Cadbury's Phil Warfield: Inspiring Generosity, AI Adoption And LHF Creative

Phil Warfield’s lifelong pull towards brands began early. “I’ve been fascinated by brands since I was seven or eight years old,” says the Cadbury Equity marketing director, who has spent more than 13 years at Mondelez. Over that time, he’s worked across a host of Dairy Milk campaigns and its many offshoots – from Freddo to Fingers – but it’s the core brand work that has consistently captured the public imagination.

The creative spark was lit in childhood. He recalls looking over at another kid’s packet of crisps, its design far more exciting than whatever he was holding. “I remember being fascinated, going I bet that tastes better,” he says – a small moment that nudged him towards a lifelong interest in how brands make people feel.

Today, that early instinct has come full circle as he leads the marketing of one of Britain’s most iconic brand names.

His pathway into marketing came through Johnston & Johnston’s five-year graduate programme in 2006 before a move to GSK and then onto Mondelez. It is the latter where has progressed through a range of roles and where he says he feels fortunate to have gained experiences that have shaped his professional outlook. That breadth has also sharpened a comparison he often draws between marketing and the subject he studied at university – geography – both broad, interdisciplinary fields that pull together different ways of thinking.

“One day you are reading spreadsheets trying to understand your P&L, another it's sat down with the engineers in the factory trying to understand how to be more efficient and get your product off the line. And then you're sat with creative agencies trying to build campaigns that drive real emotional reactions from consumers – every day is different,” he explains.

Delivering for Dairy Milk

Over the past decade, Cadbury Dairy Milk’s brand marketing has shifted decisively towards a more emotional register. While the ‘Gorilla’ spot remains a cultural touchstone, it no longer reflects how the brand seeks to connect with people. Its focus is now the ‘There’s a Glass & a Half in Everyone’ platform, developed with VCCP and introduced in 2018. It is a philosophy rooted in the brand’s Quaker heritage and the Cadbury family’s belief that generosity brings people closer together.

The latest entry into the ongoing series is ‘Homesick’, telling the story of two sisters separated by 6,000 miles but linked by the sharing of a bar of chocolate by post which the sender has already eaten a portion of.

“Everyone knows ‘Gorilla’ and everyone loves ‘Gorilla’, but where the strength of Cadbury’s generosity, and ‘There's a glass and a half in everyone’ has come from, is that it's the generosity of the brand, of the company, and of the product itself. That's the work that inspires me and that I see around from other advertisers as well - it's got a real thread that comes through in terms of its authenticity, as to why generosity is right,” explains Warfield.

Each campaign is measured to assess impact, engagement, distinctiveness using Mondelez’s own proprietary system. Every piece of creative is tested to ensure it will be effective before it goes out, featuring a data‑driven view of whether the work is likely to perform, he reveals.

He also leans on the creative and strategic judgement process with VCCP, assessing whether each piece of work ladders back to brand objectives, brand foundations, and positioning, and whether it will emotionally resonate with consumers.

He cites the small acts of generosity that have come through previous entries from ‘Mum’s Birthday’, ‘Memory’, ‘Garage and even Dairy Milk’s 200th anniversary celebration.

Yours For 200 Years

The ‘Yours For 200 Years’ campaign from 2024 is one that Warfield is especially proud of, celebrating both the landmark legacy as well as of the brand’s relationship with the public. After inviting people to share family photos featuring Cadbury, the team encouraged them to appear in reimagined classic posters.

Using AI image inference on original archive ads, the VCCP-developed tool recreated historic executions in a way that still felt authentically Cadbury.

That is a campaign that allowed Warfield and the marketing team to experiment in using AI technology, which he admits is an exciting development in terms of marketing, cost and technological advancements.

“We're working through exactly what that's going to mean for us, for the industry, how we work with it, but it's going to be really important in how we drive creativity - it's another string to our bow - but not in its entirety. There's always a human touch and craft that's included as we go.”

Warfield sees AI going on to be a powerful tool for the company in offering more efficiency around admin and data processing, but he believes the jobs that need craft and creativity remain.

