Cadbury has returned to one of its best-known ads in recent memory, Mum’s Birthday, to see in its own 200^th birthday celebrations. The original spot launched in 2018, and featured a young girl buying a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk for her hardworking mum on her birthday, and paying for it with knick-knacks like a plastic ring and buttons – a currency kindly accepted by the shopkeeper.

The new anniversary rework of the ad focuses on the same story and three main characters through the ages, beginning in an 1824 scene and ending up with the 2018 version that aired at the time.

The original ad’s cast and the director, Frederic Planchon, return for the new spot, which uses a mix of body doubles and post-production to help the stars – all older by several years – blend in with the original clips.

The different eras are pinpointed by visual cues, from phone box designs and newspaper headlines suggesting the pre-war period to the exaggerated collar of the shopkeeper’s shirt placing us in the 1970s.

The spot was developed by Girl&Bear, the content creation arm of VCCP, which led the overall campaign. It also includes a set of crowdsourced social and OOH ads, which feature real photographs submitted by the British public showing the different ways that Cadbury chocolates have featured in people’s lives.

The campaign also promises to put the brand’s design history in the spotlight. Illustrators were brought in to work on a seperate series of “nostalgic” OOH ads inspired by Cadbury’s branding, packaging, and campaigns from various eras, while its branding agency partner, Bulletproof, has helped to create limited edition pack designs for bars of Dairy Milk inspired by classic packaging.

Credits:
Agency: VCCP
ECDs: Jonny Parker, Chris Birch
Creative Director: Angus Vine
Senior Creative Team: Ben Evans, Adam Sears
Content Creation Studio: Girl&Bear
Director: Frederic Planchon
Production Company: Academy Films
DoP: Jakob Ihre
Production Designer: Sophie Becher
Post Production Company: Selected Works
Creative Director: Greg Spencer (Selected Works)
Stills Post Production: Stanley’s Post
Illustrators: Archie Proudfoot and Carol Lawson (CIA), Chris Wormel (The Artworks), Bruce Emmett (Flio), Vince McIndoe (Debut Art)
Design Director: Adam Edwards
Designers: Tegan Barnes, Carl Sherry
Artworkers: Nilesh Parmar, Lee Forster