Hunt the White Creme Egg
Mondelez
Issue 53 | December 2019
Agency
ELVIS
Creative Team
Managing Partner, Creative: Neale Horrigan Associate Creative Directors: Rob Griffiths, James Hudson Design Director: Chris Dorn Designer: Beth Stanbridge
Production Team
Creative Producer: Alexander Warren Tech Lead: Jason Garfield Motion Designer: Joshua Rodrigues
Other Credits
Planning Director: Camilla Yates Managing Partner: Caroline Davison Senior Account Manager: Claire Smith
Date
January – April 2019
Background
Cadbury’s Creme Eggs were only on the shelves for four months of the year, around the Easter period. Generating sales rapidly was crucial. The idea of a Creme Egg Hunting Season had originated in 2017. In 2019 the challenge was to continue the theme but reach an audience that was increasingly adept at avoiding ads.
Idea
A new, limited edition White Creme Egg was created for brand fans to hunt.
In a unique series of partnerships, the idea was to work with other advertisers to create the ultimate ‘Easter eggs’. Creme Eggs were hidden in the ads of other brands, thus getting the nation to stop skipping and start hunting.
Unilever, Heinz, Google, Honda and Benefit, among others hid eggs in their advertising.
Their ads became Cadbury ads.
When people found a Creme Egg, they had to snap it and upload the picture at HuntTheWhiteCremeEgg.com, where they could unwrap the egg to discover whether they’d won a milk chocolate Creme Egg or a rare White Creme Egg. They also had the chance to win £10,000.
Results
In total 42 eggs were hidden and were found a massive 760,000 times.
88% of all UK adults were reached (92% of 16-34s) at least five times each. That reach and frequency resulted in 15.7 million completed video views across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and a huge 35% VTR rate on skippable YouTube ads. Not bad considering 90% of people usually skip this type of ad.
Most importantly, sales increased by 9.9%, all the more significant considering that Creme Egg is already the UK’s biggest Easter brand.
Our Thoughts
You can follow the creative path relatively easily here. Let’s turn Easter eggs into Easter eggs! But compare and contrast with the New Zealand Lotto work on pages 76-77, where clues for a cash prize were also hidden in an ad. What is more startling about this idea is how Cadbury’s have infiltrated other brands’ ads. The incentive for Honda, Google, Unilever et al was that Cadbury’s were enticing people to avoid skipping, scrolling, fast-forwarding or just plain ignoring their own ads. In other words, they were getting additional value from their own campaigns. How neat is that? Everyone’s a winner including one lucky punter, who got to be £10,000 richer.