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20.2.08

Chocs, chimps and Web2.0

Now here’s a funny thing…
A year ago, Cadbury's UK chocolate business was in the shit but according to a recent article in The Guardian by Simon Bowers they turned it all around thanks to a gorilla, a drum kit, Phil Collins and Web2.0. Okay…
Knackered by a salmonella-related product recall that had wiped £30m off sales, which also provoked a £1m fine that damaged the group's reputation the company has come out the other end smelling rather sweet! Thanks to an ad campaign that required an actor to dress up in a gorilla suit and drum along to Phil Collins' 1981 hit Coming In The Air Tonight – the company is thriving.
The resulting television campaign boosted sales of Dairy Milk by 9% from when it first aired in September, and helped Cadbury's UK market share in chocolate to enjoy a strong bounce back.
CEO Todd Stitzer gets it but doesn’t get it. He said recently: "For the Chinese, 2007 was the year of the pig. For Cadbury, it was the year of the gorilla… I am a 55-year-old person who has lived through a different advertising experience ... In the end, I trusted in the young and talented people who came up with the idea."
Not only did the ad work well on traditional media - television and posters in particular - it also set a new standard in the viral world, becoming an internet phenomenon. On Facebook there are more than 70,000 people signed up to about 100 Cadbury gorilla-inspired groups. "Why you would want to join one of these, I don't know," Stitzer said, "but 70,000 people do." Of course they do!
The gorilla clip has become the most watched commercial ever on YouTube, spawning a string of spoofs.
For me the trick is how do we do it for GREEN’s smaller clients. Any ideas?