Cadbury's CEO Todd Stitzer has said that the monkey ad (see my easrlier posts) has helped lift yearly sales.

One comment that Todd makes is that the viral campaigns have helped engage with a younger audience. I totally agree with that. He also says that TV advertising suits 35+. I would disagree with that. All age groups are now well represented online.

The report in the Times also mentions that they are commissioning another ad from the agency that produced it. My advice. Don't bother. The chances or scoring so well again will be hard. With over 100 'mash-up' versions of the original ad why not take the money being paid to the agency and have them come up with a viral competition. The best ideas are showcased on a Cadbury web site and the winner (chosen by the public) gets to work with the agency to produce it as a TV ad. Now that would really engage people! 

As reported in Digital Bulletin Cadbury’s is supporting the re-launch of Wispa with a microsite, online campaign and user generated media.

Cadbury’s faced a concerted campaign from Facebook Groups amongst others as reported in the Guardian Unlimited.

Thanks to Digital Bulletin for the news that the Cadbury Gorilla ad had reached 500,000 views on YouTube. What I also noticed was that the campaign costs a cool £6.2m. I expect a large amount of that was spent on media (after Mr Collins took his share of course).

I personally did not know it had been on TV. A friend e-mailed me the YouTube link and I posted about it on my blog earlier. The cost of getting those 500,000 views on YouTube will have been virtually zero as it will mainly have been done by word-of-mouth. If I was the marketing director at Cadbury's I would be wondering about the budget spend on broadcast media versus what not spent on social media. Just what was the response to the TV spots? Without a direct response mechanism I guess they will never really know. If they do and brand recall surveys will they ignore any online media exposure.

Maybe in the big scheme of things it does not matter. Maybe integrating online and offline is best anyway. But a part of me would still want to know. Just like in the early days of direct and then e-mail it maybe prudent to take part of the budget to support social media activity.

If I was Cadbury's I would run a mash-up competition. This is what we did - now show us yours. I would also look at the releasing a 'making of the ad' showing make up, camara shots etc. (OK - showing my a/v geek side). What sort of casting process did they use? Did they ask the actors to bring their own gorilla suits? What were the auditions like? This could become a series. Bit late for viewers to vote on their favourite gorilla. Shame. This could run and run...

Notice that the article refers to 200+ people on Gorilla Facebook group but look at the comments and you will see someone says it is nearer 9,000. Wow!

This one will win an award and you should check up how many mash-ups exist on YouTube already....

Viral marketing at its best.