In 2024, Cadbury marked 200 years of British chocolate-making heritage with a campaign that aimed to do far more than simply celebrate a milestone.
The brief
The UK legacy brand wanted to come up with an initiative that could rekindle pride, belonging and emotional connection across its workforce.
At the heart of that effort was the in-house internal communications team, led in the UK and Ireland by Tom Colley. Working in close collaboration with agency partner Tin Man Communications, Colley and his team delivered a multi-site, emotionally driven experience that they believe has set a new benchmark for internal comms.
"I think the most obvious thing is the sense of pride in the brand itself,” Colley told In.Comms. “It’s such an iconic brand, Cadbury. Whenever you talk to anyone – even externally – your mum, your nan, the bloke down the road wants to know what’s going on at Cadbury.”
Colley, who joined Mondelez (Cadbury’s parent company) as internal communications lead for Northern Europe shortly before the campaign launched, quickly became one of its key architects. “You kind of feel like a bit of a steward here,” he said. “This is your period in history to look after this brand and all our other amazing brands – and making sure you do that in a way that really connects people to the brilliant stuff that we do is massive.”
The strategy
From the outset, the comms strategy was clear. “We had the core pillars laid out from the start,” he said. “Where we shifted and changed it is where we did what I call riding the news cycle.” Colley’s team looked for opportunities to amplify the message throughout the year. This included an internal Euros-style chocolate bar competition and even a ‘Race Across Bournville’, inspired by the BBC’s Race Across the World.
But the most ambitious element was its nationwide roadshow. The scale and complexity of the activation required full alignment across teams and functions. Making it resonate with factory-floor staff was a key goal. “You’re always battling for time with colleagues who are on the shop floor. Their primary purpose is to make chocolate,” Colley noted. “We really pushed with leaders to make sure that everybody – when the festival was in town – could attend it.”
Colley’s team also leveraged the company’s internal app to reach non-desk workers with competitions, content and campaign updates. “We had very specific channels and very specific plans for those people who were in the manufacturing space,” he said.
The emotional impact was palpable. “As soon as you go: ‘I work in comms,’ people would say: ‘That campaign was amazing,’” Colley said. “People talked about how it made them feel real pride and really connected them to the brand. The colleagues who have been here the longest really felt it the most.”
He recalled internal archive sessions where long-serving employees “got quite emotional about their journey, particularly when they’ve been here 20, 30 years”, adding: “That sense of being really proud, really connected to the brand. That’s the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.”
Crucially, the campaign had full leadership buy-in from day one. “When you go to your leadership team with a really clear and compelling plan and then execute it, it gives them confidence,” Colley said. “They really understand internal comms. They were hugely helpful with their time and attending events.”
Behind the scenes, the planning was rigorous and responsive. “It was good old-fashioned comms,” Colley said. “Monthly check-ins, evaluating, understanding what was going on in real-time, and then responding off the back of it. Not the fun sexy stuff, but that’s what you’ve got to do with a campaign of this length.”
Extra challenges
Despite its success, the campaign took place during a year of significant operational challenges. “The cost of cocoa went up 400% in 18 months,” Colley said. “We wanted to go big with Cadbury 200, but we also had to balance that with being pragmatic about the business context.”
That tension underscored the importance of internal comms. “It can’t just be good-news culture everywhere,” he said. “We also need to balance that out with the challenges of the business. That’s the skill of the comms team.”
The results
One of the campaign’s lasting achievements was the shift it triggered in the team’s own confidence and reputation.
The campaign was shortlisted for the PRWeek UK Awards 2024 in the Internal Communications and Employee Engagement category.
“This was the first award we’ve ever gone for,” Colley said. “We didn’t win, but we were shortlisted – and internally, we beat the Oreo (another Mondelez brand) Super Bowl advert activation for campaign of the year. That’s ridiculous!”
The recognition also changed how the team is viewed internally. “It’s massively built our reputation,” he said. “Now when we come to stakeholders with an idea, they don’t question it like they used to. They say: ‘Yeah, crack on.’”
Metrics for the campaign went far beyond attendance and social-media shares. “I have a thing with vanity metrics,” Colley said. “I’m more interested in short-, medium- and long-term impact.” Their internal survey showed that Cadbury 200 was frequently cited as the highlight of the year. “It was the thing that drove everyone's sense of pride and sentiment,” he said.
For Colley, the campaign has reframed what internal comms can achieve. “We’ve realised as a team what we’re actually capable of,” he said. “And we’re going to keep pushing the limits.”
The future
Colley’s team has since launched what they call Project 201, a year-long series of internal campaigns designed to build on the momentum of the anniversary. These focus on telling end-to-end stories about product development, such as the launch of Cadbury Biscoff, from concept to manufacturing. “It’s about making everyone feel closer to the products,” he said.
They’ve also introduced a new strategic narrative tool, the Purple Thread, which allows senior leaders to shape their own stories around a central message. “It’s not like a normal narrative that becomes wallpaper,” Colley said. “We worked with leaders so they can tell their own story anchored in what we’re doing as a UK&I business.”
As Cadbury moves into its third century, Colley says his internal comms team is now focused on building lasting emotional connections, not just momentary engagement. His advice to others in similar roles? “Focus on impact. Comms people are great at doing loads of stuff, but everything you do should add up to something bigger. Make it purposeful. Make it mean something.”
Photos: Tin Man Communications