Friday 5 October 2007

The Cadburys Advert



Right, I am pretty sure that EVERYONE will have already seen the surreal new Cadburys ad featuring an animatronic gorilla . . . yes it is a man in a suit if, sorry to spoil any misconceptions you had.

Now, this ad has caused a STORM over here in the UK and I am pretty sure it will hit the USA etc soon if it hasn't already. This is what you would call a VIRAL AD. Cadburys used a brilliant ad agency who were well aware of current culture and media trends and decided to avoid any preconceptions used in advertising these days when it comes to chocolate and sweets. They wanted this advert to be a cult phenomenon - do you think they have succeeded?

I don't know how much people know about Cadburys these days, I know very little myself other than their chocolate tasting good. But I do know that they had a salminella scare last year and had to recall millions of their products so not to kill a generation. This stung them and they needed a boost and a come back. This advert campaign was this come back, and I think it has worked.

Media today is ALL digital. People don't watch commercials now that Sky+ is around and thankfully, Cadbury and their advertisers were aware of this so spent little money on buying air time and instead stuck it on Youtube. I heard about this ad over a month ago when my girlfriend saw it on the tele mid-afternoon. At this time, we did not have internet access so I had to wait to see it on the TV. This did not happen, it was never on! THe ad was slowly becoming popular and everyone was talking about it and I was DESPERATE to see it! This is FANTASTIC advertising. Not only had they grabbed my attention before even seeing the ad but had made me aware of the brand before ever seeing the ad. I would suggest that there are very few ads that manage to do this in this day and age.

This advert inspires me to be different in my work in the future. TO break out of the mould and think outside the box. It is a great example of how complex advertising is these days and how aware agencies are becoming of how media affects the masses, and how culture affects the media.

HAS ANYBODY SPOTTED THE SUBTLE CONNOTIONS OF EATING A CHOCOLATE BAR HIDDEN IN THE AD??

Let me point it all out for you. You see the gorilla and you are immediately drawn in . . .what the hell is this? is what you are thinking. The buildup is intoxicating and tantilising...you want to know what is coming next. Is this not, sub-conciously, how you feel when unwrapping a chocolate bar?

Then all of a sudden, the gorilla explodes onto the drums and all of a sudden the anticipation is rewarded and you are thrilled by the action infront of you...this suggests the sweet taste when you bite into a chocolate bar and the satisfaction you get from the chocolate you love.

All in all, this is one of the most influencial piece of advertising of the new millenium . . . what do you think?

2 comments:

AJ Marteney said...

Yeah we havent seen that "across the pond" as you say. And to post pictures you can use html if you want but what i do is download the picture into a file then upload it. Its alot easier that way. What sports are big where you're from?

LastTimeLord said...

I thought that one was stupid, as I commented furthur up, but I have a really short attentin sp- Oh look, a butterfly! lol