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news

Goomageddon!

By Alex Nino Gheciu

20090225goomageddon_640.jpg
Photo courtesy of Cadbury Adams Canada Inc.


So, remember that strange-looking billboard at Dundas Square? You know, the one that commanded you to relieve a glutinous discharge? Well, it just got stranger. On Tuesday, Cadbury attached a teeter-totter-like lever to the billboard, with a large box on one end and a hulking one-and-a-half-metre Creme Egg on the other. According to the company, as snow, rain, and other precipitation accumulates inside the box, the Creme Egg will slowly rise towards an oversized fan that will eventually crack it open, unleashing its mucilaginous filling everywhere!
You can get updates on the chocolate embryo’s status via a live web feed at http://www.cadburycremeegg.ca.
“It’s really up to Mother Nature to decide when this larger-than-life Cadbury Creme Egg will de-goo,” says spokesperson Michelle Lefler, who predicts it might go kablooey just in time for Easter. “Given the upcoming weather, we could see some movement next week, and it might be a matter of several weeks before we see it really come close to sharing the gooey filling!”
You heard her, Toronto. Goomageddon is approaching.

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Comments

  • http://null Optimuscrime Toronto

    Best. Billboard. Ever.
    I am going to hang out at Yonge/Dundas unreasonably often in the hopes of guzzling on some free goo (tough economic tymez)!

  • http://null Joshua E

    Cadbury: Would you like some advertorial with your billboards?
    Torontoist: Yes please.

  • http://null rek

    My weather widget says 6 days of clear skies after tomorrow…

  • http://undefined bigdaddyhame

    did Cadbury pay for this advertising?

  • http://undefined bigdaddyhame

    I mean the photo was even provided by Cadbury Adams. Unless that’s the name of your new in-house photographer.

  • http://undefined Joshua E

    The author is too busy following the Cadbury live web feed to respond.

  • http://undefined David Topping

    Occasionally writing about interesting advertisements for no reason other than that they are interesting (and certainly not accepting any kind of money for that coverage) ≠ “advertorial.” If Cadbury wants to send Torontoist several ginormous edible creme eggs we would certainly not object, though.

  • http://undefined David Topping

    From Torontoist’s about page:

    What about sponsored articles or advertorials?
    Torontoist does not, has not, and will not feature sponsored articles (or “advertorials”) without full disclosure of that fact.

    @bigdaddyhame: “did Cadbury pay for this advertising?” No, absolutely not.

  • http://null montauk

    Yeah, it turns out that David Topping isn’t a real person. He’s actually a board council consisting of representatives and stakeholders from Cadbury and its affiliate companies. Although Torontoist is one of Cadbury’s longest viral campaigns, culminating in the falling egg stunt you are now witnessing, it’s also proven the most lucrative. By implanting focus-group-tested prime words (sweet, chocolate, goo) 2427 times in the past two years, Cadbury has seen a dramatic rise of interest in its high price point product lines. Realizing that Torontoist could yield third party advertising opportunities, Cadbury has also leased so-called “loaded articles” to the Gladstone Hotel, the Drake, and the Toronto Public Library. Response has been largely positive, and Cadbury reports making strong inroads in its competition with Jelly Belly’s longstanding competitor blog/magazine Spacing and the Necco Wafer Co.’s newcomer BlogTo.

  • http://mediafactured.com Neil Epstein

    fork!

  • http://undefined Alex Nino Gheciu

    No, Cadbury did NOT pay for this post and this is NOT an advertisement.
    That is absolutely absurd.
    But NOT as absurd as Cadbury’s new chocolate flavoured Sweet Kicks chewing gum! Yes, it’s that same rich, chocolatey taste with a minty fresh twist! And what’s even MORE absurd is that every pellet contains under five calories!
    Some things you regret. Some you don’t.
    * This reply has been brought to you by Cadbury Adams Canada.
    (Hops onto the next plane to Vegas with a suitcase full of benjamins. “Goodbye Torontooooooist! I’m rich! Filthy rich!!!!”)

  • Threnody

    Everyone’s being a little reactionary. It’s a fairly clever campaign, and they reported on it. It’s not like their pushing Camels on schoolchildren here, it’s a freaking chocolate egg around Easter-time.

  • http://null ked

    Yeah this is cute – like the smoking cigar billboard that used to be near my nan’s house. Nostalgia points.

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie

    In the past couple weeks, you’ve surpassed rek as my favourite commenter.

  • http://null Rachel Lissner

    You guys totally missed the point that this is AWESOME and why living in Toronto is FUN.
    Are other cities bedazzled with this billboard?

  • http://null Christopher Merlot

    I’m pretty sure I saw Cadbury Adams at the Brass Rail last week.

  • http://undefined h

    Montauk made me laugh.

  • http://undefined Pan Von Sol

    I lol’d, and immediately thought of the word “AdverTrolling”…. :D

  • http://null chenyip

    How awfully kinky of you.

  • http://null FLIPster

    No, Spoon!

  • http://null dowlingm

    Are 3D ads permitted under the Signs By-Law?

  • http://null rek

    Me too :)

  • http://undefined rek

    What about diabetics in Toronto, Rachel? Who is going to tell their story? This article is unbalanced and unfair.

