Case Study: How 5Star used satire to erase V-Day and reached 65Mn+ users
Cadbury 5Star's 'Erase Valentine’s Day' campaign leveraged time travel satire to challenge traditional V-Day norms and reached over 65Mn people. Here's a case study on how they did it.
By using the concept of time travel, Cadbury 5Star's Anti-VDay campaign titled 'Erase Valentine’s Day' took a satire route to build on the tradition of the anti-Valentine’s Day narrative and take a step beyond just escaping Valentine’s Day and breaking the mush meter. The objective was to challenge Valentine's Day's standard norms by offering an entire escape from the day.
By onboarding content creators, doing a live stream of the 'Cringe Vinash' campaign and more, the campaign secured a reach of 108 million. Here's a case study on how they did it.
Category Introduction
The Indian chocolate market is poised for growth, with its size expected to escalate from $ USD 2.21 billion in 2024 to USD 3.05 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 6.64 % according to a report by Mordor Intelligence. The rise of e-commerce platforms across the country, the easy access to a wide range of domestic and international chocolate products, and the introduction of new flavours and packaging formats are among the key factors driving the market growth. The consumption of chocolates in India is largely influenced by a myriad of factors including festivals and celebratory occasions, gifting traditions, as well as the growing inclusion of chocolates as a part of every shared moment of happiness.
Brand Introduction
Launched in 1969, Cadbury 5Star stands as an iconic brand from Mondelez India. The brand is known for its innovative yet quirky marketing campaigns over the years that have resonated with consumers. The success is also attributed to the brand’s ability to evolve with its consumers and craft a positioning that resonates with today’s generation.
With its 'Do Nothing' campaign, the brand has embraced 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 today’s individuals who’d rather Do Nothing on the ‘Day of Love’ and engage in carefree indulgence. 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.
The journey started in 2020 wherein their campaign encouraged singles to unwind and enjoy the day without succumbing to traditional romantic pressures by stressing on their ‘Do Nothing’ philosophy. In 2021, the proposition evolved into helping consumers Escape V’day with various renditions of the theme introduced over the years. But just Escaping the day didn’t seem enough!
Summary
Continuing its counter-culture philosophy, this year, the brand along with its volunteers introduced the world's first-ever ‘time travel vessel’, with a mission to Erase Valentine’s Day. On the 14th of February, three select volunteers embarked on a mission to fast forward the day from their timelines by journeying across the International Date Line between American Samoa and Samoa at exactly 11:59 pm on 13 February 2024 (American Samoa Time), thereby crossing the 24-hour threshold and setting foot into 15 February. The spectacle was also live-streamed for consumers to witness it all.
Objective
With the Erase Valentine’s Day campaign, the objective was to build on the counter-culture narrative and take a bold step to erase Valentine’s Day using time travel.
Brief
The brief was to build on the tradition of the anti-Valentine’s Day narrative and take a step beyond just escaping Valentine’s Day and breaking the mush meter. The objective was to challenge the standard norms of Valentine's Day by offering an escape from the day entirely.
Execution
Building on the success of last year’s endeavour to help escape the mush, Cadbury 5Star collaborated with Ogilvy and brought legendary space scientist Nambi Narayanan on board. The brand 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 13 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.
The brand released an ad film announcing the mission and also invite viewers to sign up as ‘Mission Engineers’ by visiting the mission’s website – www.erasevalentinesday.com.
After releasing the ad, the brand collaborated with various content creators to accelerate the conversation around D-Day and converse with wider audience.
The brand also got Tanmay Bhat and Samay Raina to helm the mission in the control room in Mumbai which was live-streamed on YouTube.
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 dialled in the stream via a live video call and spoke about their personal anecdotes adding an extra layer of hilarity to the mix.
Across social media platforms, Cadbury 5Star’s Erase Valentine’s Day campaign secured a reach of 108 million along with 300 million impressions.
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 reached over 65 million people and garnered more than 1.6 million views, 35k+ concurrent viewers, and over 15,000 comments — with 70% of the viewers being within the brand's core target group of 18 - 34-year-old individuals.
Nitin Saini, VP- Marketing, Mondelez India, said, “Cadbury 5Star 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.”
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