Cadbury Trucks

Discuss.
Here's my take. If there is any future left in the film medium and traditional advertising, I hope that at least it will be used to make me feel something.
I hate advertising that lures me with fake promises, or speaks to me in a condescending way, or patronizes me.
I hate advertising that wastes my time, or is just plain irrelevant. But I have no problem with something that moves me, that really makes me feel something.This clip makes me feel (a minute and a half of) exhilaration and joy, in a way that only something like this can. That's what Gorilla did, and this does it too.(Maybe it's the music ;)

Comments

[Andy]

On a conceptual level I love it. But when it came on TV last night I was really underwhelmed - verging on bored.
And I'm not one of those people that was hoping it would be bad just to knock the agency of the moment. I wanted to like it.

I think the main reason I felt nothing was because the 'characters' had no character. Maybe it's because I'm a Pixar fan. Maybe it's because I'm not sophisticated enough to enjoy Cadbury's. But it does very little for me.

[Lee McEwan]

I'm with Andy. Conceptually interesting but incomplete.

[Dino]

Great points Andy, I agree with you too.

I think this probably works better on a blog post then when encountering it on television, and even then I can see what you're saying.

[Andy]

Incidentally, after skimming briefly through the 93(!) comments about this on Scamp's site, it feels nice and peaceful discussing it elsewhere.
I picture us sitting round drinking coffee. I imagine the conversation over at Scamp's being like a TRL crowd down below the window going mental.

[Eamon]

'If there is any future left in the film medium and traditional advertising' - I think the film medium and traditional advertising have a stronger future than some (i.e often digital people) suggest.
Your Gorilla viral is a good example of this.

Yes 'brand utility' is going to become more important but the word 'utility' has something rather dull about it - and will widgets and so on not become a bit ten-a-penny (don't some people take 'brand utility' a bit too seriously: they take advertising a bit too seriously, perhaps - i.e most brand audiences do not). At the end of the day there will always be a call / demand for Sony Bravia type ads, as well as surreal / humorous ads, and so on (become we are human beings not robots and we like people / ads making us laugh - that entertain us in some way - that make us sit up and think about something.
Are brands such as Guinness going to go all brand utility (I think it would be a bit of a disaster if they did: I mean Guinness's brand values go against the idea of brand utility).

And then there are all the recent car ads (how utilitarian is a car in reality: pretty much - about getting from A to B) that are all about the experience (we actually have a car ad about making a car out of a cake to the Sound of Music) of the car is like (as opposed to focussing on technology). And then there are all the great non-utilitarian ads of the past for utility products (i.e Nick Park's Creature Comforts).

Whoops .. I'm going on a bit now .. Anyway, my point: yes, 'brand utility' is going to be ever more important but not as important as some make out (not you, of course, other ..).

Interesting and useful blog this!