The Cadbury Secret Santa Postal Service

Today, the nation’s favourite chocolate brand, Cadbury, launches its iconic ‘Secret Santa Postal Service’. The hotly anticipated festive activation will pop up in digital and static posters across the country for six weeks until Christmas Eve. On a mission to unite the nation around a simple gesture that echoes the true spirit of Christmas, Cadbury will be inspiring people to send a free chocolate bar, in secret, to someone special. 

At the heart of the integrated campaign, developed in partnership with agency of record, VCCP London and production partners Bernadette and Girl&Bear, lies hundreds of digital 6-sheet, static and flyposters that will be popping up across the UK on bus stops to train stations and from quaint little towns to big cities. The posters will invite members of the public to send chocolate secretly to someone special, for free, simply by scanning a QR code. Each digital poster will also feature a charming Cadbury Secret Santa postie who will hold up a range of welcoming signs from his Cadbury post room and explain what the ‘Secret Santa Postal Service’ is and how the nation can take part in the generous ritual. 

A total of 120,000 Cadbury chocolate bars will be released gradually every day of the activation until 24th December to ensure as many people as possible have the opportunity to send chocolate secretly to someone special. The digital posters will pop up at random throughout the day, playing into the excitement of giving anonymously at Christmas. 

Subject to availability, people can choose from a range of products, including Cadbury’s original Cadbury Dairy Milk bar, and Oreo, Caramel, Wholenut, Fruit and Nut and Plant bars. Also available is a range of seasonal products from the winter range, including the Cadbury Dairy Milk Mini Snowballs bar and Cadbury Dairy Milk Winter Wonderland bar. All of the options are the standard size and available in shops. 

In a pledge to make the Postal Service more magical and accessible this year than ever before, Bernadette, the product and services innovation company from VCCP, have supercharged the activation enabling a digital experience once the QR code has been scanned to give customers a more personable and interactive experience with the Cadbury postie, Jeff. Similarly across static posters and flyposters, the poster will come to life with a bit of extra magic using augmented reality. 

Alongside the poster activation, Cadbury has created a 30” film which heroes the Cadbury postie and the act of sending chocolate secretly. The film welcomes viewers into the festive Cadbury post room, where Cadbury fans are introduced to the possibility of sending an anonymous bar of chocolate for free through dedicated posters. The creative showcases a range of poster locations; from station platforms to the seaside, and calls on the nation to think of someone special who might need a little lift this Christmas with this simple gesture of secret giving.

The campaign will be supported by a dedicated Cadbury Secret Santa website which will act as the campaign’s central hub, giving people insight into where their nearest poster might be. The campaign will keep consistency throughout with social and digital ads also featuring the wonderful Cadbury postie, directing people to keep their eyes peeled for a poster or search Cadbury Secret Santa to find out more.

Emma Paxton, Senior Brand Manager for Cadbury Christmas said: “We are thrilled to be celebrating another year of selfless festive giving with Cadbury Secret Santa. It is so exciting that more people than ever before will be able to become Secret Santas by sending a small gift of chocolate secretly to someone special, especially this year where more people are in need of a little lift than ever before.”

Angus Vine, Creative Director at VCCP London added: “Cadbury Secret Santa is a real Christmassy magical labour of love so we’re all buzzing that people can now access it from anywhere in the country. Walking to the shops, standing at a bus stop, wherever you see one of our posters you can get inside the postal service and send someone some secret free chocolate. Merrrrrry Christmas!“

The Cadbury Secret Santa postal service will run from today for six weeks until Christmas Eve across UK TV, VOD, Cinema, OOH, DOOH, Social, Print, Radio and Digital. The posters and wider campaign media were planned and booked by Carat. A consumer PR campaign will also support the campaign run by Ogilvy PR. 

Cadbury is also partnering with The Trussell Trust for the third year running this Christmas to help make Christmas special for everyone. Across the season they will be donating 75,000 bars of chocolate to over 200 food banks in the Trussell Trust network. They’ll also be making a financial donation to support the Trust’s longer-term mission of fighting hunger in the UK.