“As part of the ‘Yours For 200 years’ campaign, that's a fantastic example of where in previous years, if the agency would have come to us and said, ‘We want to make 70,000 bespoke posters and allow the great British public to star in them,’ my first question would have been, ‘How much is that going to cost?’ And we'd have stopped at that conversation. So where AI allowed us to move forward was to make this immersive, personalised, beautiful bit of creative that really drove value for the consumer, and that's something that I'm super keen on pushing on.”

And while the brand’s adoption of technology may be on the rise, humanity and generosity will sit central to his plans for Cadbury.

“There is that generous instinct that exists within all of us, and if we can inspire a little bit of more of that as a brand in those everyday moments, then I think we're doing a fantastic job.”

Creative Marketing According to Phil Warfield

Creative Salon: Do you think Less Healthy Food (LHF) regulations will actually fuel your creativity — what impact — if any in terms of idea generation? 

Phil Warfield: Firstly, as a leading brand Cadbury has a responsibility to follow the guidelines and we will abide with both the letter and spirit of the law when going through our creative process

But yes absolutely the LHF restrictions have the potential to fuel creativity all the way from strategy through to execution

Brands which have strong equity, a clear strategic positioning & defined, compliant DBAs will be set-up to thrive in this environment in a fully compliant way

It will then be down to our agency teams on how they bring the craft and creativity through their ideas to create something that is truly distinctive and engaging for consumers

Can you talk a bit about why VCCP have proven such an effective creative partner for Cadbury?

I think there are three big reasons VCCP have been such an effective creative partner for Cadbury. The first is the honesty and trust that run right through the relationship — from the account management team to strategy to the creatives. I know I can pick up the phone if something doesn’t feel quite right, and we can talk it through. And I’m not always right.

A good example is from the Cadbury 200 Years campaign. There were lots of moving parts, but one press ad in particular stands out. The VCCP team were incredibly passionate about it, and most of our team were too. I was the one swimming slightly against the tide, asking questions. We had a meeting — not a showdown, but a proper conversation — and I said, “Look, I trust you. We all trust you. Just take me through the exploration you’ve done and why you feel this is the right direction.” We ended up running the ad, and it went on to receive a lot of creative acclaim. It was a great reminder that you don’t always get it right on instinct alone, and that what matters is being taken on the journey. If I can’t explain something simply, I probably don’t understand it, so I need partners who help me get there.

The second thing is the depth of understanding and genuine passion VCCP have for the brand. And it’s not just them — Publicis, Identity, and our other partners too — but with VCCP in particular, that care for Cadbury runs across every level, from junior team members to senior leaders. You can feel it in the work and in the conversations.

And finally, we’re lucky on both sides — Mondelez and agency — to have incredibly talented people who really care. When you combine that talent with trust, honesty, and a shared love for the brand, you get a partnership that consistently produces great work.

How do you maintain creative excellence and a focus on craft?

For me, it comes back to trust with our agency partners. On both the client and agency side, we’re aligned on pushing the creative bar as high as possible every time we brief work. That ambition is baked into our action standards — we’re always looking to elevate the work.

One of my personal watch outs is the balance between creative effectiveness and creative bravery. Measurement is hugely important to me, to the business, and to how we decide which ideas to progress or refine. But the risk is that you can walk past the big, bold ideas because they don’t fit as neatly within the frameworks we use. As an industry, we need to protect space for those ideas — the ones that take longer to develop, might not test as strongly at first, and might not behave like short‑term, performance‑driven ads that grab attention quickly but don’t build long‑term brand value.

The challenge is holding onto the craft and the joy of great advertising, even when the data doesn’t immediately validate it. I’m a stickler for testing and for proving that what we put out is the highest quality possible, but I also have to check myself to make sure I’m not overlooking the bold creative leaps that move the brand forward.

Do you find that when you embrace a big idea, it can be a gamble?

