Sweet like chocolate

Music takes a chunk of the action

What?: With Easter just around the corner – and New Year diets already a thing of memory – chocolate once again is piling up in stores across the globe. Music is taking a big sugary bite:

Joss Stone has become the first celebrity to take the role of the Cadbury’s Flake Girl after a string of models in previous ads. “I think they wanted someone normal – not a model who blatantly doesn’t eat Flakes. I blatantly do – and on a regular basis. I love chocolate,” said Stone. The singer interrupts a recording session in the ad to have a coffee break and a Flake, breaking into the
classic jingle.

Girls Aloud are to add chocolate to their string of endorsements (which includes Samsung and Sunsilk) by promoting new low-calorie chocolate bar Kit Kat Senses. The deal with Nestlé Rowntree is estimated to be worth £10M

Mars is bringing back its famous “work, rest and play” slogan after an absence of 13 years in a new series of TV ads. The new commercial features monks bell-ringing to the tune of House Of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’. The ad follows on from a 2007 campaign which featured New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’.

So what?: The premium chocolate market is estimated to be worth $3.5B by 2011, says research firm Mintel. Cadbury’s (a company that will shift 30-35M eggs this Easter) reported the highest sales in a decade after its celebrated drumming commercial. It took Phil Collins and a gorilla to highlight how music could sweeten the confectionary industry; now everyone is diving into the Willy Wonka musical river. Mars, still tentatively using music, is opting for nostalgia by resurfacing its famous catchphrase, much like Nestlé has just reintroduced the Milky Bar Kid. Flake also attempts an update on its classic jingle. Whether or not Girls Aloud, who recently made blatant use of their Samsung endorsement in the video for ‘Call The Shots’, will venture into Anthea Turner territory (photographed eating a Snow Flake in 2000 in her OK! magazine wedding shoot) remains to be seen.

“Chocolate and celebs aren’t the most obvious mix in these size zero days. I for one can’t wait for Easter – where we will finally learn that Joss Stone is an official Flake and Girls Aloud get the four fingers treatment with Kit Kat. I’m sure there’s a joke in there, but we’ll leave the surprises to Kinder.”
Ben Bailey, Account Director, Chocolate Communications

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