In an exciting collaboration with Netflix’s Squid Game 2, Cadbury 5 Star and Ogilvy Mumbai launched a unique contest open to all participants across India. Drawing inspiration from the show’s iconic symbols—Circles, Triangles, and Squares, which feature prominently on guards’ masks and game elements—the chocolate brand introduced a jackpot challenge. The goal? To find Cadbury 5 Star packs displaying the three symbols. But there was a catch: these “special packs” were seemingly elusive.
To ramp up the intrigue, Cadbury 5 Star teased hints on social media, directing participants to areas where these packs were rumored to be spotted. The grand prize of 4.56 million Korean Won awaited the first person to locate and share this rare pack.
However, the finale revealed a surprising twist. Contestants who scoured shops and scrolled through countless clues had overlooked a simple fact: every Cadbury 5 Star pack already featured the Circle, Triangle, and Square symbols all along. The so-called “special pack” was a clever decoy, and anyone could have won by simply noticing the symbols on any 5 Star bar.
The jackpot was ultimately claimed by Megha Madhvan, who spotted the symbols on a bar at home and shared a picture via direct message. Without rushing from shop to shop, Megha exemplified the essence of the brand’s long-standing motto: “Eat 5 Star, Do Nothing.”
This contest humorously reinforced Cadbury 5 Star’s ethos of championing simplicity, proving that sometimes, doing less is the best way to win.
Nitin Saini, VP- Marketing, Mondelez India, said: “Cadbury 5 Star is known for its irreverent and quirky approach to life’s pressure situations where we believe a lot of good can come out of doing nothing. Netflix’s Squid Game is set in a high-octane world full of surprises. We saw an exciting opportunity to bring the two worlds together and unlock a surprise for our consumers. We did this with a contest where people had to find the Cadbury 5 Star pack with Circles, Squares and Triangles. However, just like the show, our finale had the twist where all you had to do to win was ‘nothing’ since the packs always had these shapes on them. Proving that sometimes in life, to overcome a situation, a difficulty, or even a contest, all you must do is not take it too seriously.”
Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India, said: “For years now, Cadbury 5 Star has been offering its unique ‘do nothing’ take on trending conversations about everything, from cryptocurrency to AI, so it was a natural fit to collaborate with a much-talked-about show like Squid Game. But what we created is anything but a straightforward contest. In keeping with 5 Star’s counter-culture stance and unique humour, Karunasagar Sridharan (Ogilvy ECD) came up with an unexpected idea that completely flips the script on what it takes to win a contest, and the Ogilvy team partnered with Netflix to bring it to life in a big way. It’s a game so simple that everyone from every part of India can participate in it, making it a massive contest open to the entire country.”
Shekhar Banerjee, Chief Client Officer & Office Head – Wavemaker India, added: “Crafting the partnership between Cadbury 5 Star and Netflix’s Squid Game presented a unique opportunity to merge two distinct narratives combining the show’s high-stakes intensity with 5Star’s signature irreverence. This collaboration is designed to capture attention and spark intrigue among audiences. To seamlessly align with this vision, our media approach has been carefully devised to reflect the show’s gripping narrative, delivering a sense of anticipation and surprise each day. By strategically building momentum and creating impactful touchpoints across key platforms, we are ensuring that the partnership is as immersive and unmissable as the game itself.”
Cadbury 5 Star is known for its counter-culture approach and Squid Game is a series that has permeated this realm across countries. Squid Game S1 is Netflix’s one of the most popular series ever and has a strong fan following in India as well. With all the hype and excitement around Season 2, it only felt natural for both brands to come together to create hysteria and have some fun with consumers in the same high stakes manner as the game itself. Squid Game 2 premieres on Netflix on December 26, 2024.
- Credits
Agency: OGILVY MUMBAI
CCOs, India: Sukesh Nayak, Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha
President and Head of Mumbai and Kolkata: Hirol Gandhi
CCO MUMBAI: Anuraag Agnihotri
CSO: Ganapathy Balagopalan
Creatives: Karunasagar Sridharan, Jugal Joseph, Nishigandh Dhende, Arushi Bajaria, Darshan Dhonde, Khushali Bhansali, Himanshu Sonparote
Account Management: Beenu Kurup, Priya Thakkar, Patrick Britto, Bindu Singh
Brand Strategy: Russell John, Shiksha Singh, Aayushi Jadli
Experiential Marketing Team: Krishnakant Mishra, Kishor Manjrekar, Jay Thacker
Client: Cadbury 5 Star – Nitin Saini, Siddharth Singh, Syed Rizvi, Yash Desai, Arpita Kalubarme, Anjali Madan, Aishwarya Jain, Priya Dixit, Rakhee Bansal, Aishwarya Chopra
Director: Nitin Menon
Production: Hogarth
Media: Wavemaker India
Netflix Partnership team: Poornima Sharma, Deep Chhabria, Adyasha Dash, Rebecca Daniel, Nikhil Pillai, Ankita Singh, Jasmine Latkar
