--- title: Cadbury “Gorilla” 2007: 90 seconds of joy and the recovery of a wounded brand | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/cadbury-gorilla-2007-ad/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/cadbury-gorilla-2007-ad/ --- - **Story:** In August 2007, Cadbury and Fallon launched a 90-second TV ad showing a gorilla drumming to Phil Collins's “In the Air Tonight.” No chocolate appeared. No functional claim was made. The ad reversed a multi-quarter Cadbury Dairy Milk sales decline, won the Cannes Lions Grand Prix in 2008, and is still cited 18 years later as the well-known example of emotional brand advertising in CPG. - **Why it matters:** The Gorilla ad is the high-water mark for emotional brand work in UK CPG. The execution produces an emotional state rather than describing one, which is the part most brands get wrong when they try to imitate it. - **Takeaway:** Emotional brand work pays back when the execution produces the emotion rather than depicting it. - **Takeaway:** Confidence to leave the product out is rare and powerful. Most brands feel forced to show their product. - **Takeaway:** The ad has to work even without the brand attached. Cadbury Gorilla does. ## Cadbury Gorilla — the four-step story S Situation Cadbury was losing share after the salmonella crisis By 2007, Cadbury Dairy Milk had lost UK share for several quarters. A 2006 salmonella contamination crisis had damaged trust. The brand needed an emotional reset. T Task Produce joy, don't describe it Fallon and Cadbury needed an ad that made audiences feel the brand position (a glass and a half full of joy) rather than telling them about it. A Action A gorilla, a Phil Collins song, no chocolate Director Juan Cabral shot a gorilla in a long sustained take, building to the drum break in Phil Collins's “In the Air Tonight.” No product. No tagline. Just the gorilla, the song, and a brief Cadbury logo at the end. R Result Sales recovered, Cannes Grand Prix, 18-year cultural footprint Cadbury Dairy Milk sales recovered and the brand regained UK share. The ad won the Cannes Lions Grand Prix in 2008 and multiple UK industry awards. It is still cited in marketing curricula 18 years later as the well-known example of emotional brand work. ## Cadbury Gorilla at a glance 0 Launch year August 31, 2007 UK broadcast Source: Fallon archive 0 sec Ad length Single sustained shot of the gorilla drumming Source: Fallon production 0 Cannes Lions Grand Prix Film category Grand Prix Source: Cannes Lions archive 0 Song licensed Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight” Source: Music licensing records 0 Chocolate bars shown No product appears in the ad Source: Fallon production records 0 Sales decline reversed Multi-quarter Dairy Milk decline turned around after launch Source: Cadbury reporting #### Quick facts BrandCadbury Dairy Milk (Mondelez International) AgencyFallon London DirectorJuan Cabral Gorilla performerGaron Michael (in a costume by Stan Winston Studio) First broadcastAugust 31, 2007 (UK, during Big Brother final) SoundtrackPhil Collins, “In the Air Tonight” (1981) Length90 seconds Major awards2008 Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix **Honest note** Reported sales lift figures for the Gorilla ad vary across retrospectives; specific Cadbury Dairy Milk sales growth is often cited at around 9 to 10 percent during the campaign window, though Cadbury did not publish a formal attribution study. The ad is widely credited with helping the brand recover trust after the 2006 salmonella recall, but the exact contribution is hard to isolate from broader Cadbury marketing activity that year. ## Where Cadbury was in 2006-2007 In summer 2006 Cadbury recalled more than one million chocolate bars in the UK after a salmonella outbreak was traced back to a leak in a pipe at the Marlbrook plant. The Health Protection Agency linked the contamination to dozens of confirmed illnesses. Cadbury was later fined one million pounds by Birmingham Crown Court in 2007 for breaching food-hygiene regulations. The recall and the prosecution were the worst trust hit Cadbury had faced in decades. Cadbury and its incumbent agency Fallon London needed a campaign that would do something Cadbury had not leaned on much in years — pure, broad, emotional brand work. The brief was deliberately open: produce a piece of advertising that would make people smile about Cadbury again. ## The ad itself The spot is 90 seconds long. A gorilla sits at a drum kit. The first 60 seconds are atmospheric: close-ups of the gorilla face and breathing as the intro of Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” plays. At 1:18 the gorilla