The Bicycle Factory - Cadbury Canada

Background

For years confection companies (through their flagship brands) have been offering consumers cash, car and trip promotions. While certainly great offers, they do little to differentiate a company or increase consumer loyalty.

Cadbury wanted to change all of that.

They wanted an umbrella program that would appeal to the 25 year olds, leveraged their multi category offering, was strong enough to execute annually and strongly demonstrated Cadbury’s corporate values.

Idea

The Agency wanted to connect with consumers by sharing their passion for wanting to have a little more joy in the world.

The Bicycle Factory concept was created to involve all of Cadbury Canada’s products, from gum to chocolate to candy into one compelling program that would capture Canadians’ imagination, demonstrating the Company’s commitment to making positive change in the world.

The Bicycle Factory allowed consumers to spread that joy to those in need, by building much needed bicycles for Ghana in Africa, in a virtual factory.

Each Cadbury product equaled a part. 100 parts equaled a bicycle. The object was to send 5,000 bicycles to Ghana.

Television, guerilla Bike Tags and Print informed consumers of the power of a single bicycle. (In many parts of Africa a bicycle is a symbol of hope, opportunity and, occasionally, survival).

The creative demonstrated how bicycles can get children to schools, water to thirsty villages, medicine to those in need and goods to market and directed consumers to our virtual factory where they could transform their Cadbury product purchases into bicycle parts.

The Results

The Bicycle Factory was the most successful promotion in Cadbury Canada’s history. The campaign represented an increase in the previous year’s total confection program, far in excess of targets, breaking all sales records. The campaign is being repeated and expanded to other countries in the Cadbury family.

In November 2010, all 5,000 Voltas arrived in Ghana and were given to school children. Another 300 were added, by some of Cadbury’s key customers.

There were also countless blog entries, tweets and facebook groups. Consumers were moved to send emails and letters to Cadbury commending them on the program.