Cadbury Dairy Milk: Shubh Aarambh

Cadbury Dairy Milk, which currently has a 36 per cent market share in the chocolate category, rolls out a new campaign that will last for about two and a half months

Cadbury Dairy Milk has launched its new ad campaign under the broad umbrella of 'Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye'. The umbrella, initiated six years ago, has rolled out several sub-campaigns over the years - each with a separate message.

What started off as a message that encouraged people to celebrate the small joys of life ('Dil Ko Jab Khushi Chhoo Jaye, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye') and moved on to the celebrating overt occasions ('Pappu Pass Ho Gaya') has, for the past four years, been about occasion-led celebration. The latest campaign, Shubh Aarambh, is a tad different.

Though the core target group, consumers in the age group of 15-35 years, has been retained from the previous campaign ('Aaj Pehli Tareekh Hain') that was launched about a year ago, Shubh Aarambh is driven by an effort to refresh the take on 'Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye'. Specifically, there is a shift from the notion of celebrating happy occasions with chocolate to the concept of anticipating the occurrence of something good after consuming the chocolate.

Maintaining the universal appeal of the brand, the campaign is aimed at consumers across SECs and is supposed to have a balanced appeal across all tiers.

The media mix for this campaign includes television, radio, digital, outdoor and print. The campaign also includes significant point of purchase (POP) activities.

In the digital space, the brand plans to tie up with marriage and job portals; and also intends to tie up with Indian Railways for branding on tickets. "This is an effort to merge the concept of a happy start - Shubh Aarambh - with relevant occasions such as marriage, a new job and the onset of a purposeful journey," explains Nikhil Rao, vice-president, marketing, Cadbury.

The brand has also tied up with the popular TV show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) and is the key sponsor for it.

The creative duties for the campaign lie with Ogilvy India. The creative brief was to deliver the culture of sweet consumption - that leads to auspicious beginnings - in a manner that is not traditional.

Shot in Pondicherry, the Bus Stop TVC, which is currently on air, is the first of at least three which form a part of the Shubh Aarambh campaign.

In the TVC, the conventional practice of eating something sweet prior to executing a good deed has been merged into the modern context - with a contemporary twist. The commercial opens with a scene at a local bus stop, where a teenage girl is devouring a Cadbury Dairy Milk while waiting for the bus. A humble looking, equally young boy asks her for a bite.

When she refuses, attributing her behaviour to the fact that he is a mere stranger, he goes on to explain how his mother advocates sweet consumption before doing something noble. Drawn into this explanation, the girl obliges and hands him a piece of her chocolate.

Curiosity gets the better of her and she asks him what the good deed is, to which he replies that he is about to drop her home. The scene closes on two blushing teenagers.

"The Bus Stop TVC is an innocently devious story with a charming tonality. It features today's version of Amol Palekar from the '70s," offers Abhijit Avasthi, national creative director, Ogilvy India. He informs that though this TVC seems extremely youth centric, the rest of the campaign adequately covers other interesting occasions, not necessarily involving such young individuals.

Campaign ka Shubh Aarambh?

Industry experts are quick to associate the TVC with adjectives such as 'cute' and 'sweet'.

Satbir Singh, chief creative officer, Euro RSCG India, quips, "The effort to equate the chocolate bar with 'meetha' continues. I think it's a cute little story and the post-puberty casting is interesting. It comes across as a charming pick up line for the age."

Ramanuj Shastry, national creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, concurs, "The ad is cute and brings a smile to my face. I don't think a chocolate brand should try any harder than this." He adds that the TVC is a good start to the campaign and that he is looking forward to the rest of it.

Prasanna Sankhe, national creative director, Publicis Ambience, says, "For the past six years, Cadbury has managed to execute its strategy perfectly and has gradually included a plethora of occasions for the consumption of its product. The brand's task of promoting chocolate as something sweet that's eaten while celebrating has been established already and the current shift from its previous campaign - Pehli Tareekh - to this one is great."

He adds that he liked the simplicity of the ad, the direction and the casting, particularly the 'ordinary', non-glossy look of the teenagers in the film.