson a year or two ago on his first commercial. What makes Hudson special is that he is extraordinarily comfortable in his skin. He wears it all on his sleeve and has no filter in saying what he thinks. He is exuberant, rough-and-tumble, incredibly curious and, of course, infinitely adorable. He’s a kid’s kid. It was important that Mikey not feel like a stage kid. We wanted him to sing well enough to carry a tune but not be a pro.

Funny side note: Hudson is a hockey nut, and we had to trim the back off his little mullet.

Was Hudson aware of the original ad?

I think he knew he was stepping into some big shoes. But I didn’t show it to him so it wouldn’t influence his performance.

Did you cast Mikey first and then build out his family from there?

That was my first instinct, but there wasn’t time in the schedule. So, I had favorite pairings of siblings and parents that were mix-and-matchable with the top three Mikey candidates. 

I didn’t worry too much about the family perfectly matching—for example, neither mom or dad had dark hair. And the brother we cast was blond. I have a blond son myself who is an anomaly on both sides of our very brunette family.

Over the years, I’ve learned not to sweat it too much and err on casting for performance over looks. You put a family together, you more or less believe they’re a family for those 30 seconds.

They’re in the midst of a busy morning where it seems like nothing is going right. But their home is full of joy and sunlight. How did you create this happy vibe?

I wanted the spot to feel optimistic in spite of the chaos. I wanted the morning sun to feel like an additional character. So, I animated light raking across the room like you would in time-lapse. My location brief was: “sun-filled, timeless and lived-in.” I loved the blond wood and giant windows. We needed to have the primary colors of Life cereal, but we wanted them to feel organic and not stylized.

Emotionally, I wanted to show affection and care among the family members.  I’m not sure how much of that made it into the cut, but I didn’t want eye-rolling. I wanted it to be a team effort to make it out the door on time. 

It was pretty bold of you to include a dog and a cat in this spot given that you already had so much to manage.

The dog was in the script. But I thought a cat sniffing toast was a funny punctuation of quick action for the edit.