ABP partners with Cadbury; creates buzz in the regional market!

Anandabazar Patrika Group and Cadbury India together carried out a "tasty and amazing' initiative, Cadbury 'Mishti Shera Srishti' in Kolkata to build a strong brand connect based on the local insight of Bengali's taste. Keeping in mind the fact that Bengali's sweet tooth is well documented and they are known for their obsession about different forms of "Mishtis" available across the city of joy, the campaign included a competition between the top nine sweet chains of Kolkata wherein they created their own special 'Cadbury Mishti' using Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate as one of the key ingredients.

The whole activity is being supported by a strong marketing campaign that says, "It's time to vote once again in Kolkata'. The campaign is primarily targeted at the up-market audience of Kolkatta. This is the joint initiative by Cadbury and ABP ONE which is the strategic marketing arm of ABP Pvt. Ltd providing customized marketing solutions in the East.

The top nine sweet chains included Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick, Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy, Bhim Chandra Nag, K.C. Das , Sen Mahasay, Jadab Chandra Das, Hindusthan Sweets, Ganguram Sweets and Gupta Brothers.

The entire campaign was based on an election theme to create excitement around the entire competition, voting caption like "'Rasogolla-E Das Babu Kanchagoll-E Nandy Babu Cadbury Mishti Te Kon Babu Korbe Kolkata Kabu, Vote Elo Natun Swad Cadbury Mishti Vote Zindabad" have been conceptualized.

Every "Mishti' chain used a celebrity as its star campaigner throughout the month of the competition. "Parno for Balaram Mullick, June Maliah for Bhim Chandra Nag, Sreelekha Mitra for Ganguram, Rupam for Nakur, Abir for K.C. Das, Parambrata for Sen Mahasay, Rudranil for Hindusthan sweets, kanchan for Gupta Brothers, Arunima for Jadab Chandra Das' ' all of them in all possible mediums campaigned for their brands.

Adgully spoke to Aritra Sarkar ( VP-strategy), ABP Group and Chandramouli Venkatesan ' Director Snacking & Strategy, Cadbury Kraft Foods to know more about the initiative.

While talking to us, Aritra Sarkar told us that ABP, being the only market leader in the East has also become a warehouse of thought leadership when it comes to understand the consumers. Based on that deep understanding of the eastern India market and the consumers of Bengal, ABP group started the conversations with Cadbury a year back regarding the brand's interest to build itself in West Bengal as the national campaign, Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaaye, gained popularity.

When asked about the thought behind the campaign, Sarkar said, "Cadbury Mishti Shera Srishti was conceptualized to connect the local insight; the famous Bengali sweet tooth with the national campaign. This is an association which has a winning proposition that created value for the readers and also ensured mileage for Cadbury as a brand."

When asked what leverage did Cadbury gain out of this entire exercise, Chandramouli Venkatesan said, "Over the past 8 years, CDM has been positioned as a sweet dish/dessert through the "Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye" campaign. Our activities in Kolkata have always been in alignment to our larger concept of positioning CDM as a universal sweet dish. We have partnered with top 9 sweet chains and we have also deployed multiple creative elements to increase further awareness of the campaign. Such initiatives will help the marketers to look more seriously at regional marketing. Top clients should look at the local culture as a very effective and strong component in their growth strategies."

Sharing the reason behind choosing Kolkata for this entire exercise, Venkatesan said, "Since Kolkata is a big mithai market and a fusion of chocolate and mithai presents a great opportunity for Cadbury Kraft Foods to further build relevance in this market."

We wanted to create a win-win situation for the advertiser as well as the reader. Often, publications face criticism as only the advertisers' interests find priority. We have been able to find a winning proposition that creates value for the reader and ensures mileage for the brand," says Sarkar.

In terms of promotion the campaign extensively used an integrated offering from the ABP table through the use of print, radio, outdoor, on-ground, tram and bus branding and the digital medium to engage the consumer. Not only this but each mishti chain ( 9 numbers) along with the mascot (the celebrity) organized a mock procession/michil/juloos in and around their primary catchment area, hence creating the hype around the campaign.

Autos played nearby areas adjacent to the participating mishti outlets announcing the entire event and campaigned for respective mishti chains. The campaign promoted the details of the voting mechanisms, with gratification and all other details. Pamphlet distribution, pestering, banners, chain flags in local para clubs, paras and all popular hangout joints in Kolkata and also lot of activation in college and book fair have been done.

Commenting on the duration of the campaign, Sarkar told us that "Cadbury Mishti Shera Shrishti" competition phase started from 9th Jan'12 and continued till 8th Feb'12.The campaign is heading into the sustenance phase currently. While it is being ensured that the sweet shops continue to stock the respective sweets made, ABP will continue to keep the readers interested for the next two months before the awards for the best recipes are given away at a gala event on 'Poila Boishak' - the Bengali New Year in April.

"The Mishti campaign carries strong regional elements and works towards driving chocolate relevance and sits well within our overall "Kuch Meetha ho Jaaye" campaign. The response has been outstanding with over one million votes been cast. We will be looking to execute more such initiatives in the future," Venkatesan added.

In terms of Gratification, Sarkar told us that for Consumers; 10 weekly prizes for 10 lucky winners who have voted for their favourite sweet chains (9th Jan'12 to 8th Feb"12).One lucky winner will also get a trip to Malaysia/Thailand whereas for Sweet chains; While the best innovative Cadbury Mishti will be selected by prominent jury members, the voting for popular choice was open to consumers across the city through extensive promotions across media during the competition phase ( 9th Jan to 5th Feb'12).The winners and the partners of the entire campaign will be felicitated at "Final Awards Night" which will happen in the month of April'12.