Cadbury’s tagline is ‘There’s a glass & a half in everyone’, because there’s not just one glass of milk in their chocolate bars; but a generous whole glass and a half.

Cadbury as a company also has a history of generosity, being set up in the 19th century by John Cadbury to improve society, rather than chase profit.

The Cadbury of today wanted to continue John’s legacy by shining a light on the crisis of loneliness among older people in the UK. A shocking 225,000 older people often go a whole week without speaking to anyone.

Cadbury donated the words from 1.1 million bars of Britain’s most popular chocolate bar - Cadbury Dairy Milk - to lonely older people. With 30p per bar going to the charity Age UK. They also encouraged the public to donate their words too.

The wordless bar was sold in supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide.

Cadbury doing good for society is something Britain is used to. Since John Cadbury set up the company back in the 19th century, and did wonderful things like building a model village for his workers to live in.

Cadbury removed the words from their Dairy Milk chocolate bars to draw attention to the 225,000 lonely old people who often go a week without speaking to anyone.

Leaving the front of the UK's most popular chocolate bar empty, apart from the glass & a half of milk icon on the instantly recognisable purple background.

The pack’s reverse explained that 30p/bar went to the charity Age UK. It also suggested that the public donate their words too, by having a conversation with an older person, directing them to a hub to find out more.

A minimal design where less words meant more conversation.

To measure the effectiveness of the campaign, Cadbury conducted national research before and after the activity.

People also posted their pledges to donate their words on social media.

There was a hub on Facebook, for people to find out more about how to go about donating your words and other people went directly to a landing page on Age UK’s website.

The strategy was to inspire people to go (very slightly) out of their way and speak to older people near them that might be lonely.

The call to action was for them to ‘Donate your words’. A very simple action, that doesn’t inconvenience you much, but makes the world of difference to a lonely older person.

Especially if they are one of the 225,000 older people in the UK who often don’t speak to anyone for a whole week.

To bring attention to the 225,000 lonely older people in the UK who often spend their week wordless, Cadbury wanted to make one change to the normal Dairy Milk chocolate bar packaging - having no words on the front.

In reality, this would have left the glass & a half icon floating in the middle of the pack. The icon stayed on, not just because it has no words, but also because it symbolises Cadbury’s generosity of spirit. Every bar of Dairy Milk is made with not just one glass of milk; but a glass and a half.

The milk’s flow was extended over the pack’s reverse into a speech bubble. Here the public could find out why the bar was wordless. It was also a way to connect the empty front, to the explanation on the back.

Cadbury made 1.1 million Wordless bars, that were distributed nationwide.

CONFIDENTIAL: Sales of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate increased 9% between December 2018 and December 2019, 3x the average category growth of 3% - equal to £48M - raising Cadbury’s market share from 13.8% to 14.6%.

Steph Harland, CEO of Age UK (the UK’s biggest charity for older people) described the bar as ‘starting a national conversation about the issue of loneliness and has inspired people to take action’.

More than 200,000 people visited either Age UK’s website or the hub to find out how to donate their words and over 600,000 posted their support for the campaign on social media.

Most importantly, research shows that over 1 million people have donated their words to lonely older people since the campaign began. The bar is featuring in The Museum of Brands exhibition, ‘Brands That Made A Stand’ that explores some of the ‘most debated advertising and design campaigns in history’.