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Tag: Cadbury 5 Star

  • “Our Erase Valentine’s Day campaign secured a reach of 108 million along with 300Mn impressions”: Mondelez’s Nitin Saini

    “Our Erase Valentine’s Day campaign secured a reach of 108 million along with 300Mn impressions”: Mondelez’s Nitin Saini

    Mumbai: Cadbury 5 Star’s ‘Erase Valentine’s Day’ campaign has achieved remarkable success this Valentine’s Day, featuring a daring mission to eliminate the mushy celebrations within a single minute. The brand introduced a time-travel vessel set to cross the international date line on 14 February, spearheaded by content creators Tanmay Bhat and Samay Raina from the control room in Mumbai.

    The exciting journey was streamed live on YouTube, inviting viewers to witness the volunteers navigate through the Samoan seas and erase Valentine’s Day from existence. As the vessel approached the date line, Bhatt and Raina led a countdown, marking the successful completion of the mission. The campaign resonated deeply with the brand’s core target group i.e the Gen Z demographic.

    Indiantelevision.com caught up with Mondelez India’s CMO Nitin Saini where he shared the idea and the kind of strategy that was used to implement this campaign.

    Edited excerpts

    On the idea of using Cadbury 5Star to erase Valentine’s Day come about

    Cadbury 5 Star, through its brand communication over the years, has become synonymous with easy going indulgence and the philosophy of Do Nothing. The brand, through all its campaigns has taken a counter-culture stance. It has stood as a playful reminder that in today’s world defined by ‘hustle’ culture, it is important to “chill” and savour the free moments.

    Even for the occasion of Valentine’s Day, Cadbury 5Star has consistently supported individuals/singles who feel disenchanted with the ‘Day of Love’ and prefer to spend the occasion doing nothing. The decision to launch the Valentine’s Day campaigns every year for Cadbury 5 Star was driven by comprehensive market research, which underscored the enduring significance of chocolates during this occasion. The brand has consistently used Valentine’s Day as an occasion to drive relevance and engagement through clutter-breaking campaigns and limited-edition packs. By showcasing the idea of ‘doing nothing’ as a valid and enjoyable option through campaigns like ‘Erase Valentine’s Day’, we provide support to those seeking an alternative Valentine’s Day experience.

    Building on the success of last year’s endeavor to help escape the mush, the brand along with its volunteers introduced the world’s first ever ‘time travel vessel’, a ship named F.N.S. Cringe Vinash, with a mission to Erase Valentine’s Day. The ship was sent to cross the International Date Line between American Samoa and Samoa at exactly 11:59 pm on 14 February 2024 (American Samoa Time), thereby crossing the 24-hour threshold and setting foot into 15 February, 12:00 am – the local time on the other side of the International Date Line thus, skipping 24 hours of Valentine’s Day in a single minute. To add a layer of laughter and entertainment, we got Tanmay Bhat and Samay Raina to helm the mission in the control room in Mumbai. This live event was a rollercoaster of laughs and personal stories, as we witnessed the brave volunteers cross the International Date Line— erasing Valentine’s Day for all those who want to skip the day. Viewers even got in on the action, voting for the cringiest things they have witnessed, while the volunteers on the ship dialed in the stream via a live video call and spoke about their own personal anecdotes adding an extra layer of hilarity to the mix.

    On sharing insights into the creative process behind developing the storyline for this campaign

    The concept for this year’s Cadbury 5 Star campaign stemmed from a quest to take unconventional celebrations to new heights and embrace the counter-culture. The objective was to challenge the standard norms of Valentine’s Day by offering an escape from the day entirely for singles who feel disenchanted with the ‘Day of Love’ and prefer to spend the occasion doing nothing. Collaborating with Ogilvy and bringing legendary space scientist Nambi Narayanan on board, we devised a creative narrative involving a ‘time travel vessel’ to skip 24 hours of Valentine’s Day in a single minute. Every ‘Do Nothing’ campaign on 5 Star has been loved by audiences and this year’s campaign has received a lot of love as well.

