Breaking Norms to Drive Growth: These campaigns challenged industry norms to achieve standout results

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Quick Case Study #1: How Cadbury’s purpose-driven marketing campaign in Pakistan helped increase net revenue 18%

Cadbury Pakistan is owned by Mondelēz International, a US-based confectionary and snacking company. The team sought to gain a first-mover advantage as one of the first major sponsors of women’s cricket in Pakistan.

BEFORE: Traditional marketing

Recognizing cricket’s significance among the brand’s core growth consumer base, Cadbury sponsored Pakistan’s national women’s cricket team and created the Cadbury Cricket Scholarship in 2023. This initiative awarded scholarships to 123 aspiring athletes, with 17 recipients now representing the Under-19 Women’s National Team across seven cities.

For the first time in Pakistan, female cricketers were featured on Cadbury Dairy Milk packages.

“Our goal is to bridge the gap in women’s sports, creating lasting impact through thoughtful partnerships that look toward the future. Empowering female athletes transforms lives and contributes to a more inclusive society,” said Gohar Syed, marketing lead, Pakistan, Mondelēz International.

The team launched a campaign it dubbed #GetInTheGame and ran television commercials showcasing acts of family encouragement for female cricketers – such as mending a uniform or providing a ride to practice.

“The phase was further amplified by endorsements from renowned cricketers Haris Rauf and Bisma Maroof, reinforcing the message of inclusivity and support for young aspiring female cricketers,” said Sadia Qutubuddin, Senior Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy Pakistan (Cadbury Pakistan’s agency).

AFTER: User-generated content created by artificial intelligence

The team launched then launched a new campaign dubbed BackHerDream to support the cricket sponsorship during the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. This campaign invited families to envision their daughters, sisters, or friends as cricket stars.

For the first time in Pakistan, the team seamlessly integrated AI technology into its campaign, creating a way for families to celebrate and support their daughters and sisters.

Creative Sample #1: Cadbury product packaging, with QR code CTA (note: ‘pack’ is short for ‘product packaging’)

The campaign used a QR code on Cadbury Dairy Milk product packaging, which directed customers to a microsite where they could upload photos of daughters, sisters, or friends. After selecting a cricket role (bowler, batter, or fielder) and adding a personalized message, the AI system transformed the image into a cricket-themed poster depicting each girl in action.

Customers could download or share these posters on social media and entered a sweepstakes for a personalized Cadbury package with their customized image.

Promotions for the product packaging campaign ran across YouTube, Meta, and TikTok, with an investment of 48 million PRK (Pakistani Rupees), which is roughly equivalent to $172,000. The team secured premium placements like YouTube mastheads and TikTok Top View during key matches.

But the sweepstakes was only part of the overall campaign.

For example, public murals of girls playing cricket were installed near sports grounds and other high-traffic areas, each featuring a QR code. When scanned, these AR elements transformed the murals, showing the girls as professional cricket players.

Scholarships were awarded during live matches, with winners invited to meet cricket stars on the field. Dynamic OOH updates near stadiums provided a real-time count of scholarship awards.

“This campaign isn’t just about sponsorship; it’s about creating a movement that enables girls to dream big and challenge societal norms. Simple acts of support from families can catalyze a grassroots revolution,” Qutubuddin said.

RESULTS: Revenue increase

From the combined campaigns, Cadbury Dairy Milk saw an 18% increase in net revenue, supported by 500,000 incremental product sales. The campaigns contributed to a 290-basis-point increase in market share.

Other results include:

• 227.9 million impressions on YouTube, reaching 67 million viewers and achieving a view-through rate (VTR) of 13.3%
• 45 million impressions on TikTok
• The TV and digital strategy achieved a combined reach of 364 GRPs during the Women’s T20, capturing 10 million viewers and significant free media coverage across platforms such as HamariWeb, Dawn, and ProPakistani
• 13,334 sweepstakes entries within three weeks from the product packaging promotion
• 4,000 girls participated in trials across Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad, where renowned cricketers and expert coaches mentored participants

Quick Case Study #2: How channel marketing company decided on a rebrand that defied B2B norms, increased new clients 450%

Extu is a channel marketing company that serves 146 clients globally.

BEFORE: Two distinct entities

Incentive Solutions and OneAffiniti were separate companies with their own branding and marketing campaigns.

Creative Sample #2: Logos of the two separate companies

Creative Sample #3: Email template before

When OneAffiniti was acquired by Incentive Solutions in 2021, at first the company functioned as a single organization with two product offerings. The team decided to create a new unified brand.

The old design approach of both companies was more restrained, typical of many B2B brands.

AFTER: New brand with a more visually striking design

The team embarked on a nine-month rebranding process. First, they focused on a name for the new combined entity.

 “We chose the name Extu, with ‘ex’ representing the experience, expertise, and exponential growth we provