Ever wondered how the big brands of South Africa go about making their ads? You know, the ones you see on TV and can’t help but smile at because they just melt your heart – the kind of ad that you remember for years down the line? Well the latest Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate ad is just that. Recently on eNCA’s Maggs on Media, I witnessed them go behind the scenes of this delectable brand’s campaign.
The latest ad entitled ‘Triplets’ is part of Cadbury’s new Free The Joy campaign – which I can only imagine was intended to engage Cadbury’s female target market. Put together by the creative geniuses at Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg, the team was apparently given just a one page brief and told that the brand needed to capture “irresistible joy” – the same joy that countless South Africans know all too well from nomming on their little slab of indulgence. You’ve probably seen the ad by now (like a gazillion times, plus-minus). Ogilvy built the story around three unborn bundles of joy, bobbing around in the womb to the melodic sounds of Joy (We Are Family) by South African acapella group, The Soil. And it’s the kind of tune you just can’t help but lose yourself in for the next 31 seconds as the mother sits on the bus and indulges in her Cadbury slab (is that even healthy for those kids? just saying …).
The ad aims to tap into a rather simple yet strong insight that South Africans are inherently a joyful people with much love and happiness within every fellow stranger you meet.
Adrian De Sa Garces of Velocity Films who directed the advert said, “When The Soil performs the song, you can feel their passion and a rich sense of joy – we wanted this to come through in our TV ad. South Africans have not seen animation of this quality and much attention was given so that the most realistic and beautiful expression of ‘joy’ and real life through animation could be created through the triplets.”
In fact, the group’s body movements and facial expressions were captured through motion-capture-suits and transposed onto the animated babies. South Africans truly haven’t seen ad animation of this level before. Even I had to look twice to realise that although very life-like, there’s no way you can boogie like that before being potty trained!
You can check out the live performance below by The Soil. They really are a joyful delight. This is certainly a brand that makes me dance. Literally.
If you haven’t already seen the integrated marketing communications at work all over SA’s shops, you soon will. The campaign is supported by in-store displays nationwide, outdoor billboards as well as digital and a public relations campaign.
the Brand Dr. 