ZEENAT MOORAD: Going ape for Cadbury
Cadbury’s parent, Mondelez International, is having to rethink its game plan to reach millennial consumers who are more into fresh foods and artisanal or niche brands
It’s not easy to forget the Cadbury Dairy Milk "Gorilla" TV commercial, in which a 200-pound primate smashes out a drum solo in Phil Collins’ 1981 hit, In the Air Tonight. It prompted an almost 10% rise in chocolate sales and cleaned up at numerous ad and design awards. Believe it or not, the ad was shot down by execs when London agency Fallon first presented it. Remember that the ad makes no mention of the product, it simply ends with the slogan: "A glass and a half full of joy". Four months of wangling and a few rounds of research later, it went viral. Out of interest, the gorilla costume was sourced from Stan Winston Studio in Hollywood — it appeared in the 1995 film Congo, loosely based on Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name. For effect, grey hairs were sewn onto the costume to give the gorilla a more thuggish look and, if you look carefully, you can see an accoutrement: a single gold tooth. Cadbury’s drumming gorilla was utterly compelling for the same reason many great a...
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