Cadbury Dairy Milk's Shubh Aarambh

Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM)

Category- Confectionery (Sub-category- Chocolate)

Company- Cadbury India (Kraft Foods Inc.)

Campaign- Shubh Aarambh

After a long break I am writing this post, it is like Re-Shubh Aarambh for me and my blog. And as per the tradition I would like to start with kuch meetha & what could be better than CDM.

As usual we will start with the industry analysis.

The Confectionery Industry in India is divided into following sub-categories:

1. Chocolates
2. Hard-boiled Candies
3. Eclairs & toffie
4. Lollipops
5. Bubble Gum
6. Mints & lozenges

The total confectionary market in India is valued at about Rs. 4,500 crore, out of which the chocolate sub-category is valued at about Rs. 2,000 crore. In the sub-category of chocolates about 71 per cent market belongs to Cadbury; CDM has about 35 per cent share of the Indian chocolate market. Cadbury 5-Star has about 14 per cent; while Perk and Gems have seven per cent each. Cadbury Celebrations has 5 per cent, and Cadbury Bournville has about 1 per cent market share. Nestlé with its brands, Munch, KitKat, Bar One and Milkybar, has about 25 per cent. The rest includes players such as Amul and others.

I got surprised by the data about CDM’s market share, but it is true. Though CDM is the generic name for the chocolates in India, it doesn’t reflect in the substantial market share. The poor brand recognition, in the chocolate category, is ruing the market share of CDM. Shockingly, still about 80-90% of the consumers ask for chocolate or candies at the retailer’s shop without mentioning any brand name. And they accept any brand given by retailer without any hesitation; rather they don’t recognise the brand. Secondly almost 80% purchases in the confectionary category are impulse purchase. These are the two reasons why Cadbury & other players are spending a lot on the brand campaigns.

The key to success, in terms of market share, lies in the branding & distribution. Till you are not known to the consumer, you should try to be ‘the chocolate’ handed over by the retailer to the unaware consumer. One can’t totally avoid the impulse purchase but one can reduce it. Cadbury is successfully doing it by providing consumers with the ample reasons to buy its products. Be it “Pehli tarikh” or Diwali.

In the chocolate business it is very difficult to differentiate your product. Firstly because of very less tangible benefits attached with the chocolate. And secondly it is low involvement product leaving very less place to play on intangible benefits.

CDM has identified the nabz of Indian consumer. It started by encouraging people to celebrate the small joys of life with CDM. And now it is encouraging people to anticipate the occurrence of something good after consuming the CDM. Right from the celebration of pay day to the festival celebration CDM has captured every moment of joy in the life of Indian consumer. When I analysed the positioning of other players I found very interesting insight, ‘CDM is targeting the start of good things and Nestle’s Kitkat is targeting the break in the good things and again CDM is there to celebrate the end of good things with you’.

With Subha Aarambh CDM is again making place in the heart & mind of the Indian consumer. It is very apt campaign idea nicely justifying positioning.

Now let’s analyse the execution of campaign idea whether it is successful to communicate the positioning or not.

The media mix for this campaign includes television, radio, digital, outdoor and print. The campaign also includes significant point of purchase (POP) activities.

The TVC part of the campaign opens with a scene at a local bus stop, where a teenage girl is devouring a Cadbury Dairy Milk while waiting for the bus. A humble looking, equally young boy asks her for a bite. When she refuses, attributing her behaviour to the fact that he is a mere stranger, he goes on to explain how his mother advocates sweet consumption before doing something noble. Drawn into this explanation, the girl obliges and hands him a piece of her chocolate. Curiosity gets the better of her and she asks him what the good deed is, to which he replies that he is about to drop her home. The scene closes on two blushing teenagers. Too cute.

According to me the execution of the campaign idea is just superb. It connects with the target group and stand out in the crowded jungle of TVCs. The idea is very wide and can be extended across all media channels with all possible interpretations.

In the digital space, the brand plans to tie up with marriage and job portals; and also intends to tie up with Indian Railways for branding on tickets. This is an effort to merge the concept of a happy start i.e. Shubh Aarambh with relevant occasions such as marriage, a new job and the onset of a purposeful journey. I have seen beautiful hoardings of this campaign on the CST station, communicating very good message at the right time & right place.