Five Things We Learned… About How Cadbury Conquered Christmas

With Christmas the peak gifting season for UK confectioners to tap into, Cadbury was looking to improve its performance after a few years of worsening communications, which were neither driving sales growth or brand building effectively.

The brief set to the marketing team and its creative agency partner VCCP was to increase seasonal value sales by 10 per cent in two years, set during a period when inflation was skyrocketing, including the cost of cocoa.

In a fragmented media landscape, it was time to capitalise on the crucial season while not just simply developing and distributing a conventional TV-led ad campaign but adopting a holistic approach instead.

To achieve such a bold mission would involve a departure that led to a mass participation activation based on a traditional gifting activity – a UK-wide movement in the form of 'Secret Santa' but run by a dedicated postal service.

Initially launched in November 2022 for six weeks until Christmas, Cadbury wanted to unite the nation and share the spirit of Christmas by inspiring people to send a bar of chocolate to someone special. It had initially tapped the Secret Santa concept in 2018 and continued through until 2020, before choosing to ramp up its potential.

Developed by VCCP London and production partners Bernadette and Girl&Bear, the campaign depended on the use of hundreds of digital 6-sheet, static and fly posters at bus stops and train stations located throughout cities and towns. These would each feature the Secret Santa Postman as well as a QR Code that, once scanned, would take users to the dedicated website where they would enter details of their chosen recipient.

A feel-good TV ad was also produced to explain the concept, ultimately engaging more than three million people and generating millions of pounds in additional revenue from increased sales.

According to Emma Paxton, marketing manager for Cadbury, Mondelez, the approach to developing the campaign was with a challenger mindset and to create "a new mass ritual" for consumers which it was committed to build upon over decades.

"The results have been dramatic," she continues. "Before Cadbury 'Secret Santa', we struggled to meaningfully grow market share at Christmas - that ceiling has now been smashed. Cadbury 'Secret Santa' is now a best-in-class global example internally - and perhaps even externally - to show how an unconventional approach to a major trading period can drive unprecedented results."

She adds that the campaign has "been of great significance" to the organisation in terms of business results and engaging both internal teams and retailers alongside consumers.

The brand was one of this year’s main winners at The IPA Effectiveness Awards, including picking up The Broadbent Prize for Best Dedication to Effectiveness alongside a Silver.

Here are five things we learned from reading the entry paper

1. Since the launch in 2022 the campaign has amassed over 3 million participants driving a 43 per cent increase in annual Cadbury Christmas sales and generating £80 million in additional revenue.

2. The Christmas advertising season of 2022 saw marketing spend increase by five per cent to reach £9.5 million. Only ten businesses spent more than £10 million in the two-month run in. Of that, confectionery competitors to Cadbury increased their spend by 58 per cent between 2021 and the start of the 'Secret Santa' campaign with the vast majority coming from direct competitors. Cadbury was outspent by Mars in 2022 and by Nestle in 2023, so that Cadbury's share of voice declined from 31 per cent in 2021 to just 23 per cent in the second year of the campaign.

3. All 240,000 free bars were snapped up and gifted so quickly, Cadbury had to make an extra portion available at discounted rates. This enabled the total number of packages sent to reach more than 360,000, with almost half of those senders agreeing to be contacted for marketing in future.

4. The in-store activation for the campaign delivered visibility, even in the context of new government restrictions on confectionery feature and display. In Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket, there was a front-of-store activation in the form of a pop-up postal service. This was supported by Tesco Radio announcements, promotion on Tesco's website, and announcements on in-store digital screens. This activation reached millions of shoppers, and resulted in an additional 10,000 people interacting with Cadbury. Activated across all supermarkets, Cadbury's share of total category distribution points increased by 13 per cent.

5. According to Kantar, 'Secret Santa' was the most distinctive, most meaningful, and also most feel-good TV ad of any brand at Christmas since 2019. In the second year of the campaign – Christmas 2023 – the same TV ad outperformed the year before. It achieved close to 100 per cent on long term equity and short-term sales likelihood in both years, with 2023 fractionally higher.