Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk: 'Coz a chocolate needs to be savoured

Seeing the way women and kids eat chocolate, Cadbury realises that justice can be done to communication for chocolate only by depicting the way it is eaten

Have you seen a baby eating chocolate, enjoying unselfconsciously not only what's going inside the mouth, but also what is smeared everywhere else - hands, lips, clothes, et al? Get ready for another visually lip-smacking experience. For its new premium range, Dairy Milk Silk, Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM) has introduced two TVCs, which highlight that the chocolate is smoother and richer than the original Dairy Milk. And they do it by showing what it's like to consume a bar of chocolate with the purest form of joy. afaqs! samples the communication.

The creative bite

Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk: 'Coz a chocolate needs to be savoured

In the first commercial, a man takes some time off in office, to relish a bar of Dairy Milk Silk at the end of a tiring day. While he enjoys the chocolate, nothing else seems to hold his attention, not even his wife's call.

The second piece of communication has two women losing out on giving their Arangetram performance (debut performance in Bharatanatyam), in the pleasure of gratifying themselves with a bar of Dairy Milk Silk.

Nikhil Rao, assistant vice-president - marketing, Cadbury India explains that the original brand, Dairy Milk has been customised to suit the seasons in India, and has also been made widely available, even in remoter parts of the country. According to him, with 100 per cent awareness and 90 per cent preference, Dairy Milk, as a brand, is well-established.

"Kids and women how to eat chocolate best - they microwave it, wait for it to melt and savour it a bit; as compared to a 35-year old who simply finishes off the entire bar in a jiffy. The creative brief was to bring the long, indulgent process to life," reveals Rao.

As per Manoj Shetty, executive creative director, Ogilvy, the product is essentially a smoother and 'silkier' version of CDM, and that is what the communication depicts visually. He adds that the values of CDM's Kucch Meetha Ho Jaaye, and the happiness involved with the brand, were consciously kept very much intact.

The music score has been given by Amar Mangrulkar, and the films have been shot in Mumbai over a period of two days. They have been directed by Vinil Matthew and produced by Footcandles.

The not-so-silky way

This is the first time Cadbury has launched a premium range of Dairy Milk, the 60-year old brand which contributes to about 35 per cent of the company's revenues (out of the total 70 per cent that comes from chocolates).

CDM has had various taste variants, including Dairy Milk Fruit& Nut, Roasted Almond and Crackle, which are themselves 20-30-year-old brands. A variant for kids, CDM Wowie, is a relatively recent entrant. Besides, CDM Shots is the smaller-sized, more affordable variant of the original chocolate brand.

For CDM, the Kucch meetha ho jaaye proposition is about great occasions, such as passing the 12th standard (Pappu paas ho gaya). CDM Silk has been positioned to be about 'moments' -- moments when the chocolate is enjoyed, moments which are like silk.

CDM has about 35 per cent share of the Indian chocolate market. Nestlé with its brands, Munch, KitKat, Bar One and Milkybar, has about 25 per cent. Cadbury 5-Star has about 14 per cent; while Perk and Gems have seven per cent each. Cadbury Celebrations has 5 per cent, and Cadbury Bournville has about 1 per cent market share.

According to AdEx estimates, the chocolate category spends about Rs 135 crore on television advertising. Given that Cadbury has 35 per cent market share, its spends would be approximately Rs 45 crore.

'Silk'ily sliding through?

Shivanand Mohanty aka Doc, creative head, Dentsu Communications, likes the casting and the use of music. He, however, feels that the new product 'news' could have been much stronger, and the creative idea more impactful. "The new product 'news' isn't nailed as strongly as it could have been. What makes Silk special?" he questions.

About comparing the communication for CDM Silk with other brands in the Cadbury stable, he feels that brand Cadbury's bordering-on-bizarre work for Bournville was highly memorable.

"Internationally, Cadbury has made waves with a gorilla drummer. Even here in India, with Amitabh or without, most Cadbury commercials have either a powerful image or a strong message (sometimes both) to stand out. This set, however, seems a little thanda on that score," Doc concludes.

Attempting to understand the strategy, Challapalli Kalyan Ram, national head of disruption practice and head of strategic planning -- Mumbai, TBWA India, slots the evolution of Cadbury's communication in phases.

"Meetha chase (take market share from 'mithai', and hence, grow by eating into traditionally non-chocolate occasions) -- the communication right from Miss Palampur is strategically built to unlock this task. Gifting with the Cadbury Celebrations portfolio has been another way of achieving the same task."

"Up-ageing is the third leg by which Cadbury wants to grow the category. Adult chocolate consumption in India is very low…the famous Cadbury ad, 'kuchh khaas hai hum sabhi mein' aimed to do this."

About the communication for CDM Silk, he says, "The obvious part of the communication is the self-indulgent product and the irresistibility of it (shown in the way people gobble up the chocolate, unmindful of other important things or how they look while consuming it). The subtle part is the cueing towards adult consumption as a personal, indulgent eating experience."

Kalyan feels that the strategy for this particular creative definitely delivers on one thing -- provoking quite a few chocolate lovers to try this chocolate.

"But is it strong in achieving the desirable task of targeting the young adult/adult consumers and bringing in less frequent chocolate eaters into the fold? I have my doubts."

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