    On the decision to involve Tanmay Bhat and Samay Raina as hosts for the commentary booth

    The vibrant energy and cheeky humor of Tanmay and Samay which was perfectly tethered by their comedic camaraderie fit in well with the playful spirit of our brand. By involving Tanmay and Samay as hosts for the commentary booth, we wanted to infuse our campaign with an extra layer of entertainment and laughter, ensuring that viewers have a memorable and enjoyable experience as they witness this groundbreaking mission unfold.

    On the challenges did the whole team faced during its journey through time

    During the live stream on February 14th (India time), the ship’s captain mentioned to the hosts – Tanmay Bhat and Samay Raina that they were running 60 seconds behind schedule due to strong currents from the West near Samoa, requiring efforts to stabilize the vessel. Nevertheless, the ship successfully crossed the 24-hour threshold, arriving on February 15th, 12:00 am thus erasing Valentine’s Day as planned.

    On Cadbury planning to measure the success of this marketing campaign

    We evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by monitoring various key metrics. These include metrics related to consumer engagement, such as reach, engagement, and ad viewing duration on digital platforms. Overall, our campaign was received very well with 99% positive sentiments from audiences. Across social media platforms, our Erase Valentine’s Day campaign secured a reach of 108 million along with 300Mn impressions. Further, as on Google, the campaign garnered a 174MM reach, 866 MM impressions and 114 MM+ views.
    The YouTube livestream with Tanmay and Samay on 14th February was received extremely well, reaching over 65 Million people. The live stream garnered more than 1.6 million views, 35k+ concurrent viewers, and over 15,000 comments— with 70% of the viewers being within our core target group of 18-34 year old individuals.

  • Cadbury 5 Star has created a ‘Time-Travel Device’ to skip Valentine’s Day entirely!

    Cadbury 5 Star has created a ‘Time-Travel Device’ to skip Valentine’s Day entirely!

    Mumbai : Taking its philosophy a step further for Valentine’s Day this year, Cadbury 5Star is set to transform 14 February with a bold new campaign that will take the day of love out of the equation. Cadbury 5 Star has consistently supported individuals who feel disenchanted with Valentine’s Day and prefer to spend the occasion doing nothing. Building on the success of last year’s endeavor to help escape the mush, the brand along with its volunteers will introduce the ‘time travel vessel’, with a mission to Erase Valentine’s Day. On 14 February three brave volunteers will embark on a mission to fast forward the day from their timelines, with the entire world invited to witness the spectacle through an event which will be live streamed for all.

    Commenting on the campaign, Mondelez India VP- marketing Nitin Saini said, “Cadbury 5 Star is an embodiment of bold cheekiness and mischief, and the current campaign will meet a new level of whimsy by doing the impossible – Erase Valentine’s Day. Since last year escaping Valentine’s Day was just not enough for some, we wanted to break the mush meter altogether for the 5 Star fanatics, and fast forwarding the day seemed like the only way to accomplish the mission while also offering a rollercoaster ride of laughter and endless banter. We hope this first-of-a-kind voyage with 5 Star will be a successful one with the mission as a new ray of hope for singles who will hopefully join us as Mission Engineers to make this collective dream come true.”

    Cadbury 5Star has embarked on this mission in partnership with the legendary space scientist Nambi Narayanan, to introduce a unique ‘time travel vessel’, a ship named F.N.S. Cringe Vinash, that will be sent to cross the International Date Line between American Samoa and Samoa at exactly 11:59pm on 13 February 2024 thereby crossing the 24-hour threshold and setting foot into 15 February, 12:00am – the local time on the other side of the International Date Line thus, skipping 24 hours of Valentine’s day in a single minute! The volunteers who will embark on this momentous journey will symbolize the spirit of all those who wish to erase Valentine’s Day from their calendars this year. These volunteers, equipped with an abundance of Cadbury 5Star treats, will indulge in these delightful confections and Do Nothing as they journey through time.

