Customization marketing is an important and crucial aspect of marketing that many of us forget to take into consideration. Marketers continue to focus on pushing maximum reach, but forget that reach isn’t always everything.
Cadbury is a British multinational confectionery company wholly owned by American company Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010.
The Mondelez-owned brand Cadbury Egypt catches up ‘Free the joy’ global campaign, but seemingly bites the dust with consumer feedback. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate is both an international and local hit, a popular choice for many. Unfortunately, it seems that Dairy Milk may lose some of its strong footing in Egypt after its newest campaign.
Dairy Milk jumps out of the box in 2018, so far out that they have flung themselves into space! The chocolate bars have found their way into alien hands.
Don’t let those wide innocent eyes fool you.
They’re coming.
They’re here.
And we know what happens when aliens visit our planet!
The idea behind the campaign is brining people to [Feel the Joy or اطلق السعادة]. The alien symbol aims to send out a message of universal love of the chocolate. Showing that Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is able to surpass the limits of culture, language and even planets.
One thing is for sure, the custom-made aliens are definitely making a splash on social media, and everyone has their own opinion on the invasion.
Cadbury Egypt catches up to global campaign, 2 years later….
Cadbury’s not-so fuzzy aliens actually come from one of Cadbury’s international divisions, Cadbury India.
The television ad, and aliens, was first released in 2016 as a part of a global campaign, which was set to release in Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, and in some countries in South East Asia.
The campaign was created for Cadbury for their back-then new slogan, “tastes more chocolately.”
The original TVC was animated by Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai and released between October and November of 2016.
With only a few small details changed, and an entire scene cut from the end, the ads are basically identical. It seems like Cadbury did not invest enough in customization or marketing localization, instead opting to not customize the ad for local consumption.
Cadbury 2018 global brand platform changes into kindness
Cadbury global marketing strategy in 2018 tends to leave joy positioning after six years to go ‘back to brand roots’. The new key marketing messages are designed to focus genuine acts of kindness and generosity.
The new marketing direction in 2018 is re-connecting consumers to Cadbury brand equity by aligning the key messages with moments of kindness instead of moments of joy.
Watch the new TV campaign first aired on 12 January which marks the same date of launching the aliens campaign in Egypt.
The new brand positioning aligned with kindness theme will be implemented across the Cadbury portfolio in 2018, starting with the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand.
Egypt’s Social Media Feedback
If you do not get Egypt, Egypt will get you. A quick review of the teaser published on Facebook brand page shows that 49% of the comments have been negative towards the aliens (40% positive, 11% other).
Comments ranged from” Irrelevant and not consistent with their “Happiness” platform… Not every global campaign should fit locals!” to “Is this an ad or a horror movie?” *
Another issue that some fans have brought up is the fact that the Aliens were featured on major billboards days before the teaser’s release.
I guess this (somewhat) explains (but still waiting for more) all the UFO/Alien videos 🤷🏻♀️ I don’t get it. It’s creepy. It’s like a nest of t-rex-Gollum-naked-mole-rat hybrids and it bothers my eyes. 😞 @CadburyEgypt Que? pic.twitter.com/6ztGgOzWfv
— Yara Shawa (@ThatGirlYara) January 10, 2018
I don’t know why are you using an ugly creature while talking about happiness! @CadburyEgypt pic.twitter.com/mlmSsWDpYp
— هند اليحيى (@Hend_Nageeb) January 8, 2018
Enabling many people to figure out their feelings about the creatures without the campaign’s context. Perhaps if Cadbury had waited to release the billboards after the ad had been released, then they may have had a better reception.
It’s not all bad though, some people have clearly enjoyed the ad such as this commentator, “I have to buy a Cadbury chocolate bar soon cause [I] love this type of out of this world creepy and unusual stand out advertisement.”
There are two things that this campaign has left us to wonder.
Would the campaign have made it through if Cadbury focused more on customization, and created focus groups to check on feedback?
Would have revealing the billboards at a later date, after the ads release, allowed customers to have more time to like the aliens?
And here is another question, why is their dance so catchy?
Give us your answers in the comments!
*Translated from Arabic
