In 2009, giving back was becoming quite the trend. The recession had affected all purchase decisions, even those as small as chocolate and gum. But the recession was shifting more than just spending habits; it was also accelerating a change in attitude and consumer behaviour, especially amongst women and Millennials. Increasingly both demographics were rewarding companies and brands that reflected their values. And advertisers were taking notice. This resulted in causal clutter and made it difficult to distinguish between the brands that were giving to give and those that were giving to get.

Cadbury needed to create something that would allow consumers to share joy with others and would thus become the perfect extension of Cadbury’s core values.

The goal at the heart of The Bicycle Factory is to build 5,000 specially designed bikes and deliver them to Ghana where they help children get to schools that are too far to walk to. If there was anywhere it made sense to give back to, it is a place where Cadbury has been sourcing its cocoa for over a century. Moreover, in Ghana, Cadbury has the necessary infrastructure to ensure that the bikes can be properly distributed and maintained.

By the program’s fourth year, Cadbury was still learning how to make it an even bigger success. Online engagement needed to line up with real life. While rich and interesting, the initial website was built for a deeper more immersive experience; consumers just didn’t have the time and it was a deterrent for repeat visits. The approach in 2012 was to streamline the online experience while still retaining the specialness of the original virtual factory.

Originally the Bicycle Factory heavily targeted Millennials (18-34) but Cadbury realized that it was actually the secondary target of moms who became the biggest supporters and advocates. As a result the media target was expanded to 18-45.

Both national TV and in-store were updated to reflect the new look and experience. Social media, blogger outreach and PR were all utilized to not only increase reach and deepen engagement but also to retain the campaign’s grassroots emotional appeal.

Instant win bicycles were also a part of the program – only in The Bicycle Factory, Canadians didn’t just win a bike, a bicycle was donated to a teacher in need, who was also walking great distances to schools. As always consumers were also given the chance to enter for a trip to witness the moving bicycle ceremonies on the ground in Ghana.

The program ran from April 3 to July 31, with a modest media budget of $900,000 nationally.

The goals were to increase year over year volume by 10%; increase awareness by 10% amongst the core target; reach the goal of building 5,000 more bicycles for school kids in rural Ghana, Africa; and create goodwill for the Cadbury masterbrand.

The campaign has been a resounding success against all objectives and exceeded all projections. Gross Volume targets saw an increase of 36% vs prior year. The Facebook community doubled from 12,000 fans to 25,000. Awareness jumped to 19% from 11% last year. Awareness amongst the target was 29%.

The online experience we saw unique visits increase 100% with returning users coming back to the site at a rate of 67%. As a result the bikes were buit in just 10 weeks – a record for the Cadbury’s Bicycle Factory.

Since 2009 Cadbury has delivered over 18,000 bicycles to students and teachers in Ghana in over 206 communities and going strong.