    Ogilvy India chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak added, “5 Star has been surprising audiences every year with crazy digs at Valentine’s Day. But this time, when Karunasagar Sridharan proposed the idea of literally erasing the day using time travel, we instantly knew that this was going to be bigger than anything we’ve done, and a mammoth task to pull off. Fortunately, the Ogilvy Experiential Marketing Team lead by Krishnakant Mishra managed to move mountains and get a ship to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and our Ogilvy teams have orchestrated everything from a detailed live stream event in the middle of nowhere to a mission control room, and to add to the craziness, they’ve even brought in a legend like Nambi Narayanan to explain the science behind the mission. Every ‘do nothing’ campaign on 5 Star has been loved by audiences and we are looking forward to the buzz our latest installment generates.”

    Wavemaker India chief client officer & office head Shekhar Banerjee mentioned, “When it comes to building an anti-culture narrative, we know that one-size-fits-all approach just won’t cut it. Disrupting popular norms and triggering conversations requires a unique and differentiated approach to media. For this mission, we teamed up with some cool influencers as our hosts, carefully chosen to help us achieve our goal. As a countdown to the time-machine launch we will see diverse media touchpoints building anticipation for the D-Day. So buckle up and brace for impact as Cringe Vinash is about to rewrite cultural narratives like never before. Stay tuned for an unforgettable experience.”

    Conceptualized by Ogilvy, the brand has released an ad film announcing the mission and asking viewers to sign up as ‘Mission Engineers’ by visiting the mission’s website – www.erasevalentinesday.com. According to the website, Mission Engineers will get to play a ‘key role in making history’ – they will get to virtually connect with the control room during the event on 14 February and will even get to contribute LIVE to certain decisions taken by the crew.

  • Cadbury 5 Star’s “Do Nothing” philosophy highlighted in ‘Elevator’ ad

    Cadbury 5 Star’s “Do Nothing” philosophy highlighted in ‘Elevator’ ad

    Mumbai: Cadbury 5 Star, India’s beloved chocolate brand, and Ogilvy India have come together to launch yet another quirky “Do Nothing” campaign, elevating the brand proposition with a funnier take on keeping things light. Over the years, the chocolate brand in partnership with Ogilvy, has built on this proposition through many innovations like hijacking Google Assistant with a ‘Do Nothing Mode’, riding the crypto trend with ‘Nothingcoin’, creating the most visible ad campaign for a budget amounting to ‘nothing’, and more recently, a ‘Nothing University’ to train people for an AI-powered future where humans can finally upskill themselves in the art of ‘Doing Nothing’ and embrace AI instead of fearing it.

    The new ad titled ‘Elevator’ tells the story of a person whose phone rings at the most inappropriate time, but he’s too absorbed in enjoying his Cadbury 5 Star to do anything about it. It has been directed by Prasoon Pandey (Corcoise Films) and conceived by Ogilvy India.

    Speaking about this, Mondelez India VP- marketing Nitin Saini said, “Cadbury 5 Star has always been synonymous with indulgence and joy. With the new TVC we wanted to recapture that feeling of pure indulgence, where even the most insistent interruption can’t break the spell of enjoying a delicious 5 Star. This campaign is a playful reminder that in a world obsessed with doing more, slowing down and savoring the simple pleasures can be the ultimate act of chilling. We’re confident that this dramatic and quirky ad will connect with chocolate enthusiasts nationwide, further enhancing the distinct identity of Cadbury 5 Star as the champion of ‘Doing Nothing.”

    Ogilvy India chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak said, “5 Star is back with another crazy interpretation of ‘Do Nothing’. Over the years, the brand’s counter-culture stance has resonated strongly with the youth, with each piece adding to the campaign’s massive popularity. We hope our latest avatar continues to surprise and entertain people.”

  • See how every app is advertising for Cadbury 5 Star for free!

    See how every app is advertising for Cadbury 5 Star for free!

