Cadbury Dairy Milk: An India Story

Cadbury Dairy Milk has enjoyed a long and celebrated history of consumption in India. With about 30% share of the Indian branded chocolate market currently, it is by far the most popular brand in the country.

Dairy Milk has also been a sustained advertiser, churning out new campaigns year after year and spending generously on the choicest of media spots.

Dairy Milk TV campaigns were always about celebrating life. Remember the 'Real Taste of Life' campaign that swept award shows in the mid '90s (view here)? The audience was broad (the cricket setting); the spots were simple in concept but accompanied by thoughtful execution. They made you smile, and you didn't quite know why.

It was about 5-6 years back that the chocolate maker started to follow a noticeable trend in its targeting. We began to see occasion-based themes such as 'Pappu Pass Ho Gaya', in which Dairy Milk was pitched as the celebratory food that everyone must partake in. Dairy Milk was shown as the obvious and most easily distributable of sweets on such occasions. One also began to notice a pronounced Indianness in the spots. Where there were location-neutral settings, we began to see rural or typical urban Indian settings. Where the themes were general, we began to see campaigns built around very specific insights into Indian consumption of sweets.

A recent, deeply insightful campaign has been 'Shubh Aarambh', meaning 'Prosperous Beginning'.

There is a widely followed tradition in India that before a person sets out to do something positive or enterprising, he or she must be fed a morsel of something sweet. If he/she consumes this before stepping out of the premises, it is believed the attempt will proceed successfully and the result will be positive. Indians aren't known to be skeptical when it comes to beliefs. Even the most skeptical ones will rather follow a tradition than risk inviting the wrath of being a non-believer. Capitalizing on this, Cadbury has deftly positioned Dairy Milk as an accepted foodstuff for this tradition (like yogurt sweetened with sugar). A piece of Dairy Milk chocolate, by virtue of its sweetness, appears as the new-age replacement of the traditional morsel. The ads are light-hearted and show situations that are not too significant in terms of stakes involved (view here). This may be deliberate so as to avoid illusion of false promise and invite bitter feedback in case of failure. But with a series of well-written spots supported by sensitive production, the brand will win hearts. Perhaps not beliefs yet, but hearts, definitely (view here).

The positioning opens up a huge opportunity to expand sales simply by virtue of India's size. It also pushes Dairy Milk into the league of must-haves in one's house for the purpose of tradition - a great achievement for any consumer brand. When a brand moves into the ethos of a people, it stays there. Remember 'Hamara Bajaj' with its 'Buland Bharat Ki Buland Tasveer'? Cadbury Dairy Milk is trying hard to do the same.

Following the Shubh Aarambh campaign is a cute ad released just recently. It is built around another very Indian want / need of consuming sweets after a meal. The trend is aptly presented by the ubiquitous question that pops up at every Indian dining table, 'Bhai meethe mein kya hai?', or 'Tell us, what's for dessert?' Now, every meal need not be followed by an elaborate dessert ; people simply want a sliver of something sweet; they want to be left with a sweet taste in the mouth. Dairy Milk fits this profile because chocolate, unlike traditional Indian sweets, has longer shelf life, occupies lesser fridge space and is much, much cheaper to stock for homemakers. Cadbury has presented Dairy Milk as a perfect option - little pieces of chocolate for everyone, satisfying the entire family. The spot has tried to position Dairy Milk as the obvious, convenient answer to the above question (view here). The message seems to have gotten a bit lost in the story, which features some brilliant acting by the little girl. Yet, the spot has recall value, has become popular and will help Cadbury's concentrated push into the Indian home. The brand's goal is in progress but clear: for every Indian occasion that calls for sweets, Cadbury Dairy Milk is the answer.