Diwali is India’s biggest festival where youngsters (24-40) pick the gifts for family and friends. With several food gifting options at their disposal, chocolates pose as an uncommon gift. But Diwali accounts for ~50% of Cadbury Celebrations’ annual sales, so it was imperative to drive consideration for chocolate-gifting.

Over the years, we turned the box of chocolates into a gift that inspires generosity. During the pandemic, we focused our generosity on small retailers who had had a tough time.

This year, people were finally stepping out for shopping, turning towards hawkers, whose livelihoods depend on these festive sales. But their business is steeped in uncertainty. Unlike local retailers, they don’t have a permanent store to sell their goods from and set up stalls wherever they find a place, leading to a loss in consumers. Thus, building on our purpose of generosity, we decided to make Diwali brighter for these hawkers.

Keeping with Cadbury’s motto of inspiring generous actions, we looked at the one community whose livelihood depends on festive sales the most, hawkers. These hawkers are the ones every consumer buys their festive goods from, but their business is steeped in uncertainty. Unlike local retailers, they have a hard time due to the lack of a permanent store. So, this year, our packs doubled up as a gift that gave hawkers a permanent shop online and shoppers a means to discover hawkers for their festive needs.

We placed a QR code on the packs that users could scan to locate nearby hawkers and connect with them. They could either buy their festive treats from them or set up a virtual shop for a hawker. This gave every hawker a permanent virtual space to sell their goods and the shoppers ease of discovery.

Diwali accounts for ~50% of Cadbury Celebrations’ annual sales, so it was imperative to drive consideration for chocolate-gifting in a market dominated by traditional sweets. Over the years, we turned the box of chocolates into a gift that inspires generosity.

Post-pandemic, youngsters (24-40) who primarily buy gifts were finally stepping out for Diwali shopping. Over a series of consumer immersions, we discovered what they missed during the pandemic: Festive shopping from hawkers. Unlike local retailers, these hawkers lack permanent stores and have to move around everyday, affecting their business.

Opportunity: Could Cadbury restore a sense of community and inspire generosity this Diwali through chocolate-gifting?

Strategy: Turn our marketing into a platform that enables people to gift hawkers a helping hand this Diwali.

How: By turning people’s much-awaited Diwali shopping itself into an act of generosity.

Creative Idea: A digital ecosystem that offers hawkers a permanent, virtual place of business.

The pack of Cadbury Celebrations doubled up as a gift that gave hawkers a permanent shop online and shoppers a means to discover hawkers for their festive needs. Scanning the QR code on the pack would lead consumers to our platform, where they could locate and connect with the hawkers nearby. They could also register hawkers and set up virtual shops for the latter.

We used TVC, digital case video, print, features on India’s primetime shows, website, and content creators to promote our platform. Each of these mediums told the story of India’s hawkers to inspire generous actions in people.

Timeline:

25th September 2022 – 25th October 2022

Placement:

The work ran on TV, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Partner Channels, Print, Outdoor. It also ran on our owned microsite www.cadburyshopsforshopless.com

Scale:

- 35 million views

- Earned media worth 10 million INR

- 3.2 million unique scans

- 100K visitors registered

We received an incredible response from consumers towards the campaign and the brand. Overall, the brand saw approximately 20% growth in business compared to Diwali 2021.

The campaign and our platform delivered following results:

- 3.2 million unique scans led visitors to our platform

- Almost 100000 unique visitor registrations

- Over 60% visitors discovered and connected with hawkers around them

- Nearly 4000 hawkers were on-boarded by consumers on our ShopsForShopless platform within a span of ten days across ten key cities in India

- Meta platforms delivered a viewership of 24% against a benchmark of 5%

- YouTube delivered a viewership of 24% against last year’s benchmark of 20%

This helped us in creating an environment where people considered hawkers when it came to shopping for their festive needs. It instilled a sense of confidence and optimism in the hawkers, making them feel like they belong.