    Mumbai: Cadbury 5 Star has taken its famous tagline “Do Nothing” a notch higher. While other brands spend a fortune on deploying ads and in-app banners during the festive season, Cadbury 5 Star has reduced its budget to zero and declared that it can now “do nothing” to advertise.

    That’s because the brand has simplified its logo into a graphic of five stars. Now every time any app asks for a rating, the five blank stars on the app screen will resemble the new 5-star logo, which means every app will end up advertising for the product without even intending to. As a result, the brand is now visible across apps without the need to spend or do anything.

    Conceptualised by Ogilvy, the one-of-a-kind “#5StarsEverywhere” campaign cuts through the noise of regular, high-budget promotional activities by deftly playing on what the brand does best: innovate.

    Ratings have become an integral part of all D2C services, from food and grocery delivery to audio books and online shopping. Executing yet another brave idea, Cadbury 5 Star jumped at this opportunity and made itself synonymous with ratings across the board, essentially hijacking every app platform and smartly turning it around to be an ad for the chocolate.

    With their new logo now present all over the internet, the brand now plans to hijack other mediums for free advertising over the coming weeks, by leveraging this crazy approach.

    Speaking about this creative advertising, Mondelez India vice president of marketing Nitin Saini said, “With every subsequent Cadbury 5 Star campaign, we have strived to do something out of the box while shining a spotlight on the “Do Nothing” proposition. As a youth-centric brand, all our recent efforts were aimed to resonate with the current generation, from NothingCoin to our Valentine’s Day alibi campaign, “My Cousin’s Wedding.” Now with “#5StarsEverywhere,” the goal is to get consumers to engage with the brand in the most inventive way possible. By simply tweaking our logo, the brand has created waves by investing next to nothing in advertising and still gaining maximum eyeballs across almost every app. Steering away from the quintessential way of promoting, Cadbury 5 Star adds a fresh perspective by relaxing and leveraging the five-star review on the apps to spread the sweet message, “Do Nothing.””

    Talking about the unique concept, Ogilvy India chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak said, “Cadbury 5 Star believes in the philosophy of “Doing Nothing.” To solidify this idea in young minds, we conceptualised a smart hack with “#5StarEverywhere.” This is a disruptive app takeover idea that maximises partnerships by ensuring that 5 Star’s brand logo integration happens effortlessly across apps that have a rating mechanism. In the festive season, when brands bombard consumers with thousands of branded ads, we cleverly redesigned the 5 Star wrapper to mimic the “ratings” sections that are present across most apps and subliminally turned them into ads for 5 Star. So now anyone who sees an app rating page will think of Cadbury 5 Star. Yes, you will see a 5 Star literally everywhere. The list goes across platforms, service categories, languages, and countries. What adds to the fun, thanks to our ingenious idea, is that the brand will be literally everywhere and be part of fun conversations by doing nothing beyond the regular media budget.”

  • Cadbury 5 Star launches digital campaign, chooses the third umpire as its brand ambassador

    Cadbury 5 Star launches digital campaign, chooses the third umpire as its brand ambassador

    Mumbai: The iconic brand from Mondelez India, Cadbury 5 star has signed up the third umpire as its brand ambassador and has launched its latest campaign for IPL season.

    By crowning third umpires the #DoNothingLegend of cricket, the campaign celebrates these true icons – the ones who make the least moves, but the most impactful ones.

    The brand also launched its digital campaign where the brand installed a 12 ft holographic statue of the well-known umpire, CK Nandan at the Marine Drive, which was met with a lot of curiosity from the crowd gathered at the spot. Open to visitors on 2nd and 3rd May, the statue displayed the significance of the campaign idea on a plaque with the objective of creating a unique experience and engagement touch point for people who can pay their tribute to the legend as well.

    Additionally, the brand has also unveiled a digital film supported through a 360-degree marketing plan spread across platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Hotstar.

