'My Birthday Song': How Cadbury Celebrations hit the sweet spot between idea and tech

When Mondelez International decided to leverage artificial intelligence, before it was even a buzzword in the marketing fraternity, little did it know how far this one little initiative would take the brand and Ogilvy India. 

It was a standout for Ogilvy India at Cannes Lions 2022 where it bagged a Titanium Lion and went on to bag a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2023.  

For the uninitiated, back in 2020 Cadbury launched an AI-led advertisement featuring Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan to help local businesses that were affected during the pandemic.

Cut to 2023, it’s been slightly over a week that Mondelez and Ogilvy were back with yet another AI-led ad called the ‘My Birthday Song’ that focuses on the most fundamental aspect of the occasion: the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. The campaign allows the gifter to make their near and dear ones feel more loved by creating a customized #MyBirthdaySong, intricately woven with likings and shared memories of the giftee.

Another buzzword for marketers today is personalisation. And that is exactly what the brand wanted to strike with the campaign. 

As Nitin Saini, Vice President of Marketing at Mondelez International says that consumer centricity is the cornerstone of all the work that the brand carries out. “We have been using digital effectively to scale data-driven marketing and build hyper-personalized experiences for our consumers. We call this Empathy@Scale,” he added. 

The response to the campaign was equally encouraging. For instance, on the launch weekend alone over 20,000 songs were created by consumers and the campaign film received over 25 million views on social platforms in under a week. 

The ‘Shahrukh Khan My Ad’ was one of the very first technologically advanced campaigns that the adland had seen, hence it also had a lot of takeaways for the brand and the agency while curating the next one. 

Key Learnings 

Saini shares that one of the key learnings for them was that AI when used correctly can do wonders in bringing the brand closer to its consumers. Tech has helped the brand address consumer insights and tensions to resolve in more imaginative ways. 

“We believe that by authentically and effectively narrating a story and emotions attached to our brand, we strengthen our value proposition,” Saini added. 

As much as tech became the hero for this campaign, Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India pointed out that the idea comes first, whether tech or non-tech led initiative. So while to some the learnings surrounded leveraging tech, to Nayak it was more around putting human problems and opportunities first, and then using technology to solve them. “Technology enables you to execute a very brave idea and empowers you to create personalisation at scale when needed, and not just for the sake of it,” he added. 

Saini comes with a similar point of view and says that the idea is always the hero and technology the facilitator. “It is essential to have this clarity to ensure that the storytelling isn’t lost in the process of creating a high-tech engagement,” he mentioned. 

Another crucial aspect, Saini adds, is to monitor and understand the target audience and their evolving behaviour. “AI can be leveraged to personalize campaigns for the consumers and predictive analysis can be used to predict consumer behaviour and trends which can help optimize marketing efforts.” 

The brand believes in the test-and-learn method with novel technologies such as AI. 

As for the ‘My Birthday Song’ is concerned, it did see some new aspects beyond just the campaign. As Nayak mentions, partnerships were an important part of the learning process. The team had on board technology partners Gan Studio and Uberduck for the campaign. 

Among other learnings, Saini mentioned how the importance of customising experiences for consumers by co-creating with them and piquing their interest in collaboration, can actually help the brand build personal connections through digital channels. 

As a piece of advice to marketers, Saini feels that marketers should go the extra mile because everyone is learning on the job and campaigns like Not Just a Cadbury Ad are a result of such a leap of faith taken by the team.  “Lastly and most importantly, nothing trumps brand and consumer safety in the process of personalising @ scale,” he said.