shattering power-distance through cricket world cup & chocolate.

Brand Context

Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM) is a market leader in the Indian chocolates industry. At this point, you have this statement by-hearted, don’t you?

Situation Context

In a country with a strong cultural tradition of sweets, CDM has carved a space for itself, successfully weaving its brand message of “Join In Someone Else’s Happiness” and chocolatey goodness into narratives of celebrating the unnoticed champions.

Through years of sports-related campaigns, CDM has championed kindness and inclusion.

The Challenge

The World Cup, cricket's pinnacle event that's held every 4years, was being held on home soil after 12years; where countries across the globe would battle for the ultimate cricketing glory. The challenge was to stand out against the World Cup ad clutter and leverage the event to unlock the next phase of brand growth while

  • driving message association,

  • driving sales.

The Insight

For generations, cricket has stitched India together, creating a shared passion that transcends age, religion, across states. Audiences, be it hardcore cricket fans or mere spectators, constantly analyse performances, predict scores and ask each other, "What's the score? Who will score the most runs? Who will be the man of the match?".

But on these very match days, caught up in their own excitement, people forget those who help us everyday; those who make our enjoyment possible. These same questions, the same enthusiasm and fervour of sharing and discussing the matches, are echoed by our everyday helpers, possibly louder than the cheers of the crowd - a security guard who dreams of watching the match, a delivery person hoping to catch a glimpse, or a house-help longing for a moment of shared celebration.

The Strategy

Make the millions of match viewers to be a part of a world where everyone is seen as an individual, free from entitlement, and treated with compassion. Facilitate India to #SitTogether and share the joy of cricket with the invisible heroes who serve us in our everyday lives, fostering a sense of community and inclusivity.

The Execution

Not taking the traditional route of just blasting its communication across, asking people to #SitTogether, CDM was turned into a facilitator to open the door to bring about the behavioural change the campaign aimed to drive impactfully.

A microsite was created for people to come and share their stories of genuine bonding and bridging the power-distance around them. CDM partnered with ICC (International Cricket Association) as the event's official sponsor and provided tickets, for every 48 match throughout the tournament, for these heart-warming and veritable stories.

Strategic integrated media touchpoints like:

  • Leveraging multi-channel approach, #SitTogether was not only present on key TV channels like Star Sports (the official broadcaster of World Cup), but also digital platforms like Disney+Hotstar (the official partner for digital-streaming), and high-reach social media channels like Meta and YouTube.

  • Turned renowned cricketer Shikhar Dhawan, football star Sunil Chhetri, and Bollywood celebrities Vijay Varma and Adah Sharma into integral advocates of the brand message to reinforce the internal good in people.

  • Additionally, the campaign also partnered with Star Sports for TV integration, where legendary cricketer Virender Sehwag supported the campaign cause, and suprised his driver of 16 years by watching the India vs England match together, inspiring the nation to break social barriers, fostering compassion and inclusion. This heartening story was also shared on Twitter, Meta and YouTube, reaching a few million people.

Apart from tactical amplifications, real people's stories that we received on our microsite were celebrated, by showcasing the winners' experiences inside the stadium, further encouraging a million more to #SitTogether.

The Results

  • Reach of over 84% of brand TG i.e. 165M+ consumers.

  • 21.7% sales growth.

  • Over 205M views across creatives leading to 2.2x more website visitors than planned.

  • Half a million participants shared their tales of inclusion and goodwill.

  • Influencers brought an incremental reach of 20Mn while boosting positive campaign sentiments exponentially.

  • The campaign witnessed an uplift of ~5pp on ad recall; 7pp on message association.

But above all, the campaign ignited a spark with the support from a million audiences, encompassing #SitTogether with positive sentiments with words like "truly heart-touching", "wholesome", and "beautifully honest". Cutting across the noise of over 250 brands plastering their World Cup ads around, the #SitTogether campaign garnered organic momentum and coverage, resulting in an earned media worth 63M, proving the true impact of the campaign.

And while a billion hearts were broken as India lost the cup in the World Cup final match, CDM’s #SitTogether found its big win in bringing a few million hearts together, breaking the social barrier with mindful cognizance and deeper appreciation for the invisible threads that weave each other's lives together.