Playing with sporting sponsorship

Cadbury’s new ‘Spots versus Stripes’ ad campaign aims to engage with consumers and fight the stereotype that confectionery companies have no place in sponsoring sporting events. The fishy advert, which will officially launch on Saturday 7th August and created by the company’s Glass and A Half Full Productions studio and the Fallon agency, is the introduction to the company’s attempts to get the UK playing.

The ad features striped and spotted fish respectively, who are fighting hard for control of green seaweed balloons of rather indeterminate description with traditional Russian songs in the background before loosing out to ducks that take the last balloon above water. The initiative has been developed by Cadbury’s now departed marketing director Phil Rumbol, the man behind the chocolate maker’s enormously successful gorilla ad.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-s3auYdKo

“London 2012 will be the largest public event the UK has seen in our lifetime and in the run up to the Games people will be naturally thinking about coming together to show their support. However, we believe that, across the country, we have lost our community spirit, and we want to use our heritage in community engagement to reignite this. With Spots v Stripes we hope to create the biggest game the UK has ever seen,” comments Nick Bunker, president, Kraft Foods UK & Ireland.

Viewers will be urged to log onto a website to join a team and compete in any game they wish, from golf to tiddlywinks, building up national totals online for each side.

Cadbury will also be taking Spots v Stripes on a tour across the country, visiting Glasgow, Leeds, London, and Birmingham with a range of games from 21 August.

Well, at least Cadbury is facing up to the traditional criticism of confectionery and other companies in the food and drink sectors that has higher levels of fats or sugars and their sponsorships of sporting events.

Katrine Kjoeller,
Editor, Confectionery Production