Key to the Secret 2010

What We Did

To reawaken the sense of mystery that has surrounded the Caramilk secret for more than forty years, The Hive launched a unique nation-wide campaign that gave Canadians the chance to get their hands on the Caramilk secret and $250,000.

Ten golden keys were placed into ten random Caramilk bars across the country. We launched the campaign with television, out-of-home, print and online media and kept Canadians informed about the program’s development with out-of-home, print and updates at Caramilk.ca. The lucky Canadians who found these keys won Caramilk for life (no big deal) and were flown to Toronto where one of these finalists opened the golden safe containing the Caramilk secret and $125,000. But wait! There's more: if they could keep the secret safe and return the envelope unopened with the secret still sealed inside six months later, they would receive another $125,000.

Why We Did It

For over 40 years Canadians have been intrigued by the Caramilk secret: How do they get that soft flowing caramel into the Caramilk bar? By placing golden keys into Caramilk bars across the country, The Hive turned the act of purchasing a Caramilk bar into a chance to hold the closely-guarded Caramilk secret. For the first time ever, we gave the secret away (while still keeping it secret).

What's Happened

This campaign posted some big numbers. Like, really big numbers. Even before we launched the campaign, Caramilk Key to the Secret tested better than any Cadbury confection program ever had in IMI research, showing “99% appeal” (IMI’s numbers, IMI’s words). While the campaign was running, sales of Caramilk outperformed Cadbury’s forecast by 129%. In Walmarts alone, Caramilk sales were 3-8 times higher than for the same period in the two previous years. Nationwide, overall sales of single Caramilk bars went up a whopping 51%. And perhaps more importantly, for the first time in years, Caramilk moved from the #3 chocolate bar in Canada, to #1. It's stayed there ever since.