Ahead of the start of the 2023 Bledisloe Cup (in late July) and the 2023 Rugby World Cup (in early September), confectionary giant Cadbury rolled out a sentimental brand campaign leveraging its tie-up with Rugby Australia.
Developed with agency Ogilvy, produced by Good Oil and with media handled by Wavemaker, the campaign’s anchor ad dropped on 18 July: a week ahead of the 2023 Bledisloe Cup series against New Zealand (29 July to 5 August) and almost two months before the RWC in France (8 September to 28 October).
Cadbury, the principal sponsor of the Wallabies, designed the campaign to generate support for the national team and to bring people together – just like chocolate does.
The activation was spearheaded by a hero, 30-second spot which was supported by a set of 15-second cutdowns which aired nationally across Australian network TV and via the sponsor’s digital and social platforms.
The spot stars Wallabies scrum half Nic White walking through a stadium tunnel after a game – and seemingly a defeat – and yet still stopping to sign autographs for fans. One young supporter, instead of offering a pen and a ball to sign, chooses to give White his Dairy Milk bar as a gift – generating a small, emotional moment of connection between player and fan.
“We know when the Wallabies have support and Aussies cheering them on, they are much more likely to perform, so we wanted to produce a campaign to show they have Australia’s undying support, regardless of the scores at full-time,” explained Cadbury Brand Equity and Sponsorships Director Anthony Ho. “The result is a simple act of generosity brought to live in beautiful campaign; a fan sharing his ‘cheer and a half’ with his hero. After all, rugby is a team sport, something people come together for. Just like a block of chocolate.”
Ogilvy ECD Hilary Badger added: “This ad shows that the simple, generous act of exchanging a block of Cadbury can connect us, no matter our age or status. Generosity is a human value, so we’ve represented it in a real, observed way.”
The campaign was conceived by a team at creative agency Ogilvy led by ECD Hilary badger and the media plan was devised and executed by Wavemaker.
The production company was Good Oil with Director Curtis Hall, Producer Chana McLallen, Executive Producer Simon Thomas, DOP Alex Serafini and Editor Marty Gilchrist.
Post production was by Puffin Post with production design and props by Brendan Norville, sound from Squeak E Clean Studios and the Colourist was Matt Fezz.
Comment
Sentimental and touching, we can add this campaign to Cadbury’s long list of affectionate, slightly mushy spots.
Globally, the Mondelez-owned Cadbury brand ensures sport is one of the main pillars in its marketing mix and this campaign ran in parallel to its Australian ‘Cheer And A Half’ activation programme leveraging the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup and the Matildas and followed on from other notable sports campaigns such as 2023’s Cadbury India’s ‘Cheer For All Sports’, Cadbury Ireland’s ‘Become A Supporter And A Half’, plus 2022’s Cadbury Ireland and FAI ‘Game Is On’ , Cadbury India’s ‘Proud Sponsor of Ground Staff’ and Cadbury UK’s Premier League ‘Pass It On’ programme.
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