martes, 11 de septiembre de 2007

El viral del verano... en el Reino Unido




La agencia de publicidad Fallon ha creado para Cadbury´s este viral que aquí veis y que a la vista de los resultados, ha corrido como la pólvora.


Aquí os paso un interesante artículo al respecto de "The Guardian Media".

It's the start of a new ad term and a drum-playing gorilla has just gone superviral. Everywhere I turn, the new ad for Cadbury's Dairy Milk is being talked about, uploaded, blogged about, downloaded - and blow me down if they're not talking about it on Radio 1 right now as I type this sentence.

A quick flick through the comments on YouTube begins to tell you why it has caught on. "Dis adverts funni." "Best ad ever." "Nearly fell off the sofa." "Love this ad made me laugh proper bad hee hee." And it's true, if there's anything funnier than seeing someone getting too intense about something slightly ridiculous (eg a Phil Collins single), it's seeing some gorilla getting too intense about something slightly ridiculous (eg a Phil Collins single). The ad is deliciously long, which allows the timing of the joke to be comedy-perfect, and the performance of the gorilla is quite brilliant with its deft Method nostril-flaring.

It's a good comedy sketch that you can watch and rewatch, but that doesn't explain why it has gone superviral, drumming its way through the consciousness of the country almost independently of the media money Cadbury is spending on it. I think the answer to that lies in the fact that the ad is not just entertaining, it's also slightly baffling. Why a gorilla? Why the drums? Why a Phil Collins song? And why chocolate? Guessing why is a good game.

A culturologist might say that the ad is a message of forgotten quality. Despite the proliferation of new artists with hair who have swept through our charts in the past 20 years, mid-80s Phil Collins singles were uniquely and intensely great; despite the proliferation of impostor chocolate snacks that have swept through our newsagents in the past 20 years, Cadbury's Dairy Milk is still the timeless classic.

A sexologist would say that the ad is a message about sexual performance. Chocolate is, of course, an aphrodisiac and that Cadbury and its agency Fallon wanted to set their ad to any song that had the word "coming" in it. Having found the Phil Collins song they dressed the drummer up in a gorilla suit for extra virility bonus points.

A student of trends would point to a mash-up message. The ad is a perfect mix of many things: the murderous ape in 2001: A Space Odyssey, karaoke, Magic FM and the brilliant Not The Nine O'Clock News sketch in which a cultivated gorilla is asked whether he was wild when he was caught and replies "Wild? I was livid." And likewise, Cadbury's Dairy Milk is a perfect mix of many things such as cocoa and sugar and a glass and a half of milk.

A scientist would say that the ad contains a message about nutrition. Chocolate causes the release of endorphins and phenylethylamines and things like that which stimulate musicality and hair growth, hence a drumming ape.

An economist would say that Cadbury is sending out a message of financial focus. By opting for a relatively low-fi shoot featuring not a real gorilla (saving the cost of gorilla handlers and endangered animal insurance) or a CGI gorilla (saving the cost of special effects) but instead a man in a gorilla suit (saving the featured actor fees) means that Cadbury invests more money in its chocolate production, which is why it tastes better.

A comedian would say the ad is a message about timing. If you leave a joke punchline hanging for the right amount of time, it's funnier. If you leave chocolate to ferment or brew or whatever for the right amount of time, it's tastier.

Music fans might wonder, as various sites and Radio 1 have wondered, if Phil himself is playing the drums. I so hope it's true. If so, the ad is trying to say that within the gorilla suit, just like within the chocolate wrapper, lies the real thing.

Interpretations inschmerpretations you might say, but I don't think so. Cadbury and Fallon say that it's an incredibly simple ad that is designed to make you smile just as chocolate makes you smile, but if so that's one of the oldest ad ideas in the ad world - a piece of entertainment brought to you by (insert product name here) - and what they've produced is something way more compelling than that.

A funny sketch is something you consume pretty passively. You laugh at it, maybe send it to a friend and move on. But a funny sketch that's also a puzzle is something you interact with. You wonder privately or you speculate more publicly by passing it on with a theory or a comment that's daft or flip or as inventive as the ad, just as they did on Radio 1 just now. I think that's the ad's secret sauce, its extra half glass of milk if you like, and that's why it's bouncing round the country right now. It's really very clever and if Cadbury and Fallon planned it that way, they are the smartest client-agency combination in the UK right now. If they didn't, they are probably the luckiest

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