Owl City New Zealand

Owl City’s Oreo Commercial Has Him Feeling ‘Wonderfilled’

‘Backstage, there’s always Oreos,’ Adam Young says of his new commercial for the cookie.

On Sunday night, sandwiched between the dour denouement of Don Draper’s latest affair and a whole lot of discussion about margarine on “Mad Men,” Oreo officially unveiled its brand-new “Wonderfilled” campaign with a cutesy, 90-second cartoon featuring a jingle sung by Owl City.

Over some seriously whimsical animation — seriously, it’s like Etsy exploded — Adam Young ponders the life-altering powers of the frosting-filled cookies (sample line: “Wonder if I gave an Oreo/to a vampire in creepy show/Would he not act so undead/Would he thirst for milk instead?”) And, in an era where most folks simply fast-forward through commercials thanks to the magic of TiVo, the “Wonderfilled” spot managed to stop and make people pay attention … which, is nice and all for Young; though, to be fair, he’s more interested in the message the ad conveys.

“They came to me with the idea of sharing wonder with the world, or making days brighter,” he told MTV News on Monday (May 13). “And those themes are similar to what I’m drawn to, musically and lyrically.”

Young said that the majority of the lyrics for the commercial were written before he even became attached to the project, and the whole process began more than six months ago (“There weren’t really that many changes,” he explained. “There was a line in there about Darth Vader. But I guess the people at Lucasfilm said ‘No’ to it.”) And though some cynics may scoff at the idea of an artist scoring a commercial spot, he said that he was honored to be considered … especially since he’s always been an Oreo man.

“I’m being completely honest when I say that I’ve always loved Oreos,” he laughed. “Whenever I go on tour, I always ask for them on my rider. Backstage, there’s always Oreos … so, aside from the themes of the commercial, to me, it made sense to do this.”

Of course, now that he’s involved with the new campaign (and a lifelong fan of the cookie) there’s one important Oreo-related question Young must answer: When it’s time to eat one, does he prefer the lick-and-twist method, or is he more of an “all-at-once” guy?

“Oh man, well, I guess I just sort of go for it all,” he laughed. “I eat the whole thing, though, you know, I take my time and make sure to savor it.”