THROWBACK THURSDAY: Monk-E-Mail

Originally published on July 25, 2008, this story is part of FacilityBlog’s Throwback Thursday offering.

Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Back in 2005, CareerBuilder took the Super Bowl advertising air waves by storm with its chimp-themed campaign. All three of the ads that appeared during the Super Bowl earned a spot on the Top 10 list in USA TODAY‘s Ad Meter. In addition, one spot was named “Funniest Commercial of the Year” in TBS’s annual poll and was included in CBS’s “The Forty Greatest Super Bowl Commercials” special.

On the heels of that success, and just before the 2006 Super Bowl, CareerBuilder launched a free service, cleverly called Monk-e-mail. The e-mail marketing site MonkeyBrains explains, “you get to choose a chimp, dress him up, pick a voice, then make him say anything you want. Then, you can e-mail it to your friends.”

That year, Monk-e-Mail became one of the most successful viral campaigns around, with more than 80 million played and 12 million unique visitors. After a five-year hiatus, the chimpanzees were back at work at Yeknom Industries (monkey spelled backwards) in a 2011 Super Bowl ad campaign, creating chaos and high jinks for the only human employee in the firm.

Sadly, the chimps are missing from the 2014 Super Bowl ad lineup, but fortunately, Monk-e-mail is still going strong. Send someone you know a chimp powered message to celebrate the Super Bowl!