COMPLACENT MARKETING
Beaten, Bashed, But
Still Standing!
By Diana Obath
I
n a cluttered world, standing out is
difficult for brands. Brands have had
to deal with all kinds of reputational
damage, and as you know, only the
strongest will survive. Cadbury’s recently
unveiled a campaign to promote diversity
that was met by the full wrath of social
media users. did when Kendall Jenner handed a Pepsi
to a police man during a protest. If you
remember Pepsi’s ad - in which Kendall
Jenner participates in a photo shoot before
joining protestors and offering a Pepsi to
a police man - was accused of using social
justice to sell soda. Cadbury found itself in
the same boat.
The unity bar unveiled by Cadbury in
August was an attempt to ‘unite’ the
different skin colors in one bar during
the Indian Independence Day. The unity
bar was an exciting idea for any chocolate
lover with the rare privilege of having a
mix of dark, milk, white and blended
chocolate in one bar. Cadbury was smacked hard for solving
racism with chocolate and charging a steep
price for it because the company tweeted,
“We got stocked out fast.” That was the
whole point of the company taking part in
the campaign, wasn’t it?
While Cadbury thought the idea was
great as the bar presented ‘unity in
diversity’, social media users from across
the globe responded in the same way they
In an near rejoinder to the unity bar unveil
that didn’t go so well, Cadbury followed
that campaign with another one dubbed
‘Donate your words’ this time, launched
in the UK. The company didn’t tamper
with the inside of the chocolate bar this
The take out for any marketing pro-
fessional is to ensure that brand speak,
and brand acts is creating a cushion for
a rainy day. It will surely rain one day,
and the hailstones will come from your
customers. While in marketing you need
to say everything, and say it in the most
economical way, sometimes it pays to
say nothing and let the customer inter-
pret it for themselves.
06 MAL32/19 ISSUE
time but removed all the wording from
their packages and kept their signature
look of milk pouring from the glasses side
by side. The idea to have all the wording
removed from the packaging was to allow
customers to donate their own words.
The campaign was a response by the
company to support Age UK and publicize
the plight of the elderly. Cadbury then
released research showing 4.5 million
people have felt lonely in old age,
therefore to encourage them, customers
could donate kind words by purchasing
their chocolate bars as a sign to reach
out and have a chat with the elderly. The
company would also donate 30 percent to
Age UK for every chocolate bar sold.
While Cadbury’s was a smaller social
issue, VW on the other hand has had its
fair share of rough days. VW has recently
announced that is rebranding to put
its past behind it even though the 2015
emissions scandal is a case study that will
be read the world over in many years to
come. The company however wants to
move in to a new era by creating a holistic
global brand experience.
What this means is probably that the
company has learnt from its mistakes.
The CMO claims that they will not ‘aim
to show a perfect advertising world but
will be more human and livelier, adopt
the customers’ perspective, and tell
more authentic stories.’ VW will focus
more on people than the products. Of
course, a rebrand also means a new logo.
VW will now use a 2D flat image that
communicates the essentials, flexibility,