Cadbury is confident that Canadians can keep a secret. The confectionery company is giving consumers the chance to guard the secret of how it gets the soft, flowing caramel inside its Caramilk bar, and the chance at $250,000 through its Key to the Secret Program.
To qualify, consumers need to find one of 10 golden keys that have been placed within Caramilk bars across the country. Each key finder must call a designated hotline to report the key.
At the end of the contest (Aug. 22), each of the 10 key finders will get a chance to unlock the Caramilk Vault at the Cadbury Chocolate Factory in Toronto.
The person with the working key becomes the “Protector of the Secret” for six months and will be given $125,000 along with an envelope that contains the mysterious method.
At the end of the six months the winner will be given an additional $125,000 if the envelope is still “unharmed, untouched, unopened,” said Laura Henderson, associate brand manager, Caramilk
“We don’t think anyone will let down a nation of Caramilk lovers,” added Stephanie Minna Cass manager, corporate communication Canada for Cadbury.
Cadbury will place a key on a billboard at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto, and on a mural in Montreal to represent each golden key that has been found. It will also make the announcements in Metro, on Facebook, Twitter, the contest microsite and through PR.
While the contest opened yesterday, a teaser campaign first launched last month on Twitter and Facebook to challenge Canadians to guess what the Caramilk Secret is all about, said Henderson.
The promotion was hidden behind a “virtual curtain” that opened bit by bit, and then on May 31 revealed the Caramilk Key to the Secret promotion.
The Hive developed the creative and promotion, Cossette handled the media buy, Rocket XL created the social media elements, and Strategic Objectives managed media and blogger relations.
Cadbury has guarded the secret for over 40 years, but last year decided to “explain” how it gets the caramel into its Canadian-born chocolate bar.
The campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi New York included print, online, transit audio boards and a TV spot that showed male dancers clad in brown spandex, which represented the bars of chocolate, while female dancers wore gold leotards with tentacle-like arm extensions made to mimic the flowing caramel.
