GORILLA FEVER HITS NEW ZEALAND
The 2008 Cannes Grand Prix television commercial that became an online phenomenon and achieved cult status in the UK hit New Zealand television screens this week, with a similar response expected from Kiwis.
The Cadbury ‘Gorilla’ spot is one of the most viewed ads on YouTube, with 2.3m views to date, and over five million online views through video sharing webhosts. It also spawned 70 Facebook groups with more than 50,000 members, as well as catapulting In the air tonight back into the UK top twenty singles chart.
Mark Callaghan, Managing Director for Cadbury Australia and New Zealand says he is excited about bringing ‘Gorilla’ to New Zealanders after it brought joy to millions in the UK. “Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate is synonymous with the joyful things in life, and Cadbury Dairy Milk’s ‘Gorilla’ has made a nation smile already, so we’re looking forward to Kiwis getting a real kick out of the ad as well,�? Mark said. He added that Kiwis also need to be on the look out for “gorilla tactics�? over the next two months, “as the hairy creatures may be popping up in some unlikely places…”
The authenticity of the extremely realistic gorilla became the subject of much debate on internet blogging sites during the height of the campaign in the UK. The Cadbury Dairy Milk Gorilla is actually actor Garon Michael who played a great ape in the films Congo, Instinct, and Planet of the apes, while the suit was created by Academy Award-winning special effects artists from Stan Winston Studios, who have created suits and monsters of Aliens, Terminator, Predator and Jurassic Park fame.
Cadbury Gorilla will run from June 29 through to September on TVNZ, TV3 and C4.
22 Comments
Hope the Gorilla never gets a hold of the Pink Batts guy…
This ad is a big pile of Gorilla poo.
It has no relevance to the product whatsoever. A random piece of entertainment with a packshot of the logo tacked on at the end.
It won at Cannes did it?
So I guess this idea would’ve won at Cannes too:
We open on a hot women in a g-string. The camera pans up revealing her perfect breasts. She removes g-string and begins pleasuring herself.
Some 20 seconds later, she appears to climax.
Insert packshot of logo for bank/softdrink/car/energy drink/shoes here.
*** ends ***
See where you’re heading. Might give him a banana you think.
You from DDB 1.26? Guess you’re behind the Pink Batts man who got shafted by the Gorilla. The ad that is. C’mon. Suck it in. Don’t be a sore loser.
Thanks for your insight 1:26.
Now, shouldn’t you get back to those urgent supermarket wobblers?
The drumming is out of sync. It really annoys me. A monkey could have done better.
I couldn’t have drummed and better though.
I would have accidently let go of the stick or stuck it into my eye.
I don’t mind this ad – and even think on a good day it should win some awards…. but come on! A black pencil for a monkey drumming for Dairy Milk! Grand Prix! Come on people! This is the worst case of emperor’s new clothes I’ve seen. Let’s say it wasn’t done by Fallon London but by Y&R Helsinki; would it have even been shortlisted? This ad is good but not revolutionary. I agree with 1:26pm. Creatives will look back at this ad in 50 years time and laugh at it – not with it. Biggest bunch of awarded arse since that stoopid Spiderman spaghetti print ad out of Leos London.
Hmmm, don’t think the client gets it.
1:26pm here.
5:55pm,5:49pm – please explain the core idea of the Cadbury Gorilla spot.
What has DDB got to do with this? When you’ve stopped being a dick, let’s debate the work.
You want me to be positive? Okay, it’s great that a big client like Cadbury’s are open something different.
But there’s no idea in this. It’s a throwaway You tube clip.
If this is the future of advertising then why don’t they just sack us all and replace us with 15 year-old You Tube junkies.
I await your explanation of the core idea 5:55pm,5:49pm. In fact, I’ll even help you, here goes
THE CORE IDEA IN THE CADBURY’S GORILLA SPOT IS ……………………….
C’mon, I’m waiting.
From Dave Trott.
“Gorilla was a brilliant integrated strategy, it wasn’t just a commercial.