  • http://www.publicspace.ca Jonathan Goldsbie

    Rami wrote about 3-D billboards, including this location (then “The Dairy Milk Sign”), in one of his first posts.
    It would be useless to try to get the City to take enforcement action against this one, though, as Kyle Rae makes a point of doing whatever it takes to legalize signs in and around Dundas Square. That said, it may be in violation of the Building Code, which is provincial legislation that Rae has no direct power to override.

  • http://null james a

    The geek in me really wants to know how this works.. Is it actually a balance and completely up to mother nature, or are there motors and fakery going on with that balancey thing?
    There’s a life-sized helicopter being prepped for the ad tower on the northwest corner as well.. I’ve been watching them set it up on the roof through my office window for a month now.

  • http://null montauk

    Obviously what we need is a threesome. I’ll bring the Cadbury egg.

  • http://null Joshua E

    I think you should’ve gotten paid. You should get paid for all the advertising you do. I’m talking envelopes stuffed with chocolate/tokens/shitty CDs from Cadbury/Brad Ross/Juicebox and all your other covert sponsors.

  • http://null Rob Cruickshank

    Well, if it works as described, gradually rising up to meet the fan, then it’s fakery. A simple experiment with a ruler and some pennnies will show that that’s not how a balance works. If I had kids, I’d let them eat as much chocolate as they wanted, provided they passed elementary school science class.

  • http://www.bitpicture.com Marc Lostracco

    I dunno, Josh…if something is visible and interesting enough to warrant a post, why should Torontoist then approach the company and demand payment for the potential article? I mean, you assumedly didn’t get paid for shilling local bars, amirite?

  • http://undefined Alex Nino Gheciu

    You know, I didn’t think anyone would consider the descriptors “glutinous discharge,” “mucilaginous filling,” and “chocolate embryo” an enticing endorsement. Guess I was wrong.

  • http://null ked

    i still heart rek – you’re getting up there though

  • http://null rek

    Toronto is full of evil billboard-destroyers who climb up to destroy personal property with paint like thieves in the night. I wonder why that billboard hasn’t been messed with yet…

  • http://null Joshua E

    Come on dude, covering bars, restaurants, movies, etc. is a horse of a different colour.
    Before it became billboard-obsessed, Torontoist used to cover nightlife like that. It was part of the mandate. C&D, at the time, was my favourite bar. I held the very first TOist party there. So I wrote about the place (overmuch, perhaps, but whatever). I think it’s normal to have a favourite local nightspot – for readers and writers alike. So there’s value in discussing that.
    What happened here is that a multinational corporation put up a possibly illegal new billboard, so you created two posts with its promotional photos, links to its promotional website and gave its PR hack a venue to explain how great the billboard is.
    You didn’t write about legality or effectiveness of the campaign, or how the billboard was created or who came up with the idea or any other insight whatsoever.
    The only thing I learned after reading this is that f-ing goomagedon is approaching – that’s the same exact message the company wants to spread. You can get paid for performing that type of service..it’s called advertising.

  • http://www.bitpicture.com Marc Lostracco

    It’s not a matter of coverage as much as it is perception. While you see a comment on a very prominent, very public, and very creative billboard as shilling for a big corporation, others may see articles on a hyper-local pub as shilling for your buddy’s bar (where a minute fraction of Torontoist’s readership will ever go). Both have their place on Torontoist, in my opinion (as long as the motives are transparent), but I’d further suggest that the article on the Dundas Square billboard is more relevant to the greater readership than one of a zillion English-style pubs that happens to be near your house.
    In addition, Torontoist is hardly complimentary on things like billboards and advertising, not to mention “PR hacks.” Seriously. Nor does Torontoist hide advertorial content. Or whore-out its landscape or cringe in fear of offending its advertisers—like, say…oh, NOW, just to pick a totally random example.
    It should also be noted that during your tenure at the helm of Torontoist (apparently, the good old days, from what I gather from your previous comments), you frequently posted giveaways and contests. These things are obviously great for readers, but they do more to advertise the product than buying ads on the site could ever do…and it’s virtually free for the “advertiser.”
    Again, all of that has its place and I have no problem with either advertising or the criticism of it, but you accuse Torontoist of providing inadvertent promotion…surely you realize that mentioning a company or showing its logo as a general interest item does not a shill make. Right?

  • http://undefined DanL

    Interesting idea and very cool.
    What I want to know is if they’re actually going to spray an entire street full of people and cars with this goo and what it is made of…I don’t think most people would be too appreciative! I wonder if they have some kind of warning system and countdown timer set up so people get out of the way…or maybe it just won’t spray anything on the street/sidewalk (I am thinking the latter is more likely).

  • http://null Joshua E

    Instead of Googling my name and solidifying your reputation as a comment board creep, why don’t you look at the issue at hand? I’d like to see this site GET PAID FOR ADVERTISING. It’s not evil, it’s how virtually all websites pay for themselves. If you approached Cadbury about getting paid for otherwise embarrassing posts like this one, you would be able to balance your budget and never have to threaten to close the site again.
    Creep.

  • http://www.bitpicture.com Marc Lostracco

    Stay classy, Josh.

  • http://null toomuchflystyles

    Why would anyone care whether 3D billboards are legal?
    This billboard makes me glad they are. Hopefully it’ll cause other advertisers to up their game and actually reward you for stopping to look at their ads. Because right now, about 97% of them don’t.

  • http://www.spicoli.ca lexspicoli

    It’s been goo-ed!
    cadburycremeegg.ca

  • http://null pewpewpew

    So disappointingly anti-climactic.