Some folks just can’t get enough cash back for everyday purchases. Especially when it’s spraying like green/sparkly geysers into their smiley faces from household goods and everyday items bought through Ibotta, an app that provides rebates. 

Callen and director Ulf Johansson reprise last year’s loopy campaign with a fresh round of spots dropping nationwide this week. The mom character from 2022 returns, once more portrayed by Katie Northlich, whose unflappable performance really shines. We see her at home and at work (as a couples therapist), buffeted by ludicrous quantities of banknotes and loose change.

Though all three clips entertain, the counseling session yields the biggest comic payoff.

WOMAN: I just wish he was more like Ibotta.

THERAPIST: It is nice. Ibotta gives us cash back on everything we buy…

WOMAN: …asking nothing in return.

MAN: Sorry! I’m not a user-friendly app that can just give and give… I have needs and feelings!

“Everyone loves getting cash back, that’s an easy story to tell,” says Callen managing director David Hughes. “But as a business, helping consumers hack inflation—that’s a great position to be in.”

As we noted in covering the campaign’s first round, there’s a classic Skittles/Old Spice vibe at play. That’s understandable, as agency CCO Craig Allen had a hand in crafting both, while Johansson lensed Skittles’ initial absurdist foray, a stylistic trendsetter, nearly 20 years ago.

Ibotta’s effort is equally funny and frenetic. Its humor and energy expertly serve the brand message, vividly illustrating exactly what the app delivers in no uncertain terms.

“The books, the milk carton, the radio, coffee creamer—everything that spews money in spots was a practical rig that we custom built to shoot actual money,” says Callen copywriter Kyle Davis. “Was it an absolute mess? Yes. Did it lead to possible coin inhalation? Yes. Did crew members take coins to the eyeball? Occasionally. Did a crew of fifteen have to use old dusty brooms to sweep up billions of coins after each take? 100%. Could you say they were very impractical, practical effects? Sure, you could.”

CREDITS

Client – Ibotta
Chief Marketing Officer: Rich Donahue
Director of Production: Matt Andersen
Creative Director: Christopher Webster
Senior Art Director: Kevin Gish

Agency – CALLEN
Chief Creative Officer: Craig Allen
Managing Director: David Hughes 
Head of Strategy : Julianna Simon 
Head of Production: Amy Kommatas
Art Director: Matt Nall
Copywriter: Kyle Davis
Account Supervisor: Payton Brown 
Account Coordinator: Anna Campbell

Production Company – Smith & Jones Films Ltd
Director: Ulf Johansson
Director of Photography: Andrzej Sekula
Executive Producer: Philippa Smith
Production Designer: Steve Smithwick

Editorial – HutchCo Technologies, Inc
Editor: Jim Hutchins
Executive Producer: Jane Hutchins
Assistant Editor: Gino Renzulli

VFX / Finishing – Kevin
Executive Creative Director/ Partner: Tim Davies
Senior Executive Producer/ Partner: Sue Troyan
VFX Lead: Gareth Parr
VFX Producer: Andrew Cowderoy
On-Set VFX Supervisor: Pete Smith
Compositors:
Dag Ivarsoy
Robert Murdock
Leif Peterson
Rob Winfield
Susanne Scharping

Music Company – Duotone Audio Group
Creative Director/Founder: Peter Nashel
Executive Producer: Ross Hopman
Head of Music Strategy: David Leinheardt
Producer: Gio Lobato

Audio Post Production – Duotone Audio Post
Sound Designer/Mixer: Andy Green
Executive Producer, Audio Post: Greg Tiefenbrun

Color – Trafik
Colorist: Daniel de Vue
Color Assistant: Sam Ziaie
EP: Meghan Lang Bice
Producer: Samantha Cesan

For those seeking brandtastic self-awareness carried to silly extremes, this new campaign from Ibotta really pays off.

Working with creative agency Callen and director Ulf Johansson, the app—which provides cash-back rebates for everyday purchases—skewers advertising tropes with a not-so-typical American family who keep breaking the fourth wall.

Below, Mom starts dinner with a salute: “Here’s to Ibotta, for giving us cash back on the items we already buy, at the stores we already shop at!” Banknotes and coins spew from food containers and a cuckoo clock, illustrating the motto, “There’s cash back in everything you buy.”

“We’re a fake TV family made up to illustrate the extreme monetary value of using Ibotta!” Dad proclaims. They freely embrace their commercial existence, chatting about “visual metaphors” and urging viewers to sign up with the brand.

So, let’s kick back as legal tender shoots from shirts, sofas, headphones, a fire extinguisher and more:

We’re rocking an old-school Skittles vibe here—not surprisingly, as Callen founder and CCO Craig Allen had a hand in those ground-breaking campaigns at TBWAChiatDay. And Johansson directed that campaign’s first round of ads way back in 2004.

The pacing and tone also channel Old Spice classics with Isaiah Mustafa and Terry Crews, which Allen helped Wieden+Kennedy create.

Yet Ibotta takes the template in a fresh direction, gleefully smashing the fourth wall in work that almost feels like a parody of ad parodies (and an homage of sorts to beloved spots of yore).

“Writing self-aware ads is something I’ve done most of my career,” Allen tells Muse. “It’s always best when people can be along for the ride. When they’re part of the joke. When you have money shooting out of every crevice of a house, it’s hard not to be aware of what’s going on” and have to acknowledge the sales pitch on screen.

“The idea that you’d leave free money behind when it’s offered to you is absurd,” Allen says. “Any reasonable person, offered cash for buying something they already intended to buy, would take that money. When you have an offer that powerful and simple, it seemed best to go straight at the thing. So we doubled down on both the ridiculousness and reality of what we were saying.”

To deliver the visual goods, the team used practical effects wherever possible. Alas, not every gag worked according to plan.

“Originally, the dad in ‘Dinner’ cut into a turkey and cash spilled out,” Callen recalls. “It was great in theory. But in execution, it always looked like the turkey was pooping out money. So, we cut that joke. I felt for the poor crew members who had to sweep a bajillion coins off the floor after every take.”

Ibotta joins a recent trend of marketers who spoof advertising in one way or another. Examples include Expedia’s commercials with Ewan McGregor, the Kraft/Netflix team-up featuring Ryan Reynolds, and Postmates’ satire about folks who can’t concentrate because they’re so damn hungry.

Old Navy and Pabst Blue Ribbon have also played with marketing tropes, the latter courtesy of Callen, which offered to turn fans’ homes into huge, shameless ads.