Want to be at the forefront of content marketing, says Sameer Yadav of Mondelez India

After the success of its two seasons of Instagram series ‘Firsts’ with Pocket Aces and another web series ‘Butterflies’ with Terribly Tiny Tales, Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk has launched the song ‘Sang Rahiyo’ in collaboration with Jasleen Royal for the brand’s Heart Pop ‘I Missed You’ campaign.

Sameer Yadav

Sameer Yadav, Associate Director, Marketing (Chocolates), Mondelez India, said, “Partnering with platforms to co-create content is extremely important for the brand, where the emphasis is to depict the role of Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk in the life of the target audience through unique, impactful narratives. The brand aims to be at the forefront of content marketing in our category.”

The song is composed by Jasleen. The brand’s agency on board, Wavemaker, has worked closely with her and the production team to bring it to life.

The video:

While the video is entertaining and the music is soothing to hear, the brand integration of the chocolate bar doesn’t really have an upfront role in the narrative to flow in the song. One can catch a glimpse of the chocolate here and there in the video.

Karthik Nagarajan

Karthik Nagarajan, Chief Content Officer, Wavemaker India, explained the reason behind doing so. He said, “In today’s world of content in a stream, different campaign elements need to stand their own. The Silk is extremely symbolic to the couple’s relationship. The brand and the agency believe that the audience is perceptive enough to connect this to the larger communication and doesn’t need to be spoon-fed.”

Speaking on taking the music route for the campaign, Nagarajan said, “We wanted to see how we could take music like an interesting area for our TG to another level. The brand’s own ‘Kiss me’ jingle is so deeply ingrained in people’s minds too.”

Yadav added, “Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk has always been associated with great musical talent, and the new single ‘Sang Rahiyo’ brings alive the ‘How Far Will You Go For Love’ story beautifully.”

The brand has positioned the limited edition Heart Pop bar as an embodiment of the emotion that numerous couples have felt being away from each other in the past few months due to the lockdown. The same is shown in the music video that features Ranveer Allahbadia and Jasleen as a couple, and how they take various efforts to keep their relationship alive despite the difficulties triggered by long-distance due to lockdown. Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk has played a sweet role in their love story — a partner in their good times spent together and a medium to let them know how much they missed each other when apart.

“With the new campaign, Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk aims to be an integral part of the expression of love for special ones, through gestures big and small that go above the norm. Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk adds magic to romance and inspires to celebrate the intimate romantic moments in everyday life,” Yadav said.

The marketing objective of this campaign is to build desire for Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk among 15-25-year-old consumers, while building on the ‘How far will you go for love’ platform that started with the Fireflies TVC earlier in the year.

In the last few months since the lockdown, with many couples being away from each other, these feelings of wanting to put in the effort to express your love were heightened. With ‘Sang Rahiyo’, the lyrics lent themselves beautifully to portraying a couple in a similar scenario. The limited-edition Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk ‘I Missed You’ Heart Pop bar fit in perfectly to that narrative.

Yadav said with the lockdown keeping loved ones apart for several months, the insight emerged that there would be a longing to reconnect with your special someone, and the urge to tell them how much they have been missed. “Hence, Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk brought back the Heart Pop bar in August in a limited edition ‘I Missed You’ pack, to help couples everywhere to express their desire to be with each other.”

Nagarajan said, Jasleen has established herself as a powerhouse in the love song category, and so it was such a natural fit to collaborate with her. When Jasleen brought about the thought of Ranveer as her on-screen partner for the video, the agency and brand were thrilled. They’re both young, personable people adored by scores of fans and their on-screen chemistry matched so well too.”

Shooting amid various lockdown-related restrictions was certainly an experience. “Everyone from Jasleen and Ranveer, to the fantastic production team pulled out all stops to ensure what we were all envisioning came to life. Sang Rahiyo took on a whole new meaning for us,” said Nagarajan.

Nagarajan said the video is having a life of its own amid huge organic sharing. Besides, Jasleen has an extraordinary fan-base that keeps the buzz alive.

While global platforms like ‘Ads of the World’ (Clio) have picked the campaign organically, the real impact has been from the audience and consumers who have lapped up the video.