BITE Insight

Some may say there’s no greater feeling than being surprised by a small act of kindness, or surprising yourself by your own act. This is the mentality that VCCP and Cadbury have set out to capture in their latest ad, Mum’s Birthday.

VCCP worked to shift the focus of the Cadbury campaigns onto the everyday moments of kindness and generosity that we are all capable of.

The TV spot shows a mother rushing from work to pick up her daughter. While the mum takes a phone call, the little girl goes into a shop to buy something special for her mum’s birthday. Out comes her most treasured possessions as priceless currency, from a gemstone ring to coloured buttons and, the most prized, a small, winged unicorn.

As the shopkeeper passes the little girl her bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk, he returns the unicorn, as “change” having spotted the mum waiting outside. The ad focuses on family, and its importance, putting the chocolate bar at the heart of the warm, familial story.

The slot is designed to remind us that it is easy to overlook everyday acts of kindness. But these are the moments that can, at least momentarily, detract from the larger acts of unkindness populating the current global landscape. As the saying goes, there’s a glass and a half in everybody.