Cadbury 5 Star Takes over an Entire Island to Give You a ‘Valentine’s Day Alibi’

With the season of romance just around the corner, Cadbury 5 Star, the iconic brand from Mondelez India, has launched an innovative campaign that attempts to save singles from the dreaded question - 'What are you doing on Valentine's Day?’. Encouraging them to respond with “I’m not in town…I’m going to my cousin's wedding”, the brand has planned the perfect solution for singles to stay away from roses and reds that are more like blues.

Taking its proposition of ‘Do Nothing’ a step ahead, the campaign aims to fight off the pressure of celebrating Valentine’s Day in its traditional sense. The brand has taken over an island located off the coast of Karnataka and renamed it ‘My Cousin’s Wedding’ - the perfect alibi for singles looking to get away from the pool of love and cliches. Consumers can join the fun by simply scanning the special Valentine’s Day Cadbury 5 Star packs, which will lead them to the NothingCoin website to mine coins and stand a chance to bid for the island along with winning other exciting gifts. 

Speaking about the campaign, Anil Viswanathan, Vice President, Marketing – Mondelez, India, said, “Being at the heart of the country’s youth culture, Cadbury 5 Star has always communicated narratives that are witty and relatable. As a brand that truly understands Gen Z, we wanted our Valentine’s Day campaign to represent singles - to not only help them steer away from the awkward questions but also give them an experience to sit back and do nothing; bringing back the Cadbury 5 Star promise with elements of humor and quirk intact. After all, singles also deserve to have fun.”

Sukesh Nayak, chief creative officer, Ogilvy India highlighted: “Valentine's Day can be quite daunting for someone who's single or just not into it. Since 5 Star has been championing the cause of people who just want to 'do nothing', we took it a step further this year by offering them a perfect escape from the madness. A commonly used excuse that will no more be a lie. As crazy as it sounds, some people will soon be spending Valentine's Day doing literally nothing on a faraway island called ‘My Cousin's Wedding'.

Shekhar Banerjee, chief client officer and head-West, Wavemaker India, further added: “We didn't just stop at creating an Island called my cousin's wedding but also created a larger-than-life Embassy similar to a real one to create a legit experience. If that wasn't enough, we even went ahead and created an outdoor banter with a counterculture approach between Cadbury 5Star and Cadbury Silk thus establishing the brand's different positioning while still leveraging the occasion that's meant for the brands promoting love. To amplify the campaign further we tapped onto various relevant youth touch points with a 360* activation that helped us dial up the messaging across our TG and build in the brand messaging of escaping this valentine by simply Doing Nothing! The response has been overwhelming and lot of chatter around the escape plan by simply doing nothing is the talk of the town.”

The 360-degree campaign is supported by an engaging AV and a 15 second digital shorts. Bringing back the focus on technology, the brand has built an embassy for ‘My Cousin’s Wedding’ where consumers can get an immersive VR experience of the island that they can go to. Cadbury 5 Star will also be scaling up the campaign digitally and adding further momentum through offline partnerships.