This year to support the humble local corner shop and the work they do for their communities, Cadbury with the help of global agency of record, VCCP, is launching a new integrated campaign, ‘The Big Win-Win’.
In the form of a nationwide competition, the campaign aims to spread levity and generosity to chocolate lovers across the country, and most importantly, to reward the heroes that keep the UK going - local corner shops.
Newsagents are there for people day and night, through thick and thin and also got the nation through the Covid-19 lockdown. With their latest campaign, Cadbury wants to recognise and champion them as a stalwart pillar of British society.
The campaign will bring the focus back to the core range of single Cadbury chocolate bars often picked up in local shops. As well as highlighting the generous mechanic of ‘winning together’ and amplifying shared human stories.
With corner shops at the core, every creative angle has been covered to inspire shoppers and shopkeepers alike. Simple and bold packaging and supporting POS has been designed to be engaging and stand out on the shelf.
The fist bump featured is a modern representation of the partnership between the people and their local shopkeepers. The typography mimics the informal communications that you have in local shops.
It is made to feel human, while utilising Cadbury branding. Social and outdoor creatives are location sensitive, meaning consumers are targeted with dynamic ads that call out nearby participating retailers. This makes the campaign feel personal and builds Cadbury’s inherent role to inspire people to be more generous.
Cadbury worked with VCCP’s Retail Experience team, their product & service innovation company, Bernadette and global content production studio, Girl&Bear to create OOH, retail creative and social elements as well as a dedicated campaign website.
To learn more, we spoke to VCCP's Rob Sellers, Head of Retail Experience and Angus Vine, Creative Director, as well as Girl&Bear's Ed Rosie, Director.
What was the brief?
Cadbury had previously underinvested in the chocolate singles portfolio (individual bars of chocolate) which are primarily sold through the independent retail channel, the corner shops of Britain.
New competitors entered the market and took the space from the core Cadbury brands. The brief was to put our bars to the forefront of people's minds when picking up a snack.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
It was really fun to collide our big Cadbury masterbrand guiding principle of “a generous spirit in everyone” with the realities and insights of this particular channel, what was really important to the shopkeepers of Britain, and what would generosity mean for them - and the communities they serve.
This made us think about the different ways for the brand to behave beyond telling stories. At the same time, classic promotions can be generic and almost always selfish. When we put that type of thinking through the lens of ‘generosity’ it took us to a really interesting place.
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
We have a really close partnership with Cadbury which goes well beyond the brand team. While framing the challenge, we spoke to stakeholders across the business who are closer to the realities of this particular route to market.
What are the field sales teams saying they are being asked for? How do ideas need to work in wholesale? How complicated can something be to connect to our busy trade audience? All of this was taken into consideration to make sure the final idea would absolutely work for the task at hand.
We also needed to understand how shoppers behave in small stores, how they scan fixtures for example. This shaped lots of the design thinking and the overall idea itself.
What was the production process like?
It was quite straightforward from a filmmaking standpoint. Initially, we had to find local shops to collaborate with, aiming for a diverse mix while keeping them close enough for efficient shooting, as we only had one day to get everything done.
A key consideration was to schedule the filming so it wouldn't disrupt the daily operations of the local shops too much.
Our vision was to showcase a range of relatable shop fronts, with each one capturing a unique moment in time. To achieve a consistent visual style, we used the same lens and kept the same distance and height from every shopfront.
This approach allowed us to create smooth jump-cuts between locations, maintaining the same observational perspective throughout the ad.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
The idea is genuinely integrated - spanning millions of packs, in thousands of stores, digital spaces, out of home and video. As a result, it all needed to work together brilliantly and seamlessly.
The video was particularly fun to produce,we shot a number of real stores in one single day in busy locations. It was really important to show the variety of shops, but also the realness of the campaign. In the end, we found a great cluster of shops in Croydon - home of supermodel Kate Moss!.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
While we were shooting, of course the stores wanted to stay open (it is their livelihood after all) but this meant every few seconds, we’d have to wait for a real customer to pop in and pick up what they needed - so we saw the truth of how important these stores are in the communities they serve, while trying to tell that exact story.
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
It’s simply how much we appreciate local shops (and shopkeepers) and the role they play in the UK.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
It took about 9 months to deliver from brief to live. This is because there are lots of important stakeholders in creating an idea than needs to go across different parts of a big brand like Cadbury. In particular, ensuring that the packs are perfect and the retailers are onboard with their support is a process that can take a few months.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
We hope Cadbury is seen as a true partner to our amazing small stores around the country, and that the people of Britain continue to support those shops - maybe by buying some of our bars and winning some cash for themselves and their favourite shopkeepers.
Credit list for the work?
CAMPAIGN CREDITS
CAMPAIGN TITLE: The Big Win Win
CLIENT: Cadbury
ADVERTISING AGENCY: VCCP
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Chris Birch & Jonny Parker
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Angus Vine & Caroline Rawlings
CREATIVE TEAM: Tomás Azoubel Lima & Ana Marques
HEAD OF RETAIL: Rob Sellars
BUSINESS DIRECTOR: Gen Hole
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Catherine Tilley & Trishika Ramrakha
ACCOUNT MANAGER: Maddie Jones & Jasmine Beale
HEAD OF COMMERCE STRATEGY: Steve Renou
PLANNING DIRECTOR: Ollie Gilmore
PLANNER: Gemma Smyth
GIRL&BEAR
INTEGRATED PROJECT DIRECTOR: Sally Greenwood
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Charlotte Trotman
DIRECTOR: Ed Rosie
PRODUCER: Suki Fraser
PRODUCTION MANAGER Kashif Boothe
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Jagoda Bugaj
SENIOR INTEGRATED CREATIVE PRODUCER: Jennifer Parkes
ARTLAB LEADS: James Perry and Yasmine Moridi
DESIGNERS: Jessica Steimer, Tegan Barnes & Adam Edwards
ARTWORKERS: Toby Kadir, Sam Weight, James Perry & Liam Leal
POST PRODUCER: Rizza Danico / Vanessa Troop
MOTION DESIGNER (SOCIAL): Cian Hogan
EDITOR: Mark Singer
BERNADETTE
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Monika K. Seredynska
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER: Subashini Awotar
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Phil Beaman & Paul Houghton
SENIOR FRONTEND DEVELOPER: Zdeněk Suda
FRONTEND LEAD: Gustavo Rodrigues
HEAD OF UX: Steph Marques
UX DESIGNER: Dave Spears
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Will Aslett
DESIGN DIRECTOR: Gilles Bestley
SENIOR UI DESIGNER: Rafael Kent
PR: Ogilvy PR
OWNED CHANNELS: Elvis
MEDIA: PublicisMedia
