Cadbury Celebrations launches #ShopsForShopless campaign

The campaign will support hawkers in setting up their shops through a simple scan of a QR code.

As the country gears up to celebrate Diwali, the gifting brand, Cadbury Celebrations has rolled out #ShopsForShopless, a new campaign celebrating the power of communities coming together through technology-enabled solutions. Offering a virtual store to hawkers to sell their products, the campaign aims to support and empower the ones who don’t own permanent stores.

After promoting local businesses for the last 2 years that were impacted during the pandemic, the brand has elevated the festive fervor by extending a helping hand to local hawkers. The brand will be leveraging QR code technology through which users can scan a Cadbury Celebrations pack to identify nearby hawkers and the products sold by them. It’s a seamless interface wherein consumers can also promote and set up a virtual shop for their locally known hawkers by adding simple details like vendor name, phone number and a few product images onto the website. Once registered, anyone can shop for the products via a phone call, SMS or even a video call. Thus, enabling hawkers to continue their business, without the hassle of finding a new spot every day, through their shop on the internet!

Weaving purpose into one more heartwarming campaign, this effort will promote thousands of hawkers across the country.

Anil Viswanathan, vice president - marketing, Mondelez India said, “Right from gifting to indulging in sweets, Cadbury Celebrations, over the years has found its sweet spot across festivities and become an intrinsic part of family celebrations. With our previous #NotJustCadburyAd getting recognized and lauded globally for supporting small shop owners, this year we wanted to take the act of generosity a notch higher. Looking beyond small businesses, we collectively realized how Diwali is an important period for hawkers, but their business is often affected due to no permanent spot/shop to sell the products. Building on this insight and keeping purpose at the core of our strategy, we conceptualized #ShopsForShopless; an effort to give hawkers a permanent virtual store. We hope our latest tech-enabled effort strikes an emotional chord with the audiences, leading them to participate in small acts of generosity for a brighter and sweeter Diwali.”

Sukesh Nayak, chief creative officer, Ogilvy India added, “Diwali is an important period for hawkers, but their business is often affected due to no permanent spot/shop to sell the products. So, building on our generosity platform, this campaign is going beyond the small businesses. It is an effort to give hawkers; one’s with no space, a permanent virtual spot to sell their products. To execute this idea, Ogilvy partnered with DeltaX to develop a tech platform which can help connect buyers to hawkers near them. We hope this tech enabled solution connects at an emotional level with millions of our customers, making them scan the box to connect with hawkers near them and help make their Diwali sweeter too.”

“As OneWPP we are attempting something very audacious this year during Diwali. This will be a seamless tech platform to connect buyers to the unorganized retail owners who we often refer as hawkers or street vendors in this country. This tech infra will not only make our generosity campaign more inclusive but with #ShopforShopless campaign it can potentially transform the way we shop in future” said Shekhar Banerjee, chief client officer & office head - West, Wavemaker India.

The brand film opens with a man looking for his local hawker who wasn’t present at his regular selling spot for a few days. On being spotted and enquired about his whereabouts, the hawker emphasizes on the volatility of his business in a rather spirited manner, which the man already understands and finds a way to resolve for his favourite hawker this Diwali. He makes the kind and simple gesture of gifting him Cadbury Celebrations and using the QR code on the pack to set up the hawker’s very own virtual shop, leaving the hawker and his son teary-eyed. Thus, showcasing the impact of selfless acts of kindness on the people who need it the most.