When Cadbury Competes with Cadbury. Side-by-Side but head-On!!

Even in an era of déjà vu and digital fatigue, some advertisements and campaigns can still be clutter-breakers. Today I saw the latest Cadbury side-by-side hoardings, and they immediately caught the eye, albeit maybe for the wrong reasons. Both brands belong to Cadbury.

Like the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity, as long as it is publicity. This one certainly makes the point and in a very forceful way.

1. Is this competitive advertising? Yes… and maybe not. In real terms, competitive advertising is when one company’s brand pitches itself against another company’s brand say Bajaj motorcycles vs Hero Honda motorcycles. But what do we call it when the same company’s brands compete against each other? Technically, we can still call it competitive advertising. But should it be done? In my view, it should not be. The reasoning follows.

2. Segmentation is subtle, so subtle that customers may not even know both brands belong to the same company. HUL has many competing brands like Hamam, Lux, Cinthol, Dove in the shelfs and they all act as flanking brands, but this strategy is largely unknown to the customers. They think that the brands from different companies.

Similarly, TITAN offers a diverse portfolio of watch brands catering to different segments, including Titan (flagship), Raga (women's), Fastrack (youth), Sonata (affordable), and premium/luxury options like Xylys, Nebula (solid gold), and Edge (slim). Other specialized brands include Zoop, Titan Smart, and SF. Most customers would be shocked to know that they all belong to the TITAN stable!

Let us hypothetically assume that Colgate were to develop a wonderful toothpaste for pets like dogs and cats. It would not name it Colgate Cutie Toothpaste. Even if the formulation were different, many human customers would not like to share their toothpaste brand with a dog toothpaste.

The same argument holds good for Manikchand Atta or Nirma Toothpaste. We would soon feel drugged just thinking of Manikchand rotis and brushing our teeth with detergent if it were Nirma toothpaste. Brands are mental associations, and they are extremely difficult to break.

3. Would this lead to cannibalisation of sales from one product to another? Would Silk take sales away from Cadbury Five Star or vice-versa? Either scenario is not ideal. Logistics and distribution issues might arise, leading to friction between the respective brand managers.

4. What Cadbury is probably hoping for is incremental sales for both brands. That both brands would benefit and sell more. I honestly don’t know on what analytics this assumption is based.

5. Is this part of a well-planned strategy or just smart-alecky behaviour? Any promotion has to be subtle—not so much in the face. Positioning is the battle for the mind. Cadbury Silk operates at an emotional level, while Cadbury Five Star plays at a very practical level. The two seem to clash.

6. In fact, Cadbury Five Star’s communication almost appears to mock Silk’s positioning—“Why get mushy?”, how far will you go to escape this mush, Nah I am fine here seem to be lampooning or even making fun of Cadbury Silk’s creative campaigns.

7. Five Star is virtually asking customers not to buy Silk (a higher-priced offering) and settle for a lower-priced one. And Valentine’s Day, the biggest occasion of the year for at least one customer segment—is when you ask them not to celebrate? I genuinely don’t understand the logic here.

8. And then there’s this whole idea of “doing nothing.” Since when did doing nothing become so relevant? Doesn’t doing nothing also mean not partaking in any commercial product, like Cadbury Five Star itself? Or are we using “doing nothing” purely for commercial gain? I am getting confused with this entire line of thinking.

9. Finally, what exactly is the segmentation here? Cadbury Silk customers - Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Cadbury Five Star - Gen X and Millennials. But can generations really be so cold-bloodedly separated? What if they overlap and create brand identity confusion? I don’t know—and I would love to be a fly on the wall in Cadbury’s creative room when such discussions take place.

10. At the end of the day, customers don’t care. Marketing pundits can go to hell. If they like the ad, if buzz is created, and if the sales graph moves, then it’s all good. We can crow till the birds come home to nest—but it does not matter. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.