Maynards Bassetts lift takeover

VCCP's Maynards Bassetts campaign 'Set the Juice Loose' launched 2026-08-25, turning shopping-centre lifts into a tense sweet-versus-spikes stunt.

What it is

Across Brent Cross, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester and Watford, lift doors have been wrapped so one side shows a giant Jelly Baby or Wine Gum and the opposing door shows a menacing wall of spikes. As the doors slide shut, the artworks stage a moment of staged peril that passengers can watch unfold.

Who made it

• Agency: VCCP (creative leads Fran Barona and Lizzie Eastwood; creative directors Elias Torres and Daniel Glover-James)
• Media planning and buying: Publicis Media UK
• Platform: 'Set the Juice Loose' — an ongoing creative platform from VCCP

The platform has already won industry recognition, and this lift takeover continues its out-of-home push alongside last year’s posters such as ‘Corkscrew’, ‘Juicer’ and ‘Blender.’ The OOH work runs across out-of-home and social until the end of September.

“We love putting our Jelly Babies and Wine Gums in precarious situations,” says David Masterman, executive creative director at VCCP.

Why a music fan should care

At its core the stunt is about engineered tension and payoff — the same dynamic that makes a perfect drop in a track or a well-timed build in a live set. It creates a short, sharable moment that can become part of music-fan behaviour: quick video captures for socials, meme-ready imagery, and a sensory hook that sits well alongside playlists, gig promos and festival branding.

There’s also a psychological nudge at play. Researchers at Yale (Rebecca Dyer and Oriana Aragón, 2015) described the urge to playfully squeeze or ‘eat up’ cute things as a dimorphous response — a release of overwhelming positive feeling that can look a bit like aggression. VCCP leans into that odd mix of affection and faux menace to make people stop, smile and record.

In short: it’s bold OOH that borrows techniques familiar to music promoters — drama, quick payoff and social-readiness — which is why this candy-versus-spikes stunt is worth a click for anyone who cares about moments that cut through the feed.