Nitin Saini on converting 5Star to five stars

In conversation with Social Samosa, Nitin Saini, Vice President of Marketing at Mondelez India shares why Cadbury 5Star changed its packaging, its new marketing strategy, and some of its most iconic advertisements.

Many associate Cadbury 5Star with Ramesh and Suresh. Since 2006, for more than 12 years, these quirky siblings have entertained viewers by losing themselves in the flavor of the chocolate. May it be ‘Pitaji ki patloon’ or ‘Uncleji ki kursi’, this duo built a recall value for the brand through its proposition, 'Jo khaaye kho jaaye'.

Since its launch in 1969, Cadbury 5Star's brand positioning has changed over time to reflect the shifting customer behavior. Its early advertising highlighted getting lost in the flavor but over time, this changed, and now it captures the feeling of laziness with ‘Do nothing’ proposition. 

From introducing NothingCoin, a cryptocurrency that could be mined while one does nothing and earn rewards, to occupying an island to provide a different way for singles to celebrate Valentine's Day and escape the corniness, Cadbury 5Star made a strategic shift in its communication.

During the festive season, a season known for amping up marketing spends, Cadbury 5Star reduced its budget to zero and declared that will now "Do nothing" to advertise. The brand took its tagline a notch higher by simplifying its logo into a graphic of five stars. Now, whenever any app requests a rating, the five blank stars will resemble the new 5Star logo on the app screen, which means every app will unintentionally end up promoting the product, according to the brand.

Commenting on the objective behind the campaign, Nitin Saini, VP - Marketing, Mondelez, said, “Our goal with the latest Cadbury 5Stars Everywhere campaign was simple: create organic recall for the brand during the festive season while truly living the ‘Do Nothing’ proposition. This led to the brand hijacking the popular five-star rating system by changing its packaging into one thus, smartly taking over popular apps and turning each of them into a Cadbury 5Star ad."

Taking us through the creative process of the campaign, Nitin Saini added, “We realized, from offering rides to delivering groceries, the D2C sector is witnessing an exponential upsurge, and ratings have become an integral part of their services. As the flagbearers of wit and refreshing marketing, the team came up with a clever idea of relaxing and tapping into the five-star rating system through a simple logo change and advertising strategy that would generate a strong recall value for the brand. Hence, we thought that while we have been asking people to ‘Do Nothing’ for years now, it was time to walk the talk and follow our own advice of ‘Do Nothing’,”

Also Read: Brands join the Lionel & Cristiano moment; but are they violating copyright guidelines?

Saini explains that A natural extension to the previous narrative, ‘Do Nothing’ highlighted the need for Gen Z to take a break from the constant hustle mode. According to him, what really brought success over the years to 5Star was acknowledging the evolving times and introducing campaigns that truly resonate with Gen Z; the brand’s core target group. 

He said, “Marrying tech to the brand’s overall persona has helped 5Star take a step closer to today’s digitally native youth who continue to use social media extensively, while also paving way for us to truly become a digital enterprise.”