Cadbury 5 Star's new campaign has been crafted only to sell its new packaging, but not everyone is convinced about its efficacy.
Cadbury 5 Star's new campaign screams about its new packaging. Billboards and TV commercials highlight the chocolate bar's iconic gold wrapper and five stars.
It's yet another case of a product revisiting its packaging in order to stay relevant. Most brands that undergo a packaging makeover silently ring in the change. Others bring in product or image changes and then go to town with a comprehensive campaign.
Remember Dabur Real's packaging makeover boasted how the juices are healthier or Hindustan Unilever's Fair and Lovely's packaging change highlighted skin lightness (fairness) with an added element of clear complexion. Even when Parle Agro's mango drink brand Frooti introduced 'mangoticons' in its new packaging to look younger, it adopted a broader philosophy 'Why Grow Up' that it could own and reinvent over the years.
But in Cadbury 5 Star's case, what draws one's attention is that an entire campaign has been crafted to sell only the new packaging.
Godrej Hershey vice president (marketing) Mahesh Kanchan feels in a category like confectionery and snack food which is driven by impulse purchase, this becomes particularly important. Cadbury 5 Star seems to have treaded the redesign waters with care, feel experts. "It is an incremental change, but Indian purchase is largely driven by visual cues," says Alpana Parida, president, DY Works.
Cadbury says the packaging change is to bring to fore the key elements of 5 Star and make the product look more prominent on shelves. "To maintain differentiation across variants, we have a distinct colour code, where 5 Star Crunchy will get a brown swirl and likewise 5 Star Fruit and Nut will have a purple swirl," says V Chandramouli, director (strategy & snacking), Cadbury India.
Leo Burnett national creative director KV Sridhar says packaging seems like an excuse for the company to ask consumers to re-look at the brand.
However, not everyone is convinced on how well the campaign delivers. The change in packaging is not drastic and an entire campaign dedicated to it may seem like a wasted effort. "The campaign does not highlight the rationale behind the pack change. The objective might be to make the brand look more premium with added gold, but the commercial does not bring this to the fore," argues Ashish Mishra, chief strategist, Water Consulting (part of the Mudra Group). Many brands often manage this through point-of-purchase material and activation in-stores, says Mishra.
Religious (a cultural branding firm), founder Arvind Mohan feels the campaign does not frame the expectations consumers should have from the refreshed product. It could perhaps go beyond taste, pleasure and gratification and build a cultural connection to give greater meaning. This could be similar to what Cadbury Dairy Milk did with various campaigns like 'shubh aarambh' or 'meethe pe kuch meetha ho jaye', explains Mohan.
The refresh comes at a time when competition in this segment is heating up. Cadbury 5 Star has seen competition from Mars bars (manufactured by Mars, Incorporated) as well as Nestle which sells the Bar-One brand. Cadbury's 5 Star has a 8-9 percent share in the Rs 2000 crore chocolate market in India, while both Mars and Nestle's Bar-One have small shares (1-2 percent).
Despite having clear dominance in the segment, 5 Star seems intent protecting its turf against Bar-One which underwent a packaging change last year, after a span of six years.
