For Halloween 2015, Cadbury’s brought back one of its old chocolate bars back from the dead with a social media vote. This case study looks at how the brand generated huge interest on Twitter, with a little unexpected help from a celebrity influencer.
Case study summary:
• Cadbury uses seasonal campaign to create fan nostalgia on social media
• Social buzz only takes off once celebrity Rylan Clark tweets competition
• Vote determines winner- but many fans aren’t happy with outcome
• Overall high engagements and surprising consumer insights outweigh backlash
Tweet ‘Marble’ + #CadburyCraveyard & you could unwrap one of 100 resurrected bars! T&Cs https://t.co/DWLQoghFiY pic.twitter.com/ojlIzcfMOS
— Cadbury Ireland (@CadburyIreland) October 29, 2015
The challenge
Cadbury has created many a chocolate bars over the years, with some discontinued in favour of new products. The brand saw the Halloween season as the perfect time to bring one back from the dead and create a nostalgic taste of the past.
The solution
The brand created a cartoon-style Twitter video and seeded the ad on social media and PR.
Fans could vote by tweeting @CadburyUK using the hashtag #CadburyCraveyard or via the Cadbury UK Facebook page by leaving a comment under one of the dedicated Craveyard posts.
The bar which received the highest number of votes would then be resurrected with a run of special edition bars ready to be given away to select winners chosen from those who vote in this fun Halloween campaign.
Much to some fans disappointment, the winning bars would not be available in shops, so voting was the only way to get the chance to win one of the 100 special edition bars.
The winning bar would be revealed on the CadburyUK social media channels (Twitter and Facebook) on Halloween (31st October 2015).
The results
Analysis from the Visibrain platform indicate that over 12,000 users tweeted the hashtag between October 26th and November 1st.
A huge 87% of these tweets were originals (rather than simple retweets) showing genuine interest and engagement on the campaign.
Visibrain research also indicated that despite launching on a Monday, the tweets bon really took off on Wednesday when celebrity Rylan Ross Clark @Rylan took part in the vote.
Marble! And for the love of chocolate bring back Spira and Astros!!!!! @CadburyUK #cadburycraveyard https://t.co/w2k2RGn2ki
— Rylan Clark-Neal (@Rylan) October 28, 2015
The tweet from the former X-factor contestant and Big Brother presenter got 1,306,596 impressions, according to the research.
By the end of the day, there had been 11,448 #CadburyCraveyard tweets, compared to just 105 the day before, showing the sheer power a strong celebrity influencer can have on a campaign.
The winning bar was announced by @CadburyUK just in time for Halloween, with Fuse narrowly winning with 7,928 votes compared to 7,118 for Marble.
The votes are in! And the treat resurfacing for 100 lucky winners is…#CadburyCraveyard T&Cs https://t.co/rCSOgtUAmN https://t.co/vInqEvbnev
— Cadbury UK (@CadburyUK) October 31, 2015
Despite largely positive tweets, some fans expressed disappointment that only the competition winners would be able to get their hands on a Fuse, and that the bar wasn’t going to be available in shops:
Despite backlash over the lack of buyable Fuse bars, the Craveyard campaign was an overall success. It not only generated large amounts of engagement with fans, it also uncovered some unexpected insights as fans volunteered other bars they’d like to see back on the shelves.
View more Visibrain stats on the Cadbury Craveyard campaign here