Cadbury’s Top 9 Marketing Strategies

Cadbury is a goldmine for marketers.

As one of the oldest and largest multinational brands, Cadbury has a long history of surviving and thriving in challenging environments using clever and brilliant promotion techniques. 

Its marketing strategies provide solid templates for a successful retail business, giving emerging entrepreneurs a proven method to grow their brand.

In this article, I have shared some of these marketing strategies for you. Here you’ll discover core tactics Cadbury employed to build a brand.

What is Cadbury?

Cadbury is a prominent British confectionary brand owned by Mondelez International—formally Kraft Foods. 

Headquartered in Uxbridge, United Kingdom, it sells a variety of chocolate products all over the world.

Cadbury was originally established by a coffee and tea trader, John Cadbury in Birmingham, England, in 1824. 

The founder primarily sold drinking chocolate in the early years before entering into a joint partnership with his brother, introducing a chocolate bar product line.

Following that, Cadbury grew into one of the top local confectionary manufacturers, gaining a royal warrant and subsequent recognition.

By the early nineties, Cadbury held nearly 60% of the chocolate market. Its advertisement methods became an inspiration for the famous novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Over the years, Cadbury has changed several hands, merging, demerging, and expanding its operations overseas. With each move, it launched new product lines, keeping up with the consumer trends and gaining more market share.

Today, Cadbury is a multinational company with a brand value of 5.73 billion dollars.

Nine Marketing Strategies of Cadbury

Listed below are some of the top promotional and advertising strategies Cadbury used to grow its business.

1. Product Niche

Cadbury’s product line is incredibly diverse. It contains a variety of chocolates, delicious biscuits, and confectionary for special occasions.

But there is one ingredient you’ll find common in all of its items—chocolate. 

Cadbury has been producing cocoa products for over 100 years, from hot chocolate and bars to biscuits and crème eggs. Chocolate is Cadbury’s niche and literally all of its products are made from some flavor of chocolate. 

By choosing a particular niche, Cadbury has inadvertently become a de facto representative of chocolate, gaining an edge over its competitors.

One other major benefit Cadbury receives from its niche product is exclusivity. 

Selecting a core ingredient enables Cadbury to focus on one area, allowing for more innovative and creative ideas. Which, in turn, keeps its audience interested in the brand, helping the company maintain its income stream.

Takeaway

Picking a product niche serves two purposes.

It gives your audience an impression you’re specialized in your field, cutting down the competition in half. And it makes promoting your products and services easier. 

You can use your niche product as a value proposition and build your advertisements and promotions around it. 

2. Brand Identity

Cadbury is globally recognized for its iconic royal purple and gold packaging.

The rich color scheme is practically Cadbury’s trademark, making the brand distinct and memorable. 

While the company has repeatedly revamped its branding to stay on the trend, its original theme has remained the same on account of its popularity. 

Ever wonder what makes the Cadbury brand scheme special? 

Visual communication.

Cadbury brand style and color symbolize indulgence, quality, and mystery, while its smooth curvature font mimics the rich creamy texture of chocolate. Combined, they deliver a powerful message, creating a certain perception of the brand in the audience’s mind.

Brand identity also helped Cadbury gain more exposure in the early days.

When Cadbury initially introduced its brand theme, the response to its logo color scheme was so well-received that Cadbury eventually made a move to trademark the shade. 

A leading company literally fought over the color just to prevent Cadbury from claiming the color rights, bringing more spotlight to the brand. 

That action alone shows the significance of the color choice.

Takeaway

Brand identity is a core component of marketing. With the right color scheme and logo design, you can attract your audience’s attention and make your product recognizable. 

Design your brand identity with your products and audience in mind. 

3. Emotional Marketing

Cadbury’s target market is diverse. It promotes its products to almost every age group, including mature adults, to increase its reach and expand its customer base.

Since focusing on multiple markets requires considerable resources and effort, Cadbury uses emotional marketing to achieve its goals. 

Let’s look at the below advertisement. This advertisement is part of Cadbury’s “glass half-full” campaign, associating the chocolate bar with celebration.

In the video, you’ll see a conversation between a father and a son. 

On the surface, the commercial seems simple and short, but if you break down its components, you’ll notice Cadbury has brilliantly targeted two age groups using common elements like family and celebration. 

Here’s another good example.

This advertisement is from the same campaign but aims at a different income group.

By highlighting positivity and incorporating emotional elements, Cadbury targets kids, teens, young adults, and even senior citizens simultaneously. 

Takeaway

Emotional marketing is a powerful advertisement element. It enables you to build connections with your audience and create a positive perception of your brand.

Companies that use emotional marketing to promote their products have a 31% higher success rate comparatively. 

Apply it in your advertisements to drive more conversions.

4. Social Media Marketing

Cadbury leverages several social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, to engage leads and target multiple markets. It runs separate accounts for each of its products and publishes personalized content tailored to specific audiences.

For instance, the content on Cadbury UK would be vastly different from Cadbury India. Theme color and style of each product will also show slight variation—look up Cadbury Silk and Bournville.

With multiple accounts and targeted content, Cadbury attracts a wide range of people and engages individual groups at the same time.

Takeaway

Social media is one of the most common channels for digital marketing. Its cost-effective nature allows brands to create various touchpoints without investing a considerable budget.

Use social media for retargeting advertisements and lead nurturing campaigns. It will help you connect with your audience worldwide and convert leads into sales.