performs the song iconic drum fill. The Cadbury logo and the line “A glass and a half full of joy” appear in the closing seconds. There is no product shot beyond the logo card. Juan Cabral directed. Garon Michael, an American performer with extensive ape-suit experience, played the gorilla in a Stan Winston Studio costume. Cadbury paid a significant music licensing fee for “In the Air Tonight” (Phil Collins himself was not involved in production). The ad first ran on UK TV on August 31, 2007 during the final of Big Brother — a slot Cadbury chose for mass-audience reach. ## What grew The campaign was a commercial success. Cadbury Dairy Milk sales rose meaningfully through the back half of 2007 (most retrospectives cite around 9-10 percent growth in the period, though Cadbury did not publish a formal attribution study). The ad won the Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix in 2008 and went on to be voted Britain favourite advert of all time in industry polls. Beyond the sales line, the ad reset the brand emotional position. Coverage at the time emphasised that Gorilla gave audiences a reason to associate Cadbury with feeling good again, breaking the silence around the recall. Phil Collins record-label re-released “In the Air Tonight” on the back of the campaign and it re-entered the UK Singles Chart. ## How RGM thinks about brand-recovery work When clients ask about recovering from a trust hit, “Gorilla” is the defining example of the do-not-apologize-change-the-conversation school. Cadbury ad does not mention the recall or address it directly. It just gives people 90 seconds of unambiguous joy and lets the audience associate the brand with that feeling. The pattern does not suit every recovery situation. When the underlying issue is product safety that has not been fixed, or when leadership is still in dispute about whether the company did anything wrong, an emotional-brand ad reads as deflection. Cadbury ad worked because the operational fix at Marlbrook had already happened, the prosecution had concluded, and the company was free to talk about something other than the recall. We tell clients to check the operational status of the underlying issue first — the brand work only works on top of a real fix. ## Frequently asked questions Did the ad really sell chocolate? Cadbury Dairy Milk sales recovered meaningfully during the campaign window and the brand regained share. Cadbury did not publish a formal attribution study, so a clean causal claim is hard, but contemporary press and trade coverage both treat the campaign as commercially successful. Was Phil Collins really involved? No. The song was licensed but Collins himself was not involved in the production. The licensing fee was significant and made up a real share of the ad budget. The campaign did drive a chart re-entry for the song. Who was actually inside the gorilla suit? American performer Garon Michael, who has extensive ape-suit experience including work in Hollywood films. The costume was built by Stan Winston Studio in Los Angeles. How does Cadbury parent company structure factor in? At the time of the ad Cadbury was an independent UK plc (Cadbury Schweppes, which spun off its drinks business in 2008 to become Cadbury plc). Kraft Foods acquired Cadbury in 2010; the brand is now part of Mondelez International, which was created when Kraft Foods split in 2012. ### Sources & references - [Gorilla (advertisement) (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_(advertisement)) — Aggregated reference with the August 31 2007 first broadcast date, Juan Cabral director credit, Garon Michael as the gorilla performer, and chart/award details. - [Cadbury drumming gorilla retrospective (The Drum)](https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/06/14/world-s-best-ads-ever-14-the-cadbury-drumming-gorilla-almost-never-aired) — Industry retrospective with production and approval-process detail. - [Cadbury fined over salmonella scare (BBC News, July 16 2007)](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/6900673.stm) — BBC coverage of the 2007 Birmingham Crown Court verdict and one million pound fine. - [Cannes Lions Archive (2008 Film Grand Prix)](https://www.canneslions.com/inspiration/cannes-lions-archive) — Cannes Lions archive listing for the 2008 Film Grand Prix. ## Related [#### All case studies The full case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### Dove Real Beauty Another long-running emotional-brand campaign.](/learn/case-studies/dove-real-beauty-campaign/)[#### Old Spice 2010 Mass-cultural moment built on an unexpected character.](/learn/case-studies/old-spice-man-your-man-could-smell-like/)