Strategically, we needed to take the Caramilk Secret out of the world of advertising and into people’s real lives. Before we could do that we needed to make the Secret real. It now rests inside an indestructible gold envelope that is kept inside a 1,000 pound gold safe. We then had the idea of hiding 10 real keys in chocolate bars. One of those keys would unlock the Secret. The bars with keys in them were randomly shipped across Canada. The final step was to create a campaign that brought the mystery and wonder of this promotion to life.

The Key to the Secret Promotion was the most successful in the brand’s history, and created waves that were felt throughout the Canadian confectionery category. Single sales of Caramilk bars grew 69% year over year propelling Caramilk to the number one chocolate bar in Canada – a position they hadn’t held for many years. Consumers embraced the fun mystery of the campaign. There were 220 press stories published or broadcast. Caramilk’s Facebook fan base grew 300%. And perhaps most important of all, Key to the Secret has been green lighted for the foreseeable future as an annual Canadian chocolate tradition.