PepsiCo is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, present in over 200 countries. Among its iconic brands is Ruffles, known for its irreverent tone and campaigns that connect with younger audiences, always exploring innovation and humor in its communication.

Ruffles needed to launch the new Monster Burger flavor in a creative, relevant way that spoke directly to its young audience. The challenge was to stand out in digital media by creating content that would generate organic engagement and reflect the brand’s irreverent spirit. At the time, stand-up comedy was at its peak in Brazil, with comedians like Whindersson Nunes, Rafinha Bastos, and the group Os Improváveis dominating social media.

It was in this cultural moment, where stand-up comedy was gaining popularity among young audiences, that Batatito was born a 3D character created specifically to star in an animated stand-up video introducing the new Ruffles flavor: Monster Burger. The idea was both simple and bold to create a fictional comedian who would speak directly to consumers in their own tone of voice.

Together with the team at Wunderman Brasil (Newcomm Group), I was responsible for developing the visual and functional design of the character. From concept to final performance on screen, I actively contributed to the entire creative and technical process that brought Batatito to life as the brand's animated mascot.

Within the 3D pipeline, I handled all technical aspects of the character. I modeled Batatito in ZBrush, including retopology, UV unwrapping, and texturing. In Cinema 4D, I developed a full rig with IK/FK systems, along with phoneme-based faceshapes and facial controllers designed for comedic expressions and lip-syncing.

One of the main challenges in this facial setup was achieving clear and charismatic expressions, despite the visual limitation caused by the character’s sunglasses —which completely covered his eyes and eyebrows, key elements for conveying emotion. To overcome this, I focused on developing exaggerated and well-defined faceshapes around the mouth and cheeks, ensuring that emotions could be read instantly and effectively, even without eye movement.

The result was a character with strong acting potential, capable of delivering expressive communication both in animation and in still images.

The animation focused on comedic timing and stage-like body language. Lighting and rendering were done in V-Ray, aiming for a clean look that stayed true to the campaign's 2D concept.

The character received an extremely positive response, generating strong engagement and instant identification with the audience on social media. His success solidified Batatito as the brand's new official mascot, opening the door for his expansion into other campaigns and establishing him as a strategic asset within the Ruffles universe.

Batatito became a strategic asset for the brand, and the setup I developed in Cinema 4D was key to that. With a complete rig, practical controllers, and a lightweight structure, the character could be quickly animated in various contexts. It was easy to apply a new performance, swap a few accessories, and deliver high-quality content efficiently streamlining production for the agencies.

The character received new animated takes with different scenarios and situations, allowing his presence in the campaign to grow organically and continuously. This flexibility was key to keeping the character relevant while maintaining visual consistency and the brand’s tone of voice.

As a result, Batatito became part of Ruffles’ communication across various stages of the campaign, serving as the brand's official voice in explainer, interactive, and promotional content, both online and offline, bringing audiences even closer to the brand’s fun and irreverent universe.

After the huge success of the animated stand-up, Ruffles prepared to relaunch one of its biggest campaigns: "Create a Flavor" — a promotional action that invited consumers to come up with their own chip flavors and share them on social media. The brand needed a figure to guide the public through the campaign journey, explaining the rules, encouraging participation, and keeping the lighthearted tone of the initiative.

The character was chosen to be the face of the new edition of the promotion, acting as the campaign's host. He helped explain each stage of the action from flavor creation to public voting with the same humor that made him popular in the previous video.

After completing the entire character setup, including modeling, rigging, and animation setup in Cinema 4D, we shared the project with the AlmapBBDO team, who carried the campaign forward in later phases, reinforcing inter-agency collaboration in the brand’s creative evolution.

The engagement was so strong that Batatito transcended animation and began to inspire new formats within the campaign. The "Create a Flavor" promotion gained momentum, and the character's fun and exaggerated tone became a reference for producing new live-action content with actors, continuing the brand’s universe in everyday situations.

These videos placed consumers in humorous, everyday situations, experiencing flavor creation as if they were inside the Ruffles universe, now with a live-action approach.

These shoots kept the same lighthearted tone introduced by the character, creating continuity between the animated universe and the new phase of the campaign, reinforcing the brand’s identity and expanding the campaign’s reach.

To top it all off, Batatito took part in an unexpected and hilarious encounter with the Toddy cows in the "Create a Flavor" campaign.

In a comedic invasion of the Ruffles factory, the cows appeared uninvited and created a sweet flavor. Breaking the campaign’s main rule of sticking to savory options.

The action led to a playful "relationship drama" between the mascots, with teasing, jokes, and even love declarations on social media.

This partnership between two iconic brands generated even more engagement and showed how the character could naturally and playfully interact in creative crossovers, expanding the campaign's universe and deepening its connection with the audience.