← Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
The Willy Wonka Secret: Candy Bar Advertising
00:27:17
This week, we look at candy bar advertising. Millions are spent marketing candy bars every year. We'll talk about how the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was owned by a candy company.…
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- [00:02]
Terry O'Reilly
Did you know that if you subscribe to our But Wait, There's More option, you get a bonus story in every episode of under the Influence. But Wait, There's More. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you get early access so you hear every episode a full week before everybody else. Plus you enjoy that episode ad free. Tsk tsk. And by subscribing, you support our podcast. Just go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe to under the Influences. But Wait, There's More.
- [00:40]
Commercial Voice
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- [01:10]
Verizon Voice
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- [01:40]
Terry O'Reilly
When you're a forward thinker, the only thing you're afraid of is business as usual. Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people and money today so so you can transform tomorrow. Workday moving business forever forward. This is an apostrophe podcast production. You're soaking in it. Your teeth look whiter than no what's you're not you when you're hungry, you're.
- [02:29]
Commercial Voice
In good hands with hungry.
- [02:37]
Terry O'Reilly
You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. When writer Roald Doll was a young schoolboy in England, he lived near a Cadbury chocolate factory. Every once in a while, Cadbury would come up with a new chocolate concoction and give out free samples to the kids to see if they liked them. That memory stayed with Dahl, and Years later, in 1964, he published a book titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Seven years later that book was adapted into a movie. It was titled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. So why was the title changed? Well, that's a very interesting question. If you've ever watched Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory, you may have missed this line. In the opening credits. In small type, it says the movie's copyright is held by Wolper Pictures Limited and the Quaker Oats Company. Now why would a food company own the copyright to a Hollywood movie? Well, it all started with the director's 11 year old daughter. She had read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and loved it and asked her daddy to make a movie out of it. The director wasn't sure, so he passed the idea by producer David Wolper. Timing is everything. At that moment, Wolper was doing a project for Quaker Oats and he knew Quaker wanted to get into the candy business. So Wolpert told Quaker Oats it should fund the movie. The plot revolved around Wonka candy bars. And since the film would run in theaters across the country, Quaker could launch their candy bars at the same time. Plus the company would earn part of the movie's profits. Quaker Oats liked the concept and put up the full $3 million production budget. But the company had one stipulation. Quaker insisted the title be changed. It wanted to start manufacturing Willy Wonka branded candies and candy bars. So they wanted the title changed from Charlie in the Chocolate Factory to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Paramount Studios and Walper agreed to the change. Roald Dahl wasn't happy. Gene Wilder was cast as Willy Wonka. Dahl had wanted Spike Milligan. It also became a musical, which Dahl also disliked. One of the main songs in the movie was the Candyman. Singer Sammy Davis Jr. Was down on his luck in the early 70s, needed some money and his manager convinced him to cover the Candyman. Sammy hated the song, banged off two quick takes and said, this record is going straight into the toilet. Not just around the rim, but into the bowl and it may just pull my whole career down. With would turn out to be his only number one hit. Meanwhile, Quaker Oats was having problems with its Willy Wonka candy bars. As it turned out, Quaker couldn't get the recipe right for its Willy Wonka candy. It kept melting even in cool temperatures. They eventually pulled the candy from the shelves. Therefore, their promotional investment in the movie was all for nothing. The movie got some good reviews but did poorly at the box office. So Quaker's dreams of big profits also evaporated. The film languished unseen for six years. When the rights lapsed in 1977. Paramount declined to renew Quaker Oats had no use for the movie either, and unloaded the rights to Warner Brothers for $500,000. But the 1980s saw the rise of the VCR, and video rentals of Willy Wonka suddenly flew out of Blockbuster stores. The movie that Roald Dahl disowned, the movie that didn't make a profit, the movie that Paramount didn't want and Quaker didn't need, ended up becoming a cult Class Candy bars have a classic place in the world of marketing too. It's a huge category where hundreds of millions of marketing dollars are spent every year. It may surprise you to know your favorite candy bar is almost a century old. And the candy bar category is also a very creative advertising category. From gorillas to violins to sex, candy bar commercials come in a lot of surprising FL you're under the influence. I often talk about industries that spend the most money on advertising, like the automotive sector and the insurance business. But there's another big spender the candy bar industry. To begin with, most of your favorite bars have been around for a century. And while you may not give much thought to candy bars, here are some interesting stats. Canadian households spend close to $90 on candy bars every year. Quebec spends the least, Newfoundland