Situation. Australia is one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world, with 26% of Australians being born overseas. Despite this, an aggressive minority have taken over the public discourse to push a xenophobic agenda. Thousands of messages of hate were received by Cadbury only in the last year. Just because of our Halal certification.

Brief. Cadbury’s Halal certification, a symbol meant to include, was being used to divide. We remained silent for a long time, with most negative comments staying hidden or deleted. We needed an innovative way to respond to all the racist commentary flooding our social pages, permeating the national conversation and threatening cultural and religious harmony in Australia.

Objectives. Unlocking our generous instinct is at the heart of everything Cadbury stands for. It was time to make a stand against prejudice and inspire others to do the same in a uniquely positive Cadbury way.

To respond to all the hate around our halal symbol, we decided to create a new one.

'Symbol For All' is a new certification of Cadbury’s commitment to racial respect and cultural inclusivity. A universal symbol to represent unity through cultural diversity and to respond and make a stand against bigotry and intolerance anywhere.

Eight visual artists, an anthropologist and a project manager from different cultural backgrounds worked together to create the new Symbol For All, inspired by the original symbolism of their own diverse cultures to create something completely new.

This symbol became Cadbury’s standard response to any hate-filled comments around halal certification on their own social channels.

The symbol is easily downloaded from www.symbolforall.com, where any person, organisation or company could download, customise and share their own version.

Is open-sourced and can be used by anyone, anywhere to show they stand for racial respect and cultural inclusivity.

Standing for cultural diversity in a multicultural society seemed to be an easy task.

However, 32% of all Australians believe multiculturalism is failing and causing social division, including dangerous extremism.

This presented a big challenge for a mainstream brand like Cadbury, which wanted to make a stand, but also couldn’t afford to divide the nation. We needed a new way to reframe multiculturalism from just ethnic pluralism and diversity, to an expression of inclusivity and togetherness.

To get our idea adopted widely we needed public opinion on our side first. Research indicated younger Australians (under 35) had a more positive attitude towards multicultural inclusivity and more likely to join the discussion.

Therefore, we specifically targeted this younger demographic to join the conversation, take our side and help us create a positive groundswell for our symbol. We achieved this by creating assets that were easily shareable and distributed in social media.

Over four days and nights, eight visual artists bunkered down in an intensive workshop to create a 'Symbol For All'.

Their journey was documented on film, capturing every brainwave, inspiration, disagreement, and moment of collaboration that lead to the final result. This film was posted and shared on digital and social media.

'Symbol For All' launched on Tuesday 9 April, 2019. First on Facebook, becoming Cadbury’s own powerful response to all negative commentary around Halal certification and other forms of racial prejudice and hate.

It was also available for download at symbolforall.com, with #ForAll translated into more than 30 languages using Google Noto fonts.

It was also available on our website for anyone to download, customise and share.

We supported the launch with an integrated media campaign including PR, social, digital, Facebook, YouTube and editorial content.

Our story was quickly picked and shared by national media outlets.

In only 3 weeks after launch:

Tier 1. Media Outputs.

• + 32 million total impressions of Cadbury Symbol For All.

• + 11 million people reached.

• + 18 million impressions in the first week.

• Featured in +40 pieces of national and international media.

• Cadbury spokesperson featured in 75% of all earned media coverage.

• Media included Online, Social, Radio.

Tier 2. Target Audience Outcomes.

• 70% positive sentiment towards Cadbury Brand.

• 14,764 symbol downloads in the first three weeks.

• + 2.5 million total video views/interactions.

• 13x more people joined the conversation vs average Cadbury Social post.

• Campaign reached over 15 countries.

Tier 3. Business Outcomes.

• + 30 million earned media impressions.

• + 1 million AUD Earned PR/Advertising value.

• 100% of Coverage included brand mention of Cadbury.

• Change in behaviour: 30% positive lift in sentiment around Cadbury and Halal.