We are told that all publicity is good publicity. Personally I think this is absolute rubbish. If the chief executive of Super Dooper plc was suddenly charged with being a paedophile, it would create massive puclicity for Super Dooper plc, but little of it would be good publicity. The same goes with adverts. Some great, some awful, but people say if you remember them they are good adverts. but do they sell any products.
I like, as a piece of art, the new Cadbury's adverts featuring the Phil Collins song "In the air tonight" being drummed to by a Gorill (see YouTube clip below), but is it actually a great advert in the sense of selling chocolate ?
The first few times I saw the advert I failed to remember it was a Cadbury's advert and instead thought it was promoting Phil Collins greatest hits. I know people who still think this, so from the angle of promoting Cadbury's, is it effective ?
Then there is the second promotional angle. Cadburys sell chocolate. This is their job, their function, the purpose. Now I am a chocoholic, I can eat chocolate until it virtually makes me sick, and then I eat more. However, I can honestly say I have not bought a bar of chocolate in three months. If if this advert has had no effect on me, what is it like for others ? Has this adverts seen Cadburys sell more chocolate ?
So as great a piece of work as it is, as great a piece of art as it is, is it a good advert in terms of selling the product. No, I don't think it is. However, compared to most of the TV shows that ITV show around the adverts, this advert is probably the best thing on ITV at the moment.
14 comments:
It isn't designed to directly get people to rush out and buy chocolate, it's meant to get people (you included) talking about Cadbury's and raising their profile ... and I'd say they've done well.
But you miss the point. Cadburys are a plc. They ahve to make profits, not have lots of people talking about them. People talking about the adverts does not make them any money.
I have not denied it is clever and a good productin, but as a means of selling chocolate, which is what Cadburys want us to do, I fail to see the point.
The one time I was opinion polled was about adverts. I was shown lots of stills of various adverts.
I could remember seeing them - I could name the product being advertised in 1 out of 10!
Presumably others performed better!
Somehow I don't think a career in Advertising is for you.
Yes I have. I'm getting chocolate all over the keys as I type.
Nich,
Advertising is about the image of the brand and a mark of a campaigns success is often a result of prompted and unprompted awareness of a brand.
Unprompted awareness, ie, what memorable adverts have you seen recently? I reckon alot of people would think about the Cadburys advert.
Although I have not bought any more Cadburys chocolate as a result of the campaign, If I were subject to a 'prompted' survey, ie, if I was standing in a shop in front of all the chocolates available, I might consider Cadbury's more because it's image appears 'cooler' and trendier than it did before, when compared to say Mars or Nestle (think about how Tango did the same years ago).
Obviously, the campaign is about changing it's image to appear more appealing rather than focussing on the product itself. I think it might have worked, depending of course, on their measures, and timescales for success.
But how many people remember it is a Cadburys advert ?
All that has happened has been that Phil Collins is back in the charts, and I am not sure that is always good.
Two for the price of one at my local Co-op has done more to get me buying it though! As soon as it was over I switched back to Co-op Fair Trade.
But I think it's a great advert.
A very Lib Dem post - ever the tactical, but ignoring the strategy :) I'm not sure what the aim of the commercial was, but by whatever benchmark you use it's been a massive success.
There are two main things that I think Cadbury might have been going for:
1. Share of eye. Basically getting all over the media without paying for most of it - as they've done. They must have 10-100 times as much publicity as they've paid for. It's also meant that Cadbury are inconceivably far ahead specifically compared to major competitors.
2. Brand. Cadbury felt a bit tired, slightly out-dated. The advert will have massively increased unprompted brand awareness (as mentioned), will have made the brand values & associated terms somewhat more valuable (no more "eaten by old ladies in a retirement home) and will create a buzz in people's minds and in the media for when the "next step", if there is one, is gone to.
Advertising is just as much about brand positioning and just getting your name out there in lights as it is to directly stimulate additional purchases.
Without revealing too much insider information, I can confirm that sales of "CDM" (as we call it) are up :)
No I haven't. And I blogged the video long before you :-)
But as others say, it is about brand positioning. And I believe is the first in a series.
It doesn't matter if it has not turned over a single unit. The long term strategy will position Cadbury's in a new place in peoples minds.
People seem to think I am attacking the ad. I am not. I am pleased Cadbury sales are up. A great British company doing well.
i am a student: for my coursework i am working on this advertisement and needless to say some research was in order as it does have a pritty ambiguous target audience. from the first time i watched the advertisement i gathered that Cadburys has done away with pervious conventions and conciets it has used in other advertisements. simply becuase... they no longer need to convince people of the quality of their product as Cadburys is already a very well established company and all they need to do is create a gimmick that will stick in the consumers head and yes i have researche extensively and found that in fact Cadburys sales have increased by 10% since the release of the advertisement
i feel that though the ad doesnt make their chocolate look any better it gets you thinking about it....you think about their brand...you talk about their brand....this ad is in the us..im in india reading it...its made me think of their brand and now that im thinking of their product its upto the product to finish the work...out here cadburys is my personal favouite...now thinking of them i want to buy cadburys ....because the ad was good...i was in a good mood then...and then i associated the chocolate with it...its good advertising ...srry bout typos really tired zzzzzzz
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