The ad, which made its debut on January 23 during the 'Celebrity Big Brother' finale on Channel 4, has demonstrated the true "viral" nature of word-of-mouth and the internet.
A visit to YouTube shows that the "official" version of the ad has been viewed nearly 1.9m times -- given the numerous other uploads of the ad on YouTube alone and those appearing on other web video sites, Cadbury's claim of 4m may not be an exaggeration.
The ad, which was created by Fallon as part of a £3.7m campaign, has also drawn praise from some unlikely quarters. American rapper Kanye West has posted a link to the video on his blog; US celebrity blogger Perez Hilton described it as "super-cool"; and serial "Twitterer" Stephen Fry added to the fanfare on social networking site Twitter.
The one-minute commercial has also inspired a spoof by Lily Allen and Alan Carr on Channel 4's 'The Sunday Night Project'.
As if all that publicity were not enough, Cadbury has also partnered with mobile operator Orange (also a Fallon client) to give away the commercial's soundtrack as a mobile ringtone. This was downloaded 125,000 times in the first 11 days.
Comments
Would anyone like to write a post on Brand Republic saying that this brilliant ad has been seen 116m times on broadcast telly? Anyone?
I think you just have Tess.
P T - 17/02/2009
i think the ad is pretty rubbish actually... every cadburys ad since the over hyped drum solo advert has had some rather large gorilla sized shoes to fill, and each one has failed miserably.
Whether a fan of the ad or not - its got people talking, just like the gorilla did - which is an achievement in itself.
My attention was first drawn to the ad through social media - mainly facebook status updates. By creating content that entertains rather than a traditional one way brand push, Cadbury seem have got it right again. And social media has been a key element.
Have you seen the cadbury cream egg bus shelter ads?
I love the fact that Cadbury continue to think differently.
Tess - I admire your stoic \(and seemingly omnipresent!) defense of TV - but I think this instance really highlights the difference - how are you counting those 116M and what were they doing when the ad was screened? The reason we're all getting excited by the 1.9M online views is they they are actually counted \(files requests made to a server - really actually technically counted and not estimated) and further they are requests to view - not broadcast to a possibly empty couch while I'm making a cup of tea.
Simply getting people talking is not the role of advertising. We do not know what they are saying. "Have you seen the funny ad with the dancing eyebrows" is unlikely to do a great deal for the Cadbury brand. Building long lasting brand equity and driving absolute sales volume and relative market share are more important measures of effectiveness. We don't even know if the 4million viewers are in the UK. It would be really helpful if agencies stopped pushing these stories and even better if Brand Republic stopped releasing them without any critical commentary. I know, that would spoil all the fun.
I agree. The beauty about this exercise is that it is 100%, no quibble, no bullshit, truly measurable. What is not taken into account though is that out of those 1.9M views a further 5% would have been forwarded on for additional views...Entertaining content which can be shared is the future...
Ah, the short-sightedness of being UK-centric... From Cadbury's point of view, Alistair, they're not bothered whether the downloads were actioned in the UK. Way down here in New Zealand, Cadbury is a leading confectionery brand and the Gorilla ad was aired here, too. I can certainly guarantee that at least one of the downloads wasn't from the UK, as I viewed it. Whether it delivers sales growth and builds the brand is a larger debate, however!
While I would never want to accuse anyone of "borrowing" ideas but I am sure we have seen this executed by a Japanese chap about 8 months ago? I have a link to the original version of this on my blog www.robjwingrove.wordpress.com. Have a look for yourself but it seems pretty identical to me..........
Comments
TESS ALPS - 16/02/2009
Would anyone like to write a post on Brand Republic saying that this brilliant ad has been seen 116m times on broadcast telly? Anyone?
Ben Bold - 16/02/2009
I think you just have Tess.
P T - 17/02/2009
i think the ad is pretty rubbish actually... every cadburys ad since the over hyped drum solo advert has had some rather large gorilla sized shoes to fill, and each one has failed miserably.
Clare Deans - 17/02/2009
Whether a fan of the ad or not - its got people talking, just like the gorilla did - which is an achievement in itself. My attention was first drawn to the ad through social media - mainly facebook status updates. By creating content that entertains rather than a traditional one way brand push, Cadbury seem have got it right again. And social media has been a key element. Have you seen the cadbury cream egg bus shelter ads? I love the fact that Cadbury continue to think differently.
Leo Ryan - 17/02/2009
Tess - I admire your stoic \(and seemingly omnipresent!) defense of TV - but I think this instance really highlights the difference - how are you counting those 116M and what were they doing when the ad was screened? The reason we're all getting excited by the 1.9M online views is they they are actually counted \(files requests made to a server - really actually technically counted and not estimated) and further they are requests to view - not broadcast to a possibly empty couch while I'm making a cup of tea.
Alistair Beattie - 17/02/2009
Simply getting people talking is not the role of advertising. We do not know what they are saying. "Have you seen the funny ad with the dancing eyebrows" is unlikely to do a great deal for the Cadbury brand. Building long lasting brand equity and driving absolute sales volume and relative market share are more important measures of effectiveness. We don't even know if the 4million viewers are in the UK. It would be really helpful if agencies stopped pushing these stories and even better if Brand Republic stopped releasing them without any critical commentary. I know, that would spoil all the fun.
James Newman - 17/02/2009
I agree. The beauty about this exercise is that it is 100%, no quibble, no bullshit, truly measurable. What is not taken into account though is that out of those 1.9M views a further 5% would have been forwarded on for additional views...Entertaining content which can be shared is the future...
Tim Lofts - 17/02/2009
Ah, the short-sightedness of being UK-centric... From Cadbury's point of view, Alistair, they're not bothered whether the downloads were actioned in the UK. Way down here in New Zealand, Cadbury is a leading confectionery brand and the Gorilla ad was aired here, too. I can certainly guarantee that at least one of the downloads wasn't from the UK, as I viewed it. Whether it delivers sales growth and builds the brand is a larger debate, however!
rob wingrove - 27/02/2009
While I would never want to accuse anyone of "borrowing" ideas but I am sure we have seen this executed by a Japanese chap about 8 months ago? I have a link to the original version of this on my blog www.robjwingrove.wordpress.com. Have a look for yourself but it seems pretty identical to me..........