Case study on cardbury dairy milk

Company ProfileCadbury 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 ChallengeThe 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 SolutionFallon 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.”ResultsOnline 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.

Three years back, Cadbury's found itself in the eye of a storm, when a few instances of worms in its Dairy Milk bars were reported in Maharashtra [ Images ]. In less than two weeks, the company launched a PR campaign for the trade. And three months later, came an ad campaign featuring Big B [ Images ] and a revamped poly-flow packaging.

Marketing and communications experts brought together by AICAR and the Subhash Ghoshal Foundation say that

Cadbury moved quickly to bear the cost of damage.

And thanks to its equity with the consumers, Cadbury's won back consumer confidence, with hit on sales

notwithstanding.

In October 2003, just a month before Diwali [ Images ], customers in Mumbai [ Images ] complained about finding

worms in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. Quick to respond, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration seized

the chocolate stocks manufactured at Cadbury's Pune plant.

In defense, Cadbury issued a statement that the infestation was not possible at the manufacturing stage and poor

storage at the retailers was the most likely cause of the reported case of worms.

But the FDA didn't buy that. FDA commisioner, Uttam Khobragade told CNBC-TV18, "It was presumed that worms

got into it at the storage level, but then what about the packing - packaging was not proper or airtight, either ways it's

a manufacturing defect with unhygienic conditions or improper packaging."

That was followed by allegations and counter-allegations between Cadbury and FDA. The heat of negative publicity

melted Cadbury's sales by 30 per cent, at a time when it sees a festive spike of 15 per cent.

For the first time, Cadbury's advertising went off air for a month and a half after Diwali, following the controversy.

Consumers seemed to ignore their chocolate cravings.

As a brand under fire, in October itself, Cadbury's launched project 'Vishwas' - a education initiative covering 190,000

retailers in key states. But what the company did in January 2004 is what really helped de-worm the brand.

By investing up to Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) on imported machinery, Cadbury's revamped the packaging of Dairy

Milk. The metallic poly-flow, was costlier by 10-15 per cent, but Cadbury didn't hike the pack price.

Bharat Puri, managing director, Cadbury's India [ Images ] says, "While we're talking about a few bars of the 30

million we sell every month - we believe that to be a responsible company, consumers need to have complete faith in

products. So even if it calls for substantial investment and change, one must not let the consumers confidence

erode."

Simultaneously, Cadbury's roped in brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan [ Images ] to do some heavy duty

endorsement putting his personal equity on the line for the brand.

The company upped ad spends for the Jan-March quarter by over 15 per cent. The recovery began in May 2004, and

by June, Cadbury's claimed that consumer confidence was back.

These experts believe that the reason for Cadbury's success was that it took crisis head-on. And the consumers were

more forgiving, because the brand enjoyed an emotional equity in India.

Santosh Desai, former president, McCann-Erickson says, "The nature of the relationship that Cadbury's has built with

the consumer is responsible for latitude the consumers are giving it.

"They are seeing it as a lapse, not a breach of trust - this difference is key. What Cadbury's set out to deliver,

it goofed up once but it seemed to be very sincere in its intent to get things right."

Even so, other experts felt Cadbury's was itself to blame for the worm crisis.

Mahnaz Curmally, PR counsel, explains, "Cadbury's had known for a long time that packaging needed change, so in

a sense, they waited for something to happen before they made that change and perhaps in hindsight, they could

have made that change voluntarily."

Cadbury's could be case study of a sweet recovery from a crisis. It continues to lead the Indian chocolate market

with over 70 per cent marketshare. However, the experts feel that today's constantly changing environment should

keep the company on guard.