• by Fern Siegel , June 25, 2024

"Despicable Me 4" hits movie theaters July 3 — and its marketing campaign includes a TV spot in partnership with King's Hawaiian rolls.

The new spot runs through July 21 promoting both the food and the animated franchise. It is available on cable, streaming platforms and in-cinema ads.

King's Hawaiian utilized in-house creative, working with Illumination and Universal.

In the commercial, the Minions enjoy a summer barbecue and dream about the delicious King's Hawaiian sliders they can make. Then they find crazy ways to cook them — with dramatic results. 

Stores will also carry Minions-themed signage and limited-edition King's Hawaiian packaging featuring the mischievous characters.

The sweet-roll company also co-branded a paint scheme on Brad Keselowski's No. 6 car during his June 9th race in Sonoma, California. Keselowski and his pit donned Gru and Minions-themed fire suits during the race.

Holger Kraetschmer, Chief Marketing Officer at King's Hawaiian, said: "King's Hawaiian infuses excitement and fun into moments of togetherness, like family movie night ... We're excited to be partnering with the most successful animated movie franchise of all-time to encourage everyone to serve up some joyful mischief and delicious food all summer long."

The new movie features Gru (Steve Carell), supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, and his family's newest member, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad.