Cadbury aims to revive founding spirit of generosity in debut campaign from VCCP

Cadbury is seeking to restore its status as a "fabric of the nation" brand in a new campaign that will shine a light on everyday moments of generosity and kindness.

A new TV ad, "Mum’s birthday", which debuts tomorrow night during The Voice on ITV, is the first work for the brand by VCCP since it won the account last June, replacing 11-year incumbent Fallon.

The spot tells the story of a young girl going into a shop to buy a bar of chocolate for her mum’s birthday. But as it’s her first time buying anything, she only has a collection of buttons and other knick-knacks with which to pay.

The ad ends by introducing the new tagline – "There’s a glass and a half in everyone" – which refers both to the glass and a half of milk in each bar of Dairy Milk, and the spirit of generosity that exists within people.

It was created by Chris Birch and Jonathan Parker, and directed by Fréderic Planchon through Academy Films. The media agency is Carat.

The £12m campaign will be supported by digital, social, PR, experiential and sampling, with a second TV ad set to follow in spring.

There will be out of home executions combining Dairy Milk’s "glass and a half" icon with positive emojis, like the heart, smiley face and thumbs up, along with the tagline, but without the presence of the Cadbury name or logo.

Between 25 and 28 January, the brand will host a pop-up store in Greek Street in Soho that will give chocolate lovers the chance to act out the ad by purchasing a bar of Dairy Milk for the price of a trinket or button. The brand expects to give away 10,000 bars.

Ben Wicks, global brand director for Cadbury, said: "In today’s world it’s easy to overlook those small moments of authentic human generosity, but actually they are happening all around us.

"We want to shine a light on these genuine acts of kindness and true moments of human connection that are occurring every day."

Cadbury was founded in 1824 by John Cadbury, a Quaker who was troubled by the damage caused to the community by alcohol, and wanted to offer an alternative in the form of the tea, coffee and drinking chocolate originally sold by the business.

His son George, who later took over the running of the business, built the Bournville estate in a bid to offer better living and working conditions for the company’s employees.

Watch our behind the scenes video from the filming of the new campaign

You have

[DAYS_LEFT] Days left

of your free trial

Subscribe now

Get a team licence 

 Give your teams unrestricted access to in-depth editorial analysis, breaking news and premium reports with a bespoke subscription to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10.

Find out more

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Market Reports.

Find out more

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an Alert Now