Purple chocolate overlord Cadbury have tried something different.
So there I was last week, cruising YouTube watching tech review vids minding my own business, when a well produced, emotive video ad stopped me from hitting the skip button.
10 designers, 4 days and a big goal; create a "Symbol For All".
Have a watch;
According to the dedicated Symbol For All website;
Every day, racism and hate are spreading online, including on our own social pages. We decided to make a stand against this behaviour.
The Symbol For All represents Cadbury's commitment to racial respect and cultural inclusivity.
Here's the symbol;
Originally intended for release on 21st March, it was delayed due to the Christchurch terror attack.
What People Are Saying
Some (digital) ink has been spent on discussing the Symbol For All by the marketing fraternity, with most articles mainly just stating facts that I'm sure was straight from the Cadbury press release.
This article here from 3AW wasn't impressed with the effort, calling the symbol "bizarre" and ""virtue signalling".
The Twitter reaction was the usual cesspool of garbage, proving Cadbury's point.
My Take
Execution
I'll start with the presentation, communication and marketing of the campaign.
The video is expertly done, starting with a depressing play on the Celebrities Reading Mean Tweets clips and then moving on to footage of the process and cuts from interviews with all involved.
I also like that this almost four minute video was run as a YouTube ad. I'm a big fan of long video ads, content focused long video ads to be more specific. I've seen whole episodes of things run as ads and I'm into. Good move in my opinion, heck it got my attention.
The website is of a high standard, with well written copy, good design and scrolling effects - click here to have a look.
Overall, I think all aspects of the idea were put together with care and professionalism - nicely done.
The Concept
Now that we've got the execution out of the way, we can get on to the more complex 'was it a good idea in the first place' discussion.
Concept recap - A chocolate company puts together a graphic design bootcamp with local designers to come up with a symbol to represent unity and togetherness. On a side note, you'd want to be pretty sure you have all your supply chains and human resources ducks in a row if you are championing equality and tolerance - just sayin.
Anyway, back to it.
The goal is lofty, universal and positive. I like the sheer size of the idea they have attempted to tackle, knowing they will not solve the issue but merely start a discussion. I also like the initial presentation and execution of the process and the final assets as well as the marketing..
But it feels somewhat misaligned to me.
It feels a tad random for Cadbury, a chocolate company, to spearhead a message of unity with graphic design. Cadbury has nothing to do with graphic design. But this point could be mitigated if my next point wasn't included.
I am also having a lot of "that's great, but now what" thoughts. It seems that Cadbury are treating this as just another campaign, with a launch, a press release, some ad spend and that's all she wrote. There could be much more to this.
They could turn this into a creative content marketing outlet to build an engaged niche audience over time ie true content marketing. Maybe it's graphic designers who love chocolate, or regular stories of people combatting online bullying. The ideas are endless.
But they haven't as yet, and it stands as a single symbol on a website with a good video.
That's My Glass & A Half
Thanks for reading folks and we'll see you next time for more marketing love.
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