    Speaking about the campaign Mondelez India vice president Anil Viswanathan said, “Today IPL has become synonymous to cricket and with #DoNothingLegend, our aim is to shine a spotlight on the real legends, the game changers, who make historic decisions in these matches – the third umpire. They hold the power to make or break a match, whilst silently seated in a room, giving people the feeling that they are doing nothing at all. Cadbury 5 Star has always applauded the unimaginable results of doing nothing, and this campaign is no exception. This one-of-a-kind activation coupled with 360-degree efforts reiterates Cadbury 5 Star’s brand persona of being witty. The campaign speaks in a language that best resonates with the youth, who remain major followers of the sport.”

    ‘’IPL is core to our target audience, however landing our message of ‘Do Nothing’ on such a high octane event was close to impossible. This is a great example of finding the right targeting moment and working with partners to leverage it. Be it people watching the match online, people reading about the match, people discussing the match, or people watching the match with their friends. Every touchpoint will be celebrating the Third Umpire moments with 5-Star,” said West Wavemaker India chief client officer head Shekhar Banerjee.

    Ogilvy India’s chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak added, “This IPL we aimed to establish a connection with the Youth by further strengthening the “Do Nothing” proposition by celebrating and turning the third umpire into an iconic symbol that says, “Doing nothing is everything” and that’s how we became the first brand to make the Third Umpire a brand ambassador.”

  • Viacom18 and Mondelez India come together to celebrate Valentine’s Day

    Viacom18 and Mondelez India come together to celebrate Valentine’s Day

    Mumbai: Viacom18 in association with Mondelez India is all set to release a light-hearted celebratory song ‘Single Single’ this Valentine’s Day. The song, created as a brand solution content for Cadbury 5 Star, will debut exclusively on Viacom18’s social media handles.

    ‘Single Single’ is a song that encapsulates Cadbury 5 Stars’ laissez-faire positioning to ‘Do Nothing.’ Written and sung by Nikita Gandhi, the song stars celebrity influencer Anushka Sen. As part of this brand collaboration, Viacom18 has also planned an extensive marketing blitz driving instream inventory and interstitial ads across its social media handles.

    This campaign was conceptualised by Mondelez India and Wavemaker India in partnership with Viacom18.

    Viacom18 branded content-head Vivek Mohan Sharma said, “We are delighted to collaborate with Cadburys 5 Star and celebrate the festival of love with the country. ‘Single Single’ is a jovial song intended to uplift the mood and normalize singlehood this Valentine’s Day. Through Nikhita Gandhi’s voice and Anushka’s grace, we have created a harmonious symphony that is sure to bring smiles.’

    Mondelez India spokesperson said that the association brings yet another rendition of our mantra to take a break and ‘Do Nothing’ even when the world pushes you to participate in the merriment of love this Valentine’s Day. “Being at the center of today’s youth culture, the song ‘Single Single’ aids in molding our brand message the way they’d like to express and communicate to the rest of the world aka celebrate singlehood. Our strategic collaboration with Viacom18 will ensure unmatched entertainment across social media handles and spread cheer in India,” stated the spokesperson.

  • Cadbury 5 Star sends a message to Gen Z through its campaign, ‘Do Nothing’

    Cadbury 5 Star sends a message to Gen Z through its campaign, ‘Do Nothing’

    Mumbai: Mondelez India’s iconic brand Cadbury 5 Star is back with a new campaign that extends its ‘Do Nothing’ proposition. Taking another step ahead, the brand has launched NothingCoin, a new form of currency that gets mined while you do nothing. With no expensive hardware or large investments needed, NothingCoin challenges the traditional notion of how only hard work helps people earn.

    “Gen Z today is in a constant hustle mode list – right from balancing their studies, finding a job, having an active social life to worrying about their investment plans. We truly feel they deserve some downtime and perhaps a much-needed digital detox,” said Mondelez India senior director Anil Viswanathan. “The introduction of NothingCoin is our attempt to inspire them to take a break in the most engaging and rewarding manner.”

