Cartridge People has launched a new ad campaign that swaps the category’s usual panic-buy messaging and red-banner discounts for something unexpectedly cinematic.
Created by independent creative agency Ourselves, ‘The March of the Cartridge People’ goes live today (11 May) across TV and radio, drawing visual inspiration from the outdoor hunt scene in Yorgos Lanthimos’ dark comedy The Lobster.
The ad opens with the silhouette of a woman standing alone in misty woodland, wearing a swimsuit and carrying a printer. As soft piano music plays, a calm voiceover introduces a statuesque ‘Anne’, who refuses to pay ‘silly prices’ to print her wild swimming newsletter.
Anne makes her way through the marshes and is followed by a series of equally deadpan characters, including a young music promoter who uses black ink like it’s going out of fashion, and a business owner dragging a full-size office printer through the countryside.
With a nod to The Lobster, the forest setting and solemn procession give the ad the feeling of a strange, self-contained world with its own rules and rituals. By treating printer cartridges with the emotional seriousness of arthouse cinema, the campaign turns an otherwise ordinary retail purchase into something quite different.
Developed by Ourselves and directed by Daniel Liakh through Spindle, the work leans into restrained performances, atmospheric cinematography and understated humour more commonly associated with indie film than retail campaigns.
This is the biggest campaign to date for the brand, and marks a strategic shift. John Flanagan, MD of Cartridge People said: “We wanted to create something people would genuinely enjoy watching, while still landing a clear commercial message. The category has become visually interchangeable, and this felt like a chance to do something more distinctive and memorable.”
Aaron Howard, co-founder of Ourselves, said: “Most advertising in this category treats people like they are making an emergency purchase under emotional duress. We liked the idea of approaching it with the tone and seriousness of an arthouse film instead, where people commit very sincerely to slightly strange systems and behaviours. There was something funny about portraying everyday printer users as part of this quiet countryside movement, printers in hand.
“In a digital age, printing can feel faintly archaic to some people. But for many others it remains part of everyday life, from running a business to printing flyers, forms, labels and newsletters. The campaign taps into those very human, oddly specific rituals that still sit behind the category.”
The campaign continues Ourselves’ track record of creating unexpected, high-quality work for brands, particularly those operating in categories where advertising often becomes visually interchangeable. By bringing a more cinematic and culturally influenced approach to commercial briefs, the agency helps clients stand apart from the formulaic conventions that dominate much of category advertising.
