Say it with Chocolate
The project started as a conventional tactical brief: ‘We want to sell more of our plain chocolate bars’. We turned into a more interesting and strategic problem: How could we transform an infrequent purchase for one person into a sought-after gifting occasion for many? This campaign embodies most of my beliefs on how to create a brand experience that drives conversion, not just awareness. It leverages human behaviour to maximise impulse purchase and basket size. It disrupts, surprises and delights at the often boring point of sale. It’s beautifully crafted, boosting the perception of value. And finally, it’s not only on brand but makes the brand more meaningful.
It wasn’t easy to sell or produce.
We had to source old printer parts from remote locations and negotiate with the retailer to run a pilot.
We effectively made Cadbury the ‘Hallmark’ of chocolate bars.
During the pilot, people were buying in bulk.
One mother made us print her daughter’s birthday party invitations.
We learnt how to manage the queue.
A combination of pre-printed messages, easy customisations and multiple pop-up stores near malls & offices to capture different crowds at different times of the day.
In the end, it was all worth it.
Sales soared, the idea went nation-wide, in Malaysia first and then to other markets. it was used in all festive seasons for several years.
We used posters and social media posts to drive footfall.
I only include projects where I played a critical role in the ideation, the craft and/or the selling. But of course none of these ideas would have been possible without the collaboration of incredibly talented people I had the good luck to work with. I want to give due credit to Nuno Lemos, Jarrod Reginald, Michelle Lim, Wei Kit Fong, Mahesh Neelakantan, and Federico García.