5. Personalization

Cadbury applies personalization tactics in multiple departments to strengthen its brand positioning.

Through product lines, promotion campaigns, and lead nurturing activities, it generates continuous engagement, which, in turn, keeps its name in the news.

Top personalization techniques Cadbury employs include seasonal gift options, custom packaging, scratch card promotions, and digital gifts. 

The last one is, in fact, the best example of its personalization strategy. 

Let me explain it with an example. Cadbury launched a mobile campaign called “Cadbury Glow” in 2015, delivering personalized videos to gift receivers using the Idomo app. 

The video features a room with a custom nameplate with images pulled from the buyer’s Facebook profile and sent to the receiver as a present. The goal was to use emotions as a lever to increase the gift market in India.

The result? The campaign generated a 65% click-through rate and 33% conversions. 

Takeaway

Personalization improves the shopping experience. 60% of buyers consider it a motivating factor for repeat purchases and will likely become regular customers of that brand.

Nearly 79% of the retail industry has already integrated this promotion technique into their marketing strategy. It’s a good time to invest some of your budget in customization.

6. Outdoor Activities

One of Cadbury’s best brand awareness and engagement strategies is outdoor promotion.

By combining virtual and physical activities in its promotion campaigns, Cadbury attracts a crowd and gains entry into new markets.

Remember the “Glow” videos I discussed in the personalization section? Prior to that, Cadbury launched a similar campaign named “Flavor Matching” in Australia to introduce new Dairy milk product flavors. 

The same Idomoo app was utilized to create personalized videos, but Cadbury coupled it with an outdoor Facebook-powered vending machine, the “Joy Generator”. The machine was designed to match and deliver flavored chocolate to each individual based on their Facebook data.

The mechanics of the campaign alone generated a lot of curiosity, prompting people to try out and share snaps with friends and family—which was the intended goal.

Cadbury spends a chunk of its revenue on integrated advertisements. It leverages every available channel, including TV, print, and outdoor, to introduce new products and conduct lead nurturing activities. 

It has even turned its factory tour into a lucrative opportunity, introducing “Cadbury World” for personal visits.

Takeaway

Outdoor activities are great venues for engagement. Through challenges, games, and giveaways, you can generate public interest and create a memorable experience for the audience. 

They also offer an excellent opportunity to collect in-person feedback. 

7. Banner Advertisements

Billboard is Cadbury’s core promotion channel.

The company has launched some of the most creative and interactive billboard ads utilizing print, digital, and even live subjects to gain attention.

Take a look at the below advertisement. 

In the center of the billboard, a real-life person is sitting with text pointing at him, saying “It’s amazing. Just ask this Aussie”. The ad was aimed at 130k Australians living in the UK, but it simultaneously targeted Britishers’ sense of curiosity, attracting both audiences.

Cadbury has designed similar engaging billboards and street banners plenty of times, using interactive elements like 3D effects, mystery, and virtual reality to stir people’s curiosity. 

A few of the notable campaigns to explore are #FreeTheJoy, Mystery Bars banners, and Giant Bar. 

Takeaway

Billboards provide an amazing opportunity for more visibility. 90% of people typically view billboards while walking or driving, and 20% immediately make purchases after seeing the ad. 

If used correctly, Billboards can be great tools to create brand awareness and increase your reach. And unlike old times, you can now place both print and digital banners to make your ads stand out.

8. Entertainment and Creativity

Creativity plays a major role in Cadbury advertisements.

With entertainment elements like humor and emotions, Cadbury creates ingenious ads and makes its products memorable.

Have you seen its Gorilla commercial? 

In 2007, Cadbury launched a 90-second local commercial featuring a gorilla playing drums. The video was released following a series of scandals to represent Cadbury in a different light. 

The entire video showed nothing but a gorilla, with some clues leading to the brand. The idea was to create intrigue and send a motivational message to the masses.

The commercial went viral and was viewed six million times on YouTube. 

Parodies, references, and memes followed the ad release, generating more views and engagement. Cadbury saw a 9% jump in annual sales that year and won several awards.

The commercial was such a huge success that Cadbury released its sequels, expanding the campaign’s reach to other countries.

Takeaway

Entertaining advertisements are attention-grabbing. People love to see humor and creativity in commercials and often share such posts with friends and family. 

Using humor and entertainment elements, you can influence your audience’s perception and connect with them on a deeper level.

9. Sponsorships

Cadbury has made several sponsorship deals and generous donations to get more exposure.

Through sports, local communities, and national events, it has maneuvered itself into prime spots and gained substantial publicity.

Olympics, Premier League, Australian rugby, and cricket are some of its notable sports partners. With these sponsorship deals, it has become a global chocolate partner place and earned an advertisement spot on the stadiums.

Social marketing is another strategy Cadbury frequently uses to improve its brand image. It runs a charity foundation for its workforce and local sports and has donated a substantial amount to support health and skills.

Takeaway

Sponsorship strategy helps you establish your authority and position in the market.

It not only makes you look authentic but also boosts your reach.

Conclusion

Emerging brands can learn a lot about promotion and advertisement by studying Cadbury’s marketing strategies. 

The company has experimented with almost every trending technique, providing you with the necessary data to make well-informed marketing decisions.

Explore Cadbury’s core campaigns, study its advertisement components, and implement strategies that fit your business operations. Good luck!