Cadbury vs TODO social media war: Localized engagement strategy wins

Cadbury Egypt has been having a slightly harsh start with 2018 new marketing theme. Starting the year off with their very large scale new campaign “Free the Joy,” including what Cadbury Egypt thought would be cute, adorable and lovable aliens that Egyptians would flock to.

Cadbury has been inventing, inspiring and investing in a nation of chocolate lovers for nearly 200 years. But in Egypt, the brand met with almost an equal mix of approval and displeasure for the alien campaign.

Although Cadbury is continuing on with the campaign activation, Edita’s TODO felt that it needed to tease its chocolate competitor over the weekend with a wink of newsjacking and teasing post.

TODO simply loves to tease, and we love them for it! Read here to check out more of their fun antics ➤ Why TODO should win the Oscars for best Social Media Content Strategy in Egypt?

Cadbury Dairy Milk’s aliens didn’t take it very kindly and decided to respond to the joke, and may have felt a little offended.

Maybe even more as the aliens decided to take to the streets.

Read more about the aliens here ➤ Aliens Campaign: Cadbury escapes planet earth and Egyptians aren’t happy

The ever witty TODO team came up with this quick response.

As always, TODO’s team have a special method with replying in a smart and snarky fashion.

On Sunday, however, another authentic Egyptian chocolatier joined in to make fun of the Cadbury and TODO exchange.

Corona Chocolate has been a classic in many Egyptian minds, with many still remembering fond memories of their childhood with the memorable chocolate.

Corona decision to join the chocolate social media battle was correct, however, it could have been implemented in more catchy way for the design and key message.

Going Local

While Cadbury has had issues with the campaign, possibly due to not localizing the campaign or checking with test audiences before launch, the brand is trying to pull its weight now with localized content.

Cadbury’s reply to TODO’s first post was very funny yet localized, and was a great piece of content for the brand. The post was in Arabic, easily understood by their market, and came with a pop culture reference that many know.

Perhaps TODO’s teasing will provide Cadbury with a playing field that they can use to their advantage, especially if they continue localizing the aliens theme to create new content.

Although the main issue with the campaign, the aliens themselves, remains to be distracting for many, the brand may be able to balance out in the end by trying to find a way to localize them in a way.

We still think that TODO did a favor for Cadbury by opening the door for a new content direction that may increase the campaign hype and urge people to connect more with engaging and sharable content.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Globalization vs Cadbury Mandolin Localization

Cadbury’s decision to follow up with a 2-year-old campaign from its international associates, the aliens were part of a global campaign 2 years ago, without editing for local consumption has been met with very mixed reviews.

The strangest thing is that since early 2017, the company’s other chocolate product, Mandolin, has been met with a lot of praise for its very focused and localized content.

After a small social media debacle, in which the brand was attacked for appearing in refrigerators with international chocolate brands, Mandolin came out with a strong campaign, with their own animated mascot.

Read more about the campaign here ➤ Mandolin strikes again!

Mandolin’s new campaign raised a lot of positive feelings and feedback from the online community, especially since their ads were specifically targeting a certain audience. This audience was reached due to the brand’s smart social listening, or media monitoring.

The brand monitored media, both on the topic of the brand itself and other things from the past that people complained about.

The result was a wonderful campaign filled with extremely targeted and localized content that was openly loved by all.

So, the question is, why didn’t Cadbury look at Mandolin’s campaign and learn from it?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.