India is a cricket crazy nation, and the Indian Premier League is its biggest festival. For brands and marketers in India, it has turned into their very own Super Bowl. With normalcy resuming, this IPL was touted to be the biggest ever, and so were the endorsements. In the year before, celebrity endorsements in sports increased by 11% YoY, and cricketers accounted for 318 endorsement deals, making up for 87% of the overall brand endorsement value.

To make the most of the opportunity, Cadbury needed to cut through this clutter, in a manner that was true to its intrinsic purpose of inspiring generosity.

Objectives:

•To create a campaign that was memorable, likable and engaging enough to get past IPL clutter.

•Grow consideration by maintaining and sustaining critical imagery scores which were resurrected after a lot of effort in H2 2020.

•Maintain growth and maintain momentum through the sluggish chocolate season.

Cadbury directed its marketing investments to shine a spotlight on the ground staff and proudly sponsor them instead of a popular cricket franchise.

The brand partnered with the Mumbai Cricket Association and created a plan focused on treating the ground staff at par with the cricketers, throughout the tournament.

This includes best-in-class travel, accommodation, taking care of their nutritional needs and stylish designer jerseys, through the entire duration of the tournament, thereby extending the same special treatment to them as the star players.

Creative Expression: Cadbury Dairy Milk – Proud Sponsors of the Ground Staff at the IPL 2022

We used social media to share behind the scenes moments of the ground staff enjoying the celebrity like treatment they deserve. We also created a microsite where consumers could send across messages of appreciation to the ground staff.

• Insight:

While the cricket players are worshipped in India, the ground staff who make the cricket matches possible go completely unnoticed.

• Key message:

To acknowledge the unacknowledged ground staff.

• Target audience (consumer demographic / individuals / organisations):

We spoke to the youth, young families, and middle-aged joint families (everyone aged 18-45). The Indian Premier League proved to be the perfect platform that offers it the opportunity to meaningfully connect with them.

• Creation and distribution of assets:

We created assets that would highlight not just the work, but also the ground staff's responses. We distributed them in an integrated manner across TV, Social Media and On ground during the matches itself.

Implementation:

Ours was a 360-degree campaign. All the various elements of a typical sponsorship program like designer kits, luxury hotel stays, health and wellness programs, individual recognition and other such elements ensured the perfect implementation and exponential impact of the campaign.

Media channels and integration:

Besides sponsoring the the ground staff for the entire duration of the tournament, we collaborated with popular cricket influencers and key opinion leaders to recognize the ground staff’s efforts. We created media alliances with Mumbai Indians and Star Sports to build further reach amongst fans. We also bolstered our campaigns discoverability with an editorial PR push through India’s leading dailies like Times of India, Hindustan times and so on.

Timeline:

20th March to 27th May (almost 10 weeks)

Scale:

• 2 Billion impressions

• 130 Million views

• 16 Million engagements

• 99% positive response

• Earned media worth 120,879 USD

•The campaign scored the highest on the Net Positive Index for Cadbury Dairy Milk at 86%.

•In March 2022, it, was the most watched and engaged content in the category.

•We were not only the buzziest brand in the category, but also the most searched, engaged and viewed brand.

•Digital SOV + Share of buzz was the highest in the category during the campaign period.

•Earned media: Approximately 120,985.55 United States Dollars.

•Consideration for Cadbury jumped by 5% in Q2 over Q1 – which historically declines.

•The brand grew during a slump time (Q2) for the category.

•The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) who are the biggest governing bodies of cricket in India recognized the true contribution of the ground staff and announced prize money of over 58,048.46 United States Dollars (approximately); which got distributed amongst the ground staff members.