IT NEARLY went to Uruguay to be built and filmed. But a last-minute idea by the Academy Award-winning animatronics creator John Cox and the film director Mark Toia kept a big-budget TV commercial featuring the world's largest doll - nine metres tall - at home.
Quotes for the Allen's Confectionary TV commercial with the French-inspired giant doll were in excess of $1 million and nearly shelved Nestle's plans for the project being created in Australia.
But between Toia and Cox, who won an Academy Award for visual effects for the movie Babe, a proposal was hatched to make the doll on the Gold Coast and shoot the commercial in Brisbane's CBD with much of the work done for free. The doll cost more than $400,000 to create. It's the first time Allen's confectionary has been advertised in five years and the brand has big plans for the big doll - called Ellie - beyond the commercial.
"She really is magical," says JWT's executive creative director, Andrew Fraser. "We want to build a series of events around her, which we think can attract thousands of people."
Nestle is hoping to sell more Allen's lollies in the $1.5 billion confectionery market. "We wanted to come up with something really different for the confectionery world," says John Broome, Nestle's head of marketing for confectionery and snacks. "We needed it to stand out. The brand has been off-air for nearly five years."
Mr Broome said Allen's was facing stiff competition from Cadbury's Natural Confectionery Company and the Mars/Starburst ranges, which required a "very big idea".
Nestle will spend $5 million on the TV ads featuring Ellie.
Although Allen's remains the market leader, Nestle wants to claw back the market share it lost to rivals because of its absence from mainstream marketing. "Confectionery is showing pretty strong resilience to the current downturn," Mr Broome said.
"Consumers may be cutting back on more expensive elements of their lives. Instead of going out to a restaurant they're buying a DVD and a bag of lollies and are staying at home."