    This campaign attempts to reiterate Cadbury 5 Star’s brand persona of being witty and speaking in a language that excites the youth. In this latest communication, the brand is talking to today’s youth who are digital natives and hardly remember a time without smartphones, the internet, and social media. Comprising of college-goers and first-time job seekers with action-packed schedules, they are hardly left with time in their hands to simply relax and do nothing.

    The idea of the activation is that consumers can mine this coin by buying a Cadbury 5 Star, scanning the QR code, and logging onto the NothingCoin mining website. After following basic steps, the consumer must do nothing and keep his phone aside to let the website mine NothingCoins for them. On mining coins, the consumer can redeem exciting offers from the Cadbury 5 Star online mall linked with the website which has products from Souled Store or they can even redeem the coins for JioMart vouchers.

    “For the always-on generation, 5 Star’s NothingCoin is a smarter way to take a much-needed digital break, do nothing, and yet get rewarded. And what made the idea zanier was opening an actual bank which encouraged people to mine NothingCoins by simply doing nothing,” said Ogilvy India chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak.

    The launch is being supported by a 360-degree integrated marketing communication, including digital films, innovative outdoor, and influencer-led activation. As part of the outdoor activation, the brand has taken a spin on traditional bank setups and built a branch at Nariman Point in Mumbai wherein consumers can visit this bank, grab a Cadbury 5 Star, sit, and do nothing to mine more Nothing coins on our website. The bank has a loans counter, an ATM, and investment schemes with quirky messages that ask the consumer to do nothing.

    “This time we wanted to take #DoNothing to the next level with another seamless integration of technology and creativity & reward the millions of 5 Star consumers. We didn’t just stop at creating a virtual destination for mining of #NothingCoins, but also a physical location in the form of the #NothingCoin Bank, which is open for everyone to experience and of course, earn by #DoingNothing,” said chief client officer and office head, west, Shekhar Banerjee.

    The brand also did an online poll with the youth on where they would like to spend their NothingCoins – Paytm won the Instapoll. To get Paytm’s attention, 5 Star projected a funny banter message on PayTM’s Noida office which resulted in Paytm playing along and announcing that they’ve decided to start accepting NothingCoin too.

  • Axis Bank tops Twitter Brand Index for week 2 of ICC Cricket World Cup

    Axis Bank tops Twitter Brand Index for week 2 of ICC Cricket World Cup

    MUMBAI:  Social media platform Twitter has released the list of top advertisers who were successful in using the micro blogging platform to reach out to their respective audiences through digital conversations, for week two during the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. 

     

    The list has been compiled using an aggregate of re-tweets, favourites and replies, to come up with the Twitter Brand Index to acknowledge the top five brands from over 50 brands.

     

    Axis Bank has continued to build engagement around cricketing rituals. Knowing how big the game is in India people have been tweeting about how they do not take baths before games, drink water during games or (more popularly) leave their seats when a particular player is on a roll. Axis Bank used this insight to great effect by inviting people to share their rituals. “They’ve been able to sustain engagement by continuing activity on Twitter beyond just Match Days to having an always on strategy,” states the report. The top tweet for this campaign has been- https://twitter.com/AxisBank/status/569127038268923905

     

    Secondly Nike continues to rally the Indian Supporter around the hashtag #BleedBlue Chant. This week they shared more Bleed Blue stories and asked people to share theirs. This has been one of the unifying hashtags this World Cup and Nike continues to bring the Indian fan under the Bleed Blue umbrella. The campaign top tweet for the second week has been: https://twitter.com/nikecricket/status/569329658765778944 

     

    Thirdly Kit Kat India won the conversation this week with their casual banter on Twitter with their counterparts in South Africa. The flags of the two teams were overlaid on Kit Kat chocolate bars as part of the campaign. This also was the most retweeted tweet this week. The top tweet was: https://twitter.com/KitKatIndia/status/568740943597162497

     

    Meanwhile Club Mahindra has continued to find creative ways to integrate stories from their resorts into the larger cricket conversation on Twitter. The report says that it had seen a jump into non India matches as well and when New Zealand defeated England they drew parallels between scenic locations in New Zealand with one of their locations here in India. The top tweet for Club Mahindra’s campaign was: https://twitter.com/clubmahindra/status/568644082374832128

