Social media case study: Cadbury Dairy Milk

Company Profile

Cadbury is one of the leading confectionery manufacturers in the world. Acquired by by the US food giant, Kraft in February 2010, its products are marketed under various brands such as Dairy Milk, Flake, Crunchie, Chocolate Buttons and Milk Tray.

The Challenge

The campaign strategy for the company’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar followed those of previous Dairy Milk ads – ’Gorilla’, ’Airport Trucks’ and ’Eyebrows’, and was developed by Cadbury’s Glass and a Half Full studio. The ‘Chocolate Charmer’ was one of Kraft’s first themed ads for Cadbury since the takeover and aimed to show how the swirls of chocolate and fresh milk give Cadbury Dairy Milk its unique creamy taste.

The Solution

Fallon created the ad and PHD handled media planning and buying – the ‘Charmer’ campaign ran last year from 9 April to 3 June and used TV, cinema, video-on-demand and online. The 60-second spot, featured the bespectacled charmer creating towers of chocolate and milk out of spinning glass bowls and his own magical powers with chocolate.

According to PHD’s media group manager Katrin Schlenzka. “The TV plan was aimed at the wider Cadbury Dairy Milk audience whose heartland is older. Online was used to complement this and target the next generation of Cadbury Dairy Milk fans.”

Results

Online exposure for the ad indicated that the campaign achieved £2 of short-term sales for every £1 spent. A YouTube home page takeover and a YouTube Promoted Video (which included the ad in Google search listings) was measured as well as exposure of the ad on Facebook, and a Google AdWords campaign.

Figures showed that online activity delivered 19% additional reach for the campaign, as well as drawing a higher proportion of consumers in younger age groups than TV. 48% of younger consumers saw the ad online and 46% on TV. Online delivered two-thirds of the sales driven by advertising in this group.

Although TV reached a larger audience, only 60p of short-term sales for every £1 spent was achieved.

Indicators showed that the campaign directly contributed to 3.5% of total sales.

The Media Efficiency Panel, a joint initiative between GfK NOP and Kantar Worldpanel tracked the campaign and measured media consumption against FMCG sales data.

Source: Marketing Magazine