ABP and Cadbury focus on local culture in new campaign

Titled 'Cadbury Mishti Shera Srishti', the campaign plays on the much popular sweet-eating habits of the Bengali.

Strategically building on a local insight, the Anandabazar Patrika Group and Cadbury India carried out an initiative called 'Cadbury Mishti Shera Srishti' in Kolkata. Designed by ABP's holistic marketing solution wing ABP One, the campaign focuses on the well documented sweet tooth of the average Bengali.

Under the campaign, the top nine sweet chains of Kolkata created their own special 'Cadbury Mishti' using Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate as one of the key ingredients. The chains included the much popular ones in the city, such as Balaram Mullick & Radharam Mullick, Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy, Bhim Chandra Nag, KC Das, Sen Mahasay, Jadab Chandra Das, Hindusthan Sweets, Ganguram Sweets and Gupta Brothers.

While the best innovative Cadbury Mishti will be selected by prominent jury members, the voting for popular choice was open to consumers across the city through extensive promotions across media. It is learnt that more than 11 lakh votes have been cast since the campaign broke a few weeks back.

Arithra Sarkar, vice-president, strategy, ABP Group tells afaqs! that conversations with Cadbury began a year back regarding the brand's interest to build itself in West Bengal as the national campaign, Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaaye, gained popularity. Cadbury Mishti Shera Srishti was conceptualised to connect the local insight with the national campaign.

The campaign extensively used an integrated offering from the ABP stable through the use of print, radio, outdoor, on-ground and the digital medium to engage the consumer.

An interesting example was the 'Paata Bahar', an advertorial to push the campaign through Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph. The content in the advertorial not only carried the campaign but also featured material on Bengali cuisine, sparking off debates and involvement from readers. Sarkar says that Paata Bahar helped the campaign find more favour with the consumers, with about 10,000 extra votes being added each day the advertorial was published.

"We wanted to create a win-win situation for the advertiser as well as the reader. Often, publications face criticism as only the advertisers' interests find priority. We have been able to find a winning proposition that creates value for the reader and ensures mileage for the brand," says Sarkar.

The campaign is heading into the sustenance phase currently. While it is being ensured that the sweet shops continue to stock the respective sweets made, ABP will continue to keep the readers interested for the next two months before the awards for the best recipes are given away at a gala event on 'Poila Boishak' - the Bengali New Year in April.

The popularity of the initiative can be gauged by the fact that more than 80 different varieties of Cadbury Mishti are now available for the sweet lovers of Kolkata. With a simple marketing plan amplified by the strategic use of media, Sarkar says that both the brand and the local culture stood to gain.

"We do hope that with this initiative becoming popular, marketers look more seriously at regional marketing. Top clients should look at the local culture as a very effective and strong component in their growth strategies," Sarkar remarks.