The original Cadbury Gorilla ad was not my favourite ad in the world – the type of TVC I don’t really like, which is in essence a branded short film.
How it links to the product or brand, I’m not really sure. Maybe I’m just a bit cynical, but I’m not a huge fan of these surrealistic brand TVCs. Give me a good creative call to action any day.
Now, in the aftermath of the Sound Relief Concert, and John Farnham’s duet with Chris Martin, Cadbury have paid a lot of money to Sony Music and the English songwriters of “You’re the Voice”: Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson, to synchronise “You’re the Voice” to the same “Gorilla” TVC.
Here it is.
I actually liked the TVC when it was using the Phil Collins “In The Air Tonight” track – a/ the music and the chimps movements actually synched, b/ that track was an iconic drumming track cos Collins was actually, um, a drummer, and c/ the physicality of the chimp actually builds with the track so when his part kicks in in has some “that’s cool” impact.
The You’re The Voice idea is just opportunistic and undermines what was originally clever
I hated the Farnham version of this ad. What a disaster.
At least the production team could have slightly sped up the vision of slowed down the music to synchronise the vision and sound. It just looked underdone.
The backlash has generated more publicity for the brand which may be perceived as a good result by the agency or the brand, however most comments I’ve heard have been negative.
If I was their agency and produced the ad I’d be embarrassed.
If we even needed an Australian version, It may have been more engaging to see a Koala behind the drum kit if he was going to play to Farnham.