Trucks & Chocolate...

Well here is the inevitable post about the latest TV spot for Cadbury. I say inevitable because following on from the hype that surrounded the ad with the gorilla in it, this was always going to be Hype II - When The Hype Gets Serious. And here we are. Let's just say right off the bat that this a well crafted piece with great music - GREAT music. However, when the hype has died down within 'ad-land' is this any more than just another one of those hundreds of ads out there that entertain, then tack the product on at the end? OK so we're told that this is about joy and the pleasure that comes from eating the product, which all sounds like it makes sense. But it is a big gap that they are expecting the consumer to bridge. What has been created is a piece of branded content, a sponsored film about the emotion of joy brought to you by a company that has decided that that's what its chocolate bar is all about. But is it a good piece of advertising? We don't think so. The product has no role to play in this moment of joy, apart from to sponsor it appearing on telly. Could you take away the product from this ad and the entertaining bit still make sense? Yes - and that's not a good thing. We always say here "if it was YOUR money, is this what you would do?" - if this was your chocolate bar that you had to shift, and your pennies being put into marketing to shift it - is this what you would say and how you would say it? And this doesn't pass that simple test for us.
Gorilla was a stand-out commercial. It stood out. People noticed it. But we always wondered if what people noticed was the film - the very different, funny, entertaining piece in front of them - did it make them think any differently about the product? Did it plant a seed that when they were next in the newsagent would be part of the reason why they reached for Brand X rather than Brand Y? A million billion youtube hits don't mean much if those people watching aren't being communicated to. There are statistics which show positive results since that spot - but these statistics don't seem in proportion to the hype surrounding the ad.
And this latest isn't any different to us.
We're still reaching for the Double Decker.
VIA Scamp & Rubbishcorp