I think given the given the level of measurement, we know more than ever whether something is going to be effective or not... where there are those riskier bits of creative — that's where the trust element comes in — and whether that's with your agency, that whether that's with my boss, or up into our global team that we work with. And I think that's one where sometimes just sitting around, looking at the work together, discussing how do we all feel about it. And yes, understanding whether there's risk, there's challenge, but whether actually this is the right thing to do. And it's the right thing to do for the brand, the right thing to do for the consumers, colleagues, customers, community, whoever it might be. In terms of that idea, I think that's where just having those conversations and saying how do we feel about it, we're going to push in this area — yes or no — that's what gives you the confidence to go through with something.

Are there any particular campaigns that you're most proud of being involved in?

Yeah, I think so. Broader philosophy‑wise, whether it’s creative development or anything in marketing, I’m such an advocate of being consumer‑centric. There’s a lot to be said for the basics — actually talking to consumers and understanding the insight or the drive behind something. Early in my career at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), I worked on Johnson’s Baby. I was a graduate straight out of university who knew nothing about babies, yet working on this huge brand. But J&J did something brilliant that I haven’t seen in any other FMCG business: they ran consumer closeness sessions. They were essentially focus groups, and they had a room in the building where, as a graduate moving into a junior brand manager role, I could run groups with parents about Johnson’s Baby products or issues. The amount you uncovered in those sessions — the insights behind your product or campaigns — was incredible. You’d never get that from reading through reels of market research data. There’s nothing like actually speaking to a consumer.

I’ve tried to carry that through my whole career. If I can chat to my dad about a creative idea and he understands it and it feels right, that’s a pretty good acid test for whether it’s heading in the right direction.

In terms of work, I’m most proud of, I come back again to Cadbury. The 200 Years anniversary will always be a career highlight. It was a big responsibility, with lots of conversations about how to get it right for all the groups that matter to us — customers and the journey we’ve been on with them, consumers and the brand’s role in the fabric of the nation, and our colleagues and communities. What was so fantastic about ‘Yours for 200 Years’ as a concept was how it held up a mirror and celebrated the role consumers have played. Asking people to send in photos of themselves with Cadbury products over the past 200 years was amazing — some of the black‑and‑white images were extraordinary — and turning them into huge posters around the country, from Piccadilly Lights to big sites in Manchester, created real pride in being the star of the show.

Another part of the campaign was the retro bars. We brought back Cadbury designs from across the past 200 years, and everyone had their favourite. It always linked to a moment in time — the bar you grew up with. It sparked brilliant cross‑generational conversations: parents insisting their era was the definitive one, you saying it was the ’90s bar because that’s what you grew up with, and younger colleagues saying, “What are you talking about? This is what Cadbury Dairy Milk looks like to me.”

It all comes back to the fact that everyone has their own memories and a sense of ownership of the Cadbury brand. It really hammers home that you’re a custodian — looking after it and hopefully leaving it in a slightly better place than the person who managed it before you.

What is our campaign that you've always admired, that you weren't involved with?

I’ve got loads, so I’ll give you a few different campaigns and different ways into them. I love ‘Apple Shot on iPhone’. The product benefit is front and centre, delivered in a simple but beautiful way through the creative that’s chosen.

I love Patagonia as a brand, particularly as an example of how to genuinely live your purpose. Everything they do is driven by that mission to “save the world”. An execution I’ve always admired is ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ — a big, bold, brave idea about recycling and upcycling clothing. I’m sure they sold plenty of jackets, but the boldness and disruption of the advertising was brilliant.

And then, especially with a daughter coming into her teenage years, the Dove 'Campaign for Real Beauty’. It’s an easy one to cite, but what I love is that for 20 years they’ve reinvented the same strategic platform and found new, interesting ways to bring it to life. I draw a lot of parallels with compound creativity and how we’re working with Cadbury.

One of the latest executions — ‘Redefined by AI’ — really hit home. Highlighting how young girls are altering their images, with that stat about a third of girls using AI to change how they look, and then flipping it with Pinterest to encourage people to share photos of what real beauty means to them. Actively influencing the algorithm so those images rise up the search profile is such a smart, positive use of technology to drive activism.

It’s one that resonates deeply for me, especially seeing the world my daughter is growing up in.