Gorilla (advertisement) - Reception

Reception

The campaign was well received by the British public. The commercial was uploaded to video sharing website YouTube shortly after it first aired, and was viewed over 500,000 times in the first week. As of November 2007, it has been viewed over six million times across a large number of video sharing webhosts. 70 Facebook groups appreciating the ad have been set up, with one, named "We love the Cadbury's drumming gorilla", boasting 200 members. A number of spoofs and parodies were quickly uploaded by amateurs with the tacit approval of Cadbury, and the British branch of Wonderbra created and uploaded their own, Dan Cadan-directed version of the advertisement, replacing the gorilla with Wonderbra model (and musician) Jentina with the Cadbury strapline "A glass and half full of joy" being replaced with "Two cups full of joy." While Cadbury tacitly permitted limited display and modification of the commercial without authorisation, the Wonderbra spot was later removed from YouTube following notification from Phil Collins Limited that the piece infringed their copyright to "In The Air Tonight." Gorilla was further parodied as an introduction to the second half of the 2007 Children in Need special, with an actor dressed as Pudsey Bear taking the central role. British comedy series The Mighty Boosh features a drumming gorilla named Bollo, played by Dave Brown, and the actor appeared as Bollo in a viral video auditioning for the Cadbury advert to promote the third series of the show. This video was later included as an easter egg on the DVD release of series three.

There was much speculation when the advert first appeared on how it was made – whether the gorilla was real, animatronic, or a man in a suit. Many believed that Phil Collins himself was the drummer. When asked about Gorilla, Collins jokingly commented that "Not only is he a better drummer than me, he also has more hair. Can he sing too?" "In the Air Tonight" became a popular online download following its appearance in the commercial, reaching a chart position of 14 within the UK Singles Chart despite not being given a physical re-release, and becoming the third-most-downloaded track of the day on the iTunes Store.

Despite reservations that the campaign might prove too abstract and have little effect, Cadbury reported that sales of Dairy Milk had increased 9% from the same period in 2006. Measurements of public perception of the brand carried out by market research firm YouGov showed that 20% more people looked favourably on the brand in the period after the advert's general release than in the previous period. Spokesmen for the company have expressed amazement at the success of the campaign. Notwithstanding the fact that the spot was originally only broadcast online and within the United Kingdom, the commercial appeared in the news in many English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia, and plans were made for limited expansion of the campaign into these markets. From 23 June 2008, Gorilla was also broadcast in New Zealand with further marketing both on the Cadbury NZ website, and in shopping centres and supermarkets, with models and men in gorilla suits handing out samples of Dairy Milk chocolate.

The advertisement has won numerous awards, including the Epica d’Or for Film 2007, the Grand Cristal at Festival de la Publicité de Méribel, Gold at the British Television Advertising Awards 2008, Gold at the Advertising Creative Circle Awards 2008, Gold at the International ANDY Awards, Black and Yellow Pencils at the D&AD Awards 2008, Gold at the Clio Awards 2008, Bronze at the One Show 2008, the FAB Award 2008, Gold at the Fair Go Ad Awards 2008, and the Film Grand Prix Lion at Cannes Lions 2008, widely considered the most prestigious prize within the advertising community.

VH1 Classic UK also made an ident which shows a man play "In The Air Tonight", and when the famous drum solo comes on, he holds a pair of drumsticks and bangs the pillows in front of him in the tune of the drum solo.