and Labrador the most. Total sales of chocolate related products in Canada is around $4.6 billion. The average American eats three bars per week, but it's the Swiss who eat the most chocolate, averaging 25 pounds per person per year. The most popular time of day to eat chocolate is in the evening. Can you guess the biggest day for chocolate sales? November 1st. The day after Halloween when candy is heavily discounted. The global chocolate industry is worth US$127.9 billion. It is estimated to grow to 265 billion by 2028. You can see why there is so much marketing because the growth is expected to more than double. There have been many terrific candy bar advertising campaigns over the years. It's one of those products that invites a lot of creativity. Probably the best candy bar advertising I've seen in quite some time is the Snickers you're not you and you're hungry campaign. I told a bit of the backstory a few years ago, but I went to hear the Snickers worldwide marketing director talk about the campaign at a marketing event called the Gathering Summit in Banff, Alberta. Here's what he had to say. First of all, Snickers was invented 93 years ago, but back in 2009, Snickers was losing market share. It was in seventh place worldwide. Kit Kat was about to become the number one candy bar brand globally. The problem with Snickers marketing was that it had become too niche. The British campaign, for example, targeted skateboarders only. And every country was doing something different. There was no consistency and no big idea. So the Snickers marketing director asked himself a very insightful. How do you stay brave when you get big? Many companies get scared when they get big. They tend to circle the wagons and avoid risk. Their work becomes derivative, not innovative. So they retreat and repeat. That mindset infects their marketing. And Snickers needed an infusion of creativity. So the marketing director told his advertising agency that Snickers was changing its ambition. He wasn't interested in moving up to the number six spot. He wanted Snickers to be the number one candy bar brand in the world. That's a big, hairy ambition. But that statement told the advertising agency that Snickers wanted a big hairy idea. The ad agency went away and came back with one. It was anchored with the theme line. You're not you when you're hungry. The first commercial starred an 88 year old Betty White playing tackle football. Mike, what is your deal, man? Oh, come on, man. You've been riding me all day. Mike, you're playing like Betty White out there. That's not what your girlfriend says. Eat his Snickers. Better. Better. It was an interesting insight. You're cranky when you're hungry. You're not you when you're hungry. Snickers satisfies. The commercial debuted in the 2010 Super bowl and the response was incredible. It was voted the best super bowl commercial of the past 25 years. After only three months, Snickers vaulted to the number one spot in North America. Sales increased by 15% because the youe're not you and you're hungry campaign idea was based on a universal human insight. It meant the idea would work around the world and was rolled out to 80 countries where it inspired endless creative executions. For example, in one country, all the radio stations switched formats. One morning, the country station started playing heavy metal, the classical station began playing hip hop, and the rock stations went classical. After an hour, they all stopped and apologized, saying, you're not you when you're hungry. Then the radio hosts took a bite of a Snickers bar and all the stations returned to their regular programming. In the uk, five celebrities started tweeting out of character. One day, for example, a football star started tweeting about knitting and a fashion model began tweeting about Kenzian economics that got more attention than the TV commercial. Snickers even changed its packaging, usually a faux pas in the candy bar category, and started putting words like whiny, ornery and grouchy on its wrappers in place of the usual Snickers logo. The beauty of the idea was that every market had the freedom to use its creativity while sticking to the basic strategy, giving Snickers consistency right around the world. You're not yout, when you're hungry added $500 million to the bottom line and Snickers is now the number one candy bar in which reminds me of another bar that brought sex to the candy aisle.
- [14:36]
Verizon Voice
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- [15:06]
Commercial Voice
If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial grade products and next day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [15:37]
Terry O'Reilly
In the summer. All of Oregon is our playground thanks to our incredible park system. That's why it's so cool that Oregon Lottery gameplay like video lottery or cash pop help support tons of parks projects statewide like accessible trails at Silver Falls State park or upgrades to your favorite dog park in Newburgh. It's just one way a little lottery play for many Oregonians can add up to a lot of good the Oregon Lottery Together we do good things. Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only. Must be 18 or older to play. Canada has done some very good candy bar commercials over the years. When I worked for an advertising agency called Campbell EWALD in the 80s, we had the Nielsen Dairy account and we created ads for candy bars like Jersey Milk and Krispy Krunch. We would have meetings at Nielsen's Chocolate Factory on Gladstone Avenue in Toronto. They would always give us a bag of fresh, warm Krispy Krunch bars when the meetings were done. Mm, mm, mm. Delicious. We all gained five pounds working on that account. Our ad agency also did work for Sweet Marie bars. The name Sweet Marie, by the way, was inspired by a love affair. In 1893, after an evening stroll through the streets of London, Ontario with his girlfriend Marie, a man named Cy Warman was so smitten, he sat down in a park and wrote a poem called Sweet Marie. It was later put to music. The Sweet Marie chocolate bar debuted in 1931 inspired by that song. Fast forward ahead 55 years. Sweet Marie had a problem. It gave teenage boys fewer bites than other similarly priced bars. And it simply wasn't cool to be seen eating a Sweet Marie in school hallways. So my colleagues Philippe Garneau and Howard Alstad created a commercial that brought coolness and a little sexiness to the problem. If you were watching Television back in 1986, you may remember it as it begins. We see a young, good looking classical musician in a tuxedo walking across a stage. He puts a violin on his shoulder and his bow strikes the strings. But this is what we hear. Then we see a striking blonde girl in a school uniform eating a Sweet Marie with a sassy, rebellious look on her face. She scrunches up the wrapper and flicks it at the camera. The theme line bite off more than you can chew. The commercial really didn't have a storyline. You had to insert your own story. But man, teenagers sure did. And that commercial took off. The girl in the ad personified Sweet Marie. Boys dreamed about her. Girls wanted to be her. Sexiness came to the candy bar category, and Sweet Marie sales jumped an astonishing 64%. While our advertising agency had a hit with Sweet Marie, we never hit it out of the park for Krispy Krunch. So Nielsen moved that account over to another ad agency called leo Burnett. In 1988, Krispy Krunch was already 60 years old. The candy bar had always been aimed at teenage boys. But when the new ad agency did its research, it discovered that Krispy Krunch was nobody's number one bar, but everybody's number two bar. The problem was teenage boys liked a big snack and Krispy Krunch, like Sweet Marie, didn't deliver. So the ad agency changed the strategy to target young adults instead. Late 20s males and females, the age when most adults are in relationships or recently married. Martin Schuchuk was the ad agency creative director and writer on the account. While thinking about that new target audience, he was inspired by this scene in the movie Diner. Where's that roast beef? Don't ask me this anymore, Mul. Dad? Yes? You gonna finish that? Yeah, I'm gonna finish it. I paid for it. I'm not gonna give it to you.
- [20:38]
Commercial Voice
If you're not gonna finish it.
- [20:39]
Terry O'Reilly
I would eat it. But if you're gonna eat it. What do you want? Say the words.
- [20:42]
Commercial Voice
No, go ahead.
- [20:42]
Terry O'Reilly
You're gonna eat it. You eat it. That's all right. Say the words. I want the roast beef sandwich. Say the and I'll give you a piece. It was exactly how Martin interacted with his wife around food. She ate slowly, savoring each bite. He wolfed his down and then always asked if she was gonna finish hers. That became the premise for a campaign that the bar is so delicious, you eat yours, then you want to eat somebody else's. The first commercial showed a young attractive couple in their apartment. The boyfriend is eating a Krispy Krunch and his girlfriend is eyeing the bar. No. Just one bite. No way. She playfully chases her boyfriend. They end up in the bedroom wrestling for the Krispy Krunch bar. There is some suggestive giggling. Sometimes the only thing as good as your Krispy Krunch is someone else's. Then a discarded Krispy Krunch wrapper hits the floor beside the bed. That ad led to what Martin said was an avalanche of complaints for its implied sexuality. And it was ordered off the air the very next day by the Canadian Advertising Standards Council. Fortunately, the ad agency had three other ads ready to go. Can I finish that? Oh, I haven't even started it. Just ask him. You want some? Well, if you're not gonna finish was the sexy chemistry between the on screen couple that struck a chord with viewers. The campaign became hugely popular with the late twenties target audience. Within six months, Krispy Krunch became the number one bar in Canada, up from eighth place. A remarkable leap. And it remained in the number one position for the eight year duration of the campaign. Back in 2007, Cadbury in Britain was at a low ebb. Less than a year before, the company had a salmonella issue that resulted in a 20 million pound product recall and and a 1 million pound fine. At that time, the whole candy bar industry had gotten very earnest in its advertising. Instead of having Willy Wonka Fun, Cadbury's new marketing director Phil Rumble wanted to change that Cadbury Dairy Milk maintained a strong association with milk. A longtime slogan was a glass and a half of full cream milk in every half pound. Rumble told his advertising agency he wanted a game changing commercial for their dairy milk bar. A commercial that said chocolate is all about joy. The ad agency came back with a highly unusual idea. They wanted to film a gorilla sitting at a drum kit, grooving to the Phil Collins hit song in the Air tonight. Rumble loved the idea. The commercial begins with the words, a glass and a half, full production. We see a gorilla sitting on a stool in front of a huge drum kit. Behind him is a purple wall the same color as a dairy milk wrapper. The camera starts slowly panning the gorilla. When the camera gets too close, the gorilla snarls, revealing one gold tooth. The gorilla does nothing but sit there for one full minute, just listening. He is clearly being transported by the music. He closes his eyes. His nostrils begin to flare. The gorilla is anticipating something like, he's been waiting for this moment. But we don't know what that something is until this happens. The gorilla comes alive and tears through the famous Phil Collins drum riff, then pounds the drums euphorically for the rest of the commercial. The