If you want to find a brand with the ultimate staying power, you needn’t look much further than Cadbury’s. First founded in 1824, the juggernaut of British industry is this year celebrating a very special bicentenary.
The Mondelez-owned firm has put out a lot of special campaigns over the years but its anniversary campaign, developed by London agency VCCP, has really hit home.
So why has Cadbury’s marketing been so successful decade after decade, and how has it managed to remain so perpetually relevant to the British experience?
‘Generosity’, apparently, or at least according to global brand VP Guilherme Ferreira and VCCP chief strategy officer Clare Hutchinson who spotlighted the power of the word at MAD//Fest in London earlier this month.
You’d be inclined to believe them too, especially when they trot out figures like adding an extra £925 million to the business in just five years – simply through creative campaigns, packaging and promotions.
Cadbury and VCCP believe in letting one word define a brand’s entire identity and tone of voice, and they actively encourage others to follow suit, after all why not? It has worked so well for them over the years – keeping them at the forefront of the British public’s psyche.
“We chose one word, generosity, and our job was to ensure that people really understood what that was by defining what it is and what it isn’t,” Ferreira explains.
“First of all, it is of course about being nice and being kind to one another, but it’s also an act of sacrifice – generosity is putting the needs of others before your own.”
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“When telling stories, most brands will focus on what we call ‘small/big’, there are small, everyday moments with a big emotional impact.
“Instead of trying to dramatise those stories in a perfect, impossibly idealised way, we chose to make it very real – because the more authentic it is, the more people can relate.”
What this means is that the creation of a clear, defined identity can make or break a brand – and with Cadbury it would certainly fall into the make camp, having endured so prominently on both the British and global markets across the decades.
But why is identity and tone of voice so important? Because it fundamentally impacts the way in which customers perceive and interact with a brand.
Generate a brand personality based on trust, backed by a friendly tone and a brand will appear warm and welcoming.
What Cadbury has managed to do is hone this tactic to perfection – so much so that is it forever embedded into the UK’s consciousness as an icon of family nostalgia which is still just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.
