The search continues...

In this post, I'll go through all the people who I know worked on the Search for the Rowntree.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (actor)

I thought the kid in the adverts would be an unknown actor, but he’s actually Hollywood megastar Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson has also played Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and he kicked ass as Kick-Ass in Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2. So I think we can all agree that he's done fairly well for himself and that he's kicked a lot of ass.

He’s three years younger than me but he’s already searched for the Rowntree PLUS he’s been TWO superheroes. I need to get my life into gear.

Louise Savage-Knight (actress)

An actress named Louise Savage-Knight played Loreth, the mountain guide from the third and fourth adverts. I found this out because she replied to a comment on my Search for the Rowntree YouTube video:

Here's a photo of her from 2014 (so almost fifteen years after the adverts were filmed).

My brother sent her a message on Facebook and here's what she said:

Alistair Ross (writer)

Alistair wrote the scripts for the adverts. How do I know? Well, recently I asked my brother if he remembers the Search for the Rowntree. He googled it, and roughly three seconds later he found someone associated with the ad campaign: one Alastair Ross.

Exhibit #1:

Exhibit #2:

Like a couple of schoolgirls, we nervously contacted Alastair Ross via Twitter... and he actually replied! This was his reply:

Hi Paul, Yes, I co-created them with Sarah Naughton (now Sarah Squibb). A change in marketing team at Rowntrees led to poor Kit being left to search for the tree that bears five different fruit, without a film crew in tow. We had written another four episodes to follow on from the initial campaign, where Kit met new characters who helped him get closer to the elusive tree. I think one of the endings we thought of involved Kit reaching his final destination - a valley full of fruit orchards. He was then puzzled as there were individual trees but not one that bore five different fruits. However when you saw the valley from the air, five different rivers joined to form one large river. In between each river was an orchard. So it looked like a giant tree. In essence, the Rowntree was a place shaped like a tree, rather than one single tree. Hope that helps your curiosity. We were disappointed we never got to conclude the adventure. As for the actor who played Kit...Google Aaron Johnson - he has done rather well! All the best ALISTAIR

Here’s a photo of Alistair:

I asked Alastair for more information but he stopped replying to my messages. Maybe he thinks I’m crazy? Well, if being obsessed with a children’s advert campaign from almost two decades ago is considered crazy, then lock me up and throw away the key! No, but really, I'm not crazy. Crazy. Crdazy. Xraydzy.

He talks about the Rowntree adverts on his website, as well as some other boring shit. He writes:

Rowntrees pooled all their production budgets, such was the belief in the Search for the Rowntree idea. It told the story of Kit, a young boy on a quest to find the mythical Rowntree - a tree which bore five different fruits. Pre-dating Harry Potter it caught the imagination of the younger generation. Cast in the lead role was a young Aaron Johnson, now a Hollywood star. With all the budget invested in the TV, I illustrated the press campaign for free, earning an entry in Lurzer's Archive top 250 European Illustrators Annual.

So Alistair not only wrote the scripts, but he also illustrated the press campaign single-handedly. Not bad.

Sarah Naughton (writer)

As Alistair mentioned in his tweet, he co-wrote the adverts with someone named Sarah Naughton. I found her on Facebook. She also has a website at sarahnaughtonblog.wordpress.com. According to her website, she's written a "Victorian supernatural thriller for teenagers" and anoother book "set in rural England during the 17th century witch-trials". She lives in London.

Kitty McCorry (photographer)

According to luerzersarchive.com (which is an archival website for adverts), someone named Kitty McCorry was a photographer for the press release. Kitty. McCorry. Sounds like the name of a superhero. I tried to discover more about Kitty and her wonderful name. All I could find is that she's from the UK.

Daniel Du Faur (model maker)

Daniel Du Faur was one of the model makers who made models for the adverts:

I was one of the model makers that worked on these adverts when the model shots were films at Bray Studio's just outside London. The "Island" one, the model was way bigger than what was seen on screen. The hut was only a small part of the overall thing made out of massive polystyrene blocks. Seems strange now to see it with only the small amount of detail we put into it. It was supposed to be a huge glacier with the hut in the middle of it.

Here's a photo of him from 2014:

Chris Hemingway and Pilot Interactive

According to an article from 2000 by campaignlive.co.uk, a marketing agency called Pilot Interactive help Rowntree with the web campaign.

Online activity was developed by Nestle Rowntree roster agency, Pilot Interactive. Pilot has previously developed sites for Nestle's Willy Wonka and After Eight brands.

In the article, Chris Hemingway, then creative director at Pilot Interactive, said:

It's a very adventure-driven site, bringing the brand to life on the internet. We didn't want to just tell the user about the search for the Rowntree, we wanted to involve them in it - giving them a true experience rather than just product information.

Here's a link to Pilot Interactive's website as it was back in 2001. Their website no longer exists, unfortunately, but it can still be visited thanks to the magic of the Wayback Machine.

Who else worked on the campaign?

We still don't know who played Professor Peel or the Sorcerer. If you know, then tell me in the comments below. Or not. I don't care. (I do really.)