Social media is an irreplaceable part of our lives today. It’s a source of entertainment and happiness for people all around the world. Short form content has changed the game over the last couple of years. People now prefer to watch multiple 15 second to 1 minute videos on social media platforms rather than the usual 30 to 40 minute videos. With attention spans reducing, some may even argue that there’s more to take away from short form content as it is concise and to the point.
Social media and swipe up culture in many ways is a boon. If you’re having a bad day, you look for short happy videos on social media that immediately lift up your mood. The algorithm for social media platforms and swipe up videos available on these platforms works in such a way where it understands what the user likes to watch and recommends similar content. This is all well and good since the user can easily consume similar content without putting much effort in searching for it. However, there is a drawback to this algorithm. Once it understands what you like to watch, it’ll recommend similar but popular videos. In other words, it will recommend only those videos that are popular or have been posted by popular people. There are a thousand videos uploaded to social media every single day. The algorithm filters through these videos and recommends the favoured ones. In this process though, some true gems get lost. Even though the video isn’t uploaded by a famous personality, the story it wants to convey may be worth watching. The algorithm does not do justice to such videos.
Cadbury noticed this flaw in the social media algorithm and found an opportunity here. Their latest campaign is definitely one of the most stand out campaigns of the year. Instead of typically releasing an advertisement or a sentimental short film, Cadbury partnered with DeltaX and took the unexpected route to create an algorithm of their own. Yes, an actual algorithm based on real code! What this algorithm does is, it mines videos with happy hashtags to filter and create a bank of the ones with low views and like counts automatically as a part of its #HeartTheHappiness campaign, with the belief that everyone’s happy moments deserve to be seen, shared and liked. The brand plans to use its Instagram account as a base of operations where all these videos will be available to watch under a special section. Moreover, this page is constantly refreshed with new happy videos that the algorithm finds. This will not only increase the social media presence of the brand but also deliver smiles to everyone who visits their profile page.
Commenting on the campaign, Nitin Saini, Vice President – Marketing, Mondelez India said, “Over the years, Cadbury Dairy Milk has created and celebrated indefinite moments of kindness through an array of purposeful storytelling. This includes some well-celebrated efforts of acknowledging the unacknowledged during the cricket season and adding ‘meethas’ to everyday relationships by melting power distances. Adding yet another dimension to the existing generosity narrative, with #HeartTheHappiness we aim to look beyond what’s popular and what the platform’s AI wants to show you, and guide people to channel their inner acchai and partake in others’ not-so-popular happy moments.”
Cadbury has boosted this campaign by sharing links to this custom page all over social media, websites and even print mediums such as newspapers. One can simply click on the link banners and be redirected to Cadbury’s custom section on their Instagram handle. As for newspapers, you can scan the code on the print ad with your mobile phones to access the bank of happy videos. To further encourage people to visit ‘The happiest place on the internet’, Cadbury even roped in one of India’s most popular and influential netizens, Zakir Khan to promote this wonderful campaign. Through this campaign, Cadbury Dairy Milk persuades people to join in and be a part of other’s happiness through this campaign, beautifully conceptualised and executed by creative agency Ogilvy India. They have definitely managed to deliver happiness and smiles through such a thoughtful and innovative proposition.