What's so special about Cadbury's "Gorilla"?

Most of you are probably over Cannes, and I am too, except that I never got to muse (I mean rant) about the perplexing choice of Cadbury's "Gorilla", from Fallon London, as a Grand Prix winner for Film. According to this story, the Film jury picked it, among other reasons, because it "defies the conventions of the category," by not showing chocolate. True enough, I guess, but there's nothing particularly new about commercials that de-emphasize showing the product. The fact that in this case it was the confectionery category is merely an interesting aside. The jury chair, JWT worldwide chief creative officer Craig Davis of JWT, even went so far as to call the spot "courageous." In a commercial world already inundated with talking lizards and babies who trade stocks, what's so special about a gorilla who drums? It's not a bad commercial. It has great momentum, and a lot of amusing quirks, such as when the gorilla seems to be trying to work the kinds out of his neck, but at the end of the day, "Gorilla" is nothing more than a very well-crafted gimmick. Even in a tie--with T.A.G./McCann Worldgroup's much more deserving "Halo 3" campaign for xBox--it is in no way the best spot of the year.

Fallon's sequel to the Cadbury "Gorilla" spot

Here's the sequel, "Trucks," to last year's "Gorilla" ad for Cadbury. As with its predecessor, it features an unbeatable soundtrack: Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" which accompanies the action—airport vehicles having a drag race on the runway after the last plane at night leaves the airport. There's also the rather thin connection between the brand at the end and the rest of the commercial, though perhaps I'm taking my advertising too literally these days. Via Fallon London, whose home page, for now, has the ingredients it took to make the commercial. It's already spawning remixes, such as this one, which mashes up footage from the commercial with the BBC's coverage of the disastrous opening of Heathrow's T5 terminal last week.