The ‘do nothing’ twist of Cadbury 5 Star Squid Game campaign

Earlier this month, Cadbury 5 Star partnered with Netflix’s Squid Game 2 to launch a contest open to everyone in India. The symbols Circles, Triangles and Squares play a significant role in the popular Korean show and feature everywhere, from the games to the masks of the guards who run the games. In keeping with that theme, the chocolate brand announced a jackpot on finding the Cadbury 5 Star packs having a Circle, a Triangle and a Square symbol from Squid Game, but these packs weren’t that easy to find.

To make this more entertaining, the distribution scale of the packs was classified, leaving the contest open to everyone in India. Cadbury 5 Star posted hints on their social media handles directing participants to areas with confirmed sightings of the pack with the symbols. The first person to discover and share this unique pack was to be awarded the entire prize money of 4.56 million Korean won.

But the finale entailed a big twist. It turned out that contestants who went from shop to shop to find the Cadbury 5 Star missed something right under their nose: Every 5 Star pack already had all the 3 symbols and had them for years. There was no ‘special pack’ to be found, and every Cadbury 5 Star in the country was potentially a ticket to winning 4.56 million Korean Won. One contestant - Megha Madhvan, noticed the symbols on a Cadbury 5 Star lying at home and sent a picture as a DM, managing to win the entire prize money without lifting a finger. For several years, through its “Eat 5 Star, Do Nothing” proposition, the chocolate brand has been promoting the power of doing nothing, and this time they have proved it again through a contest which could only be won by not taking the contest too seriously and by not following the herd.

Commenting on the campaign, 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 added, "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."