ad ends with a graphic of a Cadbury Dairy milk bar and the line, a glass and a half full of joy. When the director of marketing showed the commercial to his bosses at Cadbury, they thought he was mad. They said, let's get this straight. The commercial is 90 seconds long, three times longer than a regular commercial. Nothing happens for 60 seconds. There's no chocolate in it, and it has no explicit message. Have we got that right? Rumble stood his ground. And remember, he had just joined the company. He said the commercial did have a message that Cadbury delivered. Joy, his superior, said, you are never airing this commercial. And that was that for six months. But Rumble persisted and persisted and never gave up. He played the ad for test audiences and the reaction was always incredible. Using that as ammunition, he finally persuaded Cadbury to air the guerrilla ad. It ran during the finale of the highly rated reality show big brother on August 31, 2007. The reaction was immediate. The ad became a cultural phenomenon. Britain was astounded by what they saw on their tallies. The commercial became the most watched Advertisement Ever on YouTube. YouTube at that time, racking up 6 million views. The commercial was talked about on news programs and all over the Internet. The ad was so well done, many people wondered if it was actually Phil Collins inside a gorilla suit, which, by the way, he denies it, won the top award. At the prestigious Cannes Advertising Festival. The ad spawned parodies including one from Wonder Bra, which showed a woman drumming to the same song wearing only a black bra with the words Two Cups Full of Joy in the air. Tonight went back on the charts in every market the ad was shown in. Phil Collins sent Cadbury a letter thanking them. But here's the important part. The guerrilla commercial halted the Cadbury sales decline and fueled a 10% increase in revenue. For every dollar Cadbury spent on the marketing, it got nearly $5 back, an astounding return on investment. Brand awareness jumped 20% and the chocolate company enjoyed record sales for the next two years. The commercial Cadbury didn't want to air. The commercial that had no chocolate in it turned out to be a staggering gorilla sized worldwide success. It is said the average person will consume 10,000 candy bars in a lifetime. That's a lot of treats. And that's why there's a lot of candy bar marketing. Every successful candy bar advertisement must contain at least two of the following three a creative selling idea, taste appeal, and an emotional connection to the brand. Snickers understands that it hangs its hat on the fact we all get hangry. Sweet Marie dialed up the sexiness and by doing so opened the door so Krispy Krunch could walk right through it. And the Cadbury Gorilla was the epitome of successful candy bar advertising because it made you feel joy when you watched it. A decade after the gorilla ad ran, it was voted the best commercial of the last 60 years by the British public. Most people don't remember any commercials the next day. Britain still remembers it 10 years later. Yes, it's just a candy bar. But candy bar advertising, like soft drinks, has little to say but lots to communicate when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the the Terrastream Mobile recording studio. Producer Debbie O'Reilly sound engineer Jeff Devine Research Abby Forsyth under the Influence Theme by Ari Posner and Ian Lefever Music provided by APM Music Follow me on Social errioinfluence this is season 12 of under the Influence. If you're enjoying this episode, you might also like even in the how packaging persuades you to buy season 4 episode 19. You'll find it in our archives wherever you listen to the show and you can now find our podcasts on the apostrophe YouTube channel. And if you think there are too many ads in a show about advertising, shame on you. You can listen ad free now on Amazon Music. See you next week. Fun fact, the song Candyman was used as a jingle in an M&M's commercial once.
- [30:40]
Commercial Voice
Except the words Candyman were changed to M&M's man.
- [30:45]
Terry O'Reilly
It was not good.
- [30:54]
Verizon Voice
Now at Verizon we have some big news for your peace of mind. For all our customers, existing and new, we're locking in low prices for three years guaranteed on MyPlan and MyHome. That's future you peace of mind and everyone can save on a brand new phone on MyPlan. When you trade in any phone from one of our top brands, that's new phone peace of mind. Because at Verizon, whether you're already a customer or you're just joining us, we got you. Visit Verizon today. Price guarantee applies to then current base monthly rate. Additional terms and conditions apply for all offers.
- [31:24]
Commercial Voice
If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial grade products and next day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [31:54]
Verizon Voice
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Terry O'Reilly
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- [32:11]
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Terry O'Reilly
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Terry O'Reilly
Brain a break from all the serious and important stuff. Whether we're deep diving a classic movie, dissecting the true meanings behind the newest slang, or dunking on our own listeners for their bad takes or cringy stories, we always approach our topics with humor and just a little bit of side eye. And we end every episode with recommendations on all the best new movies, books, TV shows or music. To find out more, just search up the Podcast with Knox and Jamie. Wherever you listen to podcasts and prepare to make Wednesday your new favorite day of the week.
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Terry O'Reilly
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