February 13/London/Marketing Week-- Cadbury Dairy Milk has outlined a 10-year brand communications platform strategy called Joyville in a bid to reconnect its brand marketing to its products.

The confectionary giant, which claims Dairy Milk sales account for 12% of the UK chocolate market, wants the new marketing platform to make its products a more prominent part of its experiential, digital and TV activity.

Matthew Williams, marketing activation director at Dairy Milk says it was important that the new strategy maintained the levels of engagement of past ads, such as the Cadbury Gorilla and Eyebrows, but also that they move on and concentrate on the “core truth of the product.”

He says, “Joyville is an idea that connects with the product as much as it does the brand. The Cadbury Gorilla spot focused on the brand, but where it didn’t do so well was connecting with the product.”

Cadbury explains that the Joyville brand platform is based on a mythical place where Cadbury Dairy Milk is created. It has been developed to tap into consumers’ appetite for escapism and imagination seen in the popularity of films such as the Harry Potter series.

The first above-the-line campaign from Joyville started earlier this month to launch Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly in the UK. Experiential activity included chocolate fountains at shopping centers, Westfield London and the Bullring in Birmingham.

Williams says, “When you look at the marketing landscape a lot of creative advertising has been left behind during the recession. You don’t see the epic ads you used to. Brands are communicating rational truths and creativity can get left behind.”

 From the February 14, 2012, Prepared Foods' Daily News.