digital advertising | SunMatrix Ramble

Cadbury Creme Egg: Egg-Splatting Bus Stands

Turning bus-stop boredom into a reason to play

Only available from New Year’s Day to Easter Day, the Cadbury Creme Egg is one of the best selling confections in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

In a bid to boost Creme Egg sales in the lead-up to Easter, Cadbury’s has come up with some really unique bus shelter ideas in the UK.

Waiting for a bus is boring. Now though, you can fill this time by playing Cadbury’s first ever interactive outdoor game called Splat the Egg.

How the idea works: time, place, and a simple interaction loop

The mechanism is classic context hijack. You take a moment with unavoidable dwell time, add a clear instruction, and reward participation with a small burst of fun. The shelter becomes the interface, and the product becomes the “game object”.

In European FMCG launches with seasonal availability, interactive out-of-home can act as both reminder and recruiting surface, converting passive footfall into active brand experience.

Why it lands: it gives the viewer control over the medium

It works because it reframes waiting as choice. Instead of being stuck, you get something to do. And once one person starts, the social proof pulls in the next. A bus stop is already a small crowd. The game turns it into a moment people watch and talk about.

The business intent: make seasonal scarcity feel like an event

Creme Egg’s limited availability is built for anticipation. This activation makes that anticipation physical. It pushes mental availability ahead of Easter and ties the product to a playful ritual rather than just a purchase.

What to steal for interactive out-of-home without overbuilding it

Exploit dwell time. Bus stops, queues, and waiting areas are built-in attention pockets.
Keep the interaction legible in two seconds. If it takes explanation, it will not scale in the street.
Design for spectators as well as players. The crowd is part of the distribution.
Connect the physical to an accessible fallback. An online version extends reach beyond the locations.

A neat extension for people who cannot try it in person

Is this the future of advertising. Every lamp post and bus shelter calling out to be stroked, touched or hit?

For those who won’t have the chance to experience the real thing. You can have a go at the online version at www.cremeegg.co.uk/greateggscape/.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Cadbury’s “Splat the Egg” bus shelter idea?

An interactive out-of-home activation that turns a bus shelter into a playable game, letting people waiting for a bus engage with a Creme Egg-themed experience.

Why choose bus shelters for an interactive campaign?

Because they come with natural dwell time. People are already waiting, so the activation converts idle minutes into engagement without asking for extra effort.

What is the core mechanism?

Context hijack plus a simple interaction loop. A clear instruction turns a waiting moment into a quick burst of fun, and the shelter becomes the interface.

What is the business goal behind this activation?

To build anticipation for a seasonal product and tie scarcity to a playful ritual that increases mental availability ahead of Easter.

What is the most transferable takeaway?

Build simple viewer control into the medium at moments of forced waiting, and design for spectators as well as participants so the crowd becomes distribution.

Johnnie Walker: A Walk Through Brand History

A brand history told on foot, in one breath

This is about as cool as it gets when telling the history behind your brand. Johnnie Walker and BBH London get Scottish actor Robert Carlisle to narrate the story while walking through the misty Scottish Highlands.

How the idea works once you look past the scenery

The format is disarmingly simple. A single, uninterrupted walking monologue where the scenery keeps moving and the story keeps building, with no hard cuts to “sell” the message.

In global FMCG marketing, long-form storytelling can earn attention when it treats the viewer like a participant in the journey rather than a target of a spot.

Why it lands: it refuses to behave like a commercial

This is not a commercial. At least not in the traditional sense. It never ran on TV. It never will. Probably because it is not a nice, short, and sweet 30 seconds long with a fancy logo and URL at the end.

That restraint is the point. The film feels like a confidence move. The brand is comfortable letting the message arrive through tone, pace, and presence, not through urgency or repetition.

The business intent: build equity in the “keep walking” idea

The walk is not just a setting. It is the brand metaphor made literal. Movement signals progress, ambition, and continuity, which aligns neatly with premium positioning and long-term brand memory.

What to steal without copying the Highlands

Pick a format that proves the point. Here, a continuous walk embodies persistence better than any tagline could.
Trade polish for presence. One voice, one take, real atmosphere. That authenticity carries further than over-produced montage.
Let the viewer do the “meaning-making”. The story invites interpretation instead of forcing claims.
Design for voluntary viewing. If it cannot survive outside TV, it is not built for modern attention.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Johnnie Walker film concept here?

A long-form brand story delivered as a single walking monologue through the Scottish Highlands, narrated by Robert Carlisle.

How does the format work mechanically?

It relies on an uninterrupted take and a continuous narrative arc, using movement and pacing to keep attention without conventional ad cuts.

Why does it feel different from traditional advertising?

Because it does not compress into a 30-second claim-and-logo structure. It earns attention through storytelling, tone, and cinematic restraint.

What is the business goal of a piece like this?

To build premium brand equity and strengthen the “keep walking” association by making progress and momentum tangible and memorable.

What is the most transferable takeaway for other brands?

Choose a narrative format that embodies your proposition, then design it to be watched by choice. Not by interruption.

Coke Zero: Find Your Online Lookalike

A social experiment built on the “evil twin” feeling

If you have ever reckoned you have an evil twin somewhere else in the world, or that you were separated at birth but no one has got round to telling you, Coke Zero’s “worldwide social networking experiment” plays directly into that curiosity.

Coke Zero created a Facebook app called the “Facial Profiler” with one clear aim: find your online lookalike.

The mechanic is simple and self-explanatory. You upload a photo to the database. Coke analyses the facial characteristics and attempts to find the nearest match from other uploaded images.

In global FMCG marketing, lightweight social utilities can turn personal identity-curiosity into mass participation with minimal friction.

Why it spreads without feeling like an ad

This works because the “reward” is social, not transactional. People want to see the result, they want to show friends, and they want friends to try it back, which increases the pool of uploaded images and improves the matching for everyone.

There is also a built-in tension that keeps it sticky: the match is never perfect, which invites replay, comparison, and conversation rather than closure.

Where the brand message sits in the experience

The campaign does not argue product attributes head-on. Instead, it borrows the logic of the product proposition and turns it into a human metaphor: “close enough” can still be compelling.

The idea behind the campaign is: ‘If Coke Zero has the taste of Coke…is it possible that someone out there has your face?’.

What to steal for your next participation mechanic

Start with a universal itch. Identity, comparison, and “who do I look like” is instantly legible in any market.
Make the first step frictionless. One upload, one result, immediate payoff.
Let the community improve the product. Every participant makes the experience better for the next one.
Encode the proposition in the mechanic. The “same taste” claim becomes a story people can experience, not just hear.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Coke Zero’s Facial Profiler?

It is a Facebook application that invites people to upload a photo and then returns the closest lookalike match from other uploaded images in the database.

How does the campaign mechanic work?

Participation creates the asset. Users contribute photos, the system compares facial characteristics, and the database grows with every upload, which increases the chance of finding a “near match”.

Why does this kind of idea get shared?

Because the output is personal and social. The result is fun to show, fun to debate, and it prompts friends to try it too, which naturally amplifies reach.

What is the business intent behind the experience?

To make the Coke Zero proposition memorable by translating “close enough to Coke” into a human analogy, so the brand message is felt through participation rather than explained through claims.

What is the most transferable lesson for digital campaigns?

Build a simple loop where the audience action creates the content, the content creates conversation, and the conversation recruits the next participant.