The real star was the PR in the daily papers, that made everyone go to YouTube (millions more watched it there than ever saw in on TV).
People then either talked about it or passed it on.
And it’s all free.
Then the sales force can sell that phenomena into the CTNs.
You have a massive increase in facings at POS, so many more sales.
Classic ‘push’ versus ‘pull’ strategy.
But an integrated TV/pr/digital/ sales-force campaign.
Not just a TV ad.”
The future it may me too… “advertainment”.
Cause lets not fool ourselves. The public can see through our ‘clever strategies’. So lets give them something funny, or clever, and put our logo on it.
The internet may just save brand ads.
And never forget, advertisers are the punters, not the viewers.
Like it or not this ad should be a beacon.
the core idea in the gorilla spot is: chocolate makes you happy.
chocolate makes you happy, so they made ads that make you happy. just like the chocolate does.
that’s the core idea.
whether or not it’s good is debatable, but, in the words of cadbury’s own ceo (in the UK i think), it did help their share price, lift morale of thousands of cadbury’s staff after a round of lay-offs and turn their image around after some of their products were found with salmonella. no time to find the article, but there will be one online with the exact quote.
and even if we do all think it’s crap, it seems to have done what an ad is meant to do.
you could argue that it’s an anomaly, but given it’s from the maker of successful sony ads and tate gallery ads (that were not a scam and actually got people going to the gallery), it would seem not.
1:26, 5:55 here.
I’m no rocket scientist, but I’m pretty sure the core idea is: a glass and a half full of joy.
But then again, what do I know.
I probably would’ve just done the same as you and translated this into English then gone to lunch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H10V5_neQrA
Hi, I’m a thirty year old youtube junkie. Can I be a team by myself then?
I like the gorilla, its where this game is going and I like it. Of course being able to sell it and getting a shitload of budget is another thing.
1.26 IS from DDB
Here you go 1.26. THE CORE IDEA IN THE CADBURY GORILLA AD IS:
A creative conept that genuinely engages consumers. Now that’s an orginal idea in this day and age. An ad that consumers actually love.
What else did the judges have to pick from anyway? From what I can tell, just a pile of self-promoting shitty scam ads that got run some time in the middle of the night on some free-to-advertise channel so that the CD who authorised the crap could say he won more awards than another CD.
A no brainer to me. The Cadbury ad is a REAL ad. If you can’t see that, maybe it’s because you’re too busy making scam for the rest of the industry to look at instead of the consumers our clients actually pay us to reach.
1.26. You know nothing.
1:26 here.
6:47pm is a bitter catalogue writer on Prozac cuddling a bottle of Jim Beam. His Y-fronts are soiled and he had a wierd crush on Maggie Thatcher in the early 80s.
So the core idea is that it makes you happy? I don’t buy it. It’s a gorilla bashing some drums. It’s a YouTube hero piece with a logo on the end. Advertainment, as someone said.
With the net, YouTube etc enabling punters to make so much noise about a brand to their mates then advertainment appears to be, rightly or wrongly, a trendy option agencies will seriously consider for the next year or two.
Once the dust has settled on advertainment (expect some really bad stuff to land in your inbox in the next two years) and ad agencies begin to disgrace this questionable genre) people in the industry and clients will begin writing columns in the trade press crying out for a return of advertising that has ideas in it.
Creative like the The Carlton Draught Big Ad, for me, is the ultimate benchmark; great strategy, brilliant idea and an execution so inspiring it made you want to run outside and high-five some homeless bloke. It was a real ad and it entertained and enthralled punters who excitedly told their mates about down at the pub. Probably while they had cold Carlton Draught in their left hand.
Jeez 12.59. You’re a bit fookin old to be in advertising aren’t you? Everyon else is 12.
More gorilla poo on you 1.26. This time all over your face.
I agree – good you tube clip but that’s it. lucky their tagline is so generic you can match anything to it. i like the orgasm idea as a sequel…that makes you happy. unlike they guy with throat cancer who is always on tv when i’m trying to eat a meal.
it’s weird and creepy and makes no sense.