     

    And finally Cadbury 5 Star was able to bring together the Audio Card on Twitter during match day on Sunday and their brand assets – the twin duo of Ramesh and Suresh – to bring to their consumers specific commentary, pitch reports and post match analysis in the Ramesh and Suresh style. The top tweet for this campaign was: https://twitter.com/Cadbury5Star/status/569452254522003457

  • 9XM’s iconic animated characters feature in Cadbury 5-Star live action campaign

    9XM’s iconic animated characters feature in Cadbury 5-Star live action campaign

    MUMBAI: Brand integrations have become the norm of the day. With ever-changing times, the broadcasters, along with advertisers and media agencies are coming up with novel and more exciting ways to put forth their message to the viewers beyond the 10 sec or 30 sec TVC.

    9XM has followed suit and collaborated with Cadbury 5-Star for the same. In the latest TVC, the channel’s iconic characters – Bade and Chhote are seen indulging in their quintessential ‘Bakwaas’ humour as Ramesh and Suresh (Cadbury characters) get lost and engrossed, courtesy 5-Star.

    Titled #JoKhaayeKhoJaaye, it is a two-episode campaign wherein the basic plot revolves around Bade- Chote chilling out with Ramesh and Suresh in a canteen and indulging in the usual banter and the Bakwaas Band Kar humour.

    The campaign showcases both the jodis getting lost in their own world after chewing on Cadbury 5 Star, thus bringing in the essence of ‘Jo Khaaye Kho Jaaye’.

    For the very first time, a brand integration-based concept has been executed, featuring animated characters interacting with real-life ones in a live action format.  All done in-house, it took around 45 – 50 days for the channel to execute and create a one minute TVC. How ingenious is that?

    Well, how does this entire process transpire? For starters, the network has an in-house department called “Brand Solutions”, that incessantly works on novel ways of creation, ideation and is also involved in production.

    Why did the channel choose Cadbury? Earlier, 9XM had been associated with iconic brands like Idea, Tata Docomo, Nissan and others.  The channel constantly ideates and tracks the iconic brands that are ruling the market to be able to associate with them. “How we can merge those brand communications with what we stand for as a channel or as a network, and what these characters stand for is our main aim,” says 9X Media chief revenue officer Pawan Jailkhani.

    The channel goes to these brands and pitch its ideas. “We go to brands where they want to go beyond a normal TV commercial. Cadbury is a case in point. We ideated for Cadbury, went to 5-Star to apprise them as to what the line of communication is, and then tried to merge both concepts, thereby popularising them with our characters,” asserts Jailkhani.  

    He further goes on to say that with over 5,000 brands in the basket, the channel can’t pitch to each and every brand. “We need to identify what they stand for, what the line of communication is and what they would like to do.”

    It took around 10 – 15 days for the channel to ideate, another 10 – 15 days to pitch and then the client’s creative team gets involved. He believes that brands should be equally excited to do something new, which is beyond the average TVC.

    “Iconic brands will also not lend their communication to any old brand, which is not a dominant / iconic brand. This becomes a perfect fit then and they also take a lot of time to ideate and lend their characters too. In this case, for the first time in the history of Cadbury, after the Ramesh and Suresh concept, have they actually lent those characters.”

    The two TVCs which went on-air in the last week of December, 2014 will run till mid January, 2015. “After some point of time the novelty also gets over.” Jailkhani believes that four – eight weeks is sufficient enough to viralise the brand.

    On the digital front, it gets replicated too.  According to him, the response in terms of social media is also huge. “People have seen characters like Ramesh and Suresh, Bade and Chhote in a different ‘avatar’. Response from day one has been fantastic. Creation like this goes beyond response.”

    According to Jailkhani, 9XM will continue to strengthen value additions and associate itself with big brands like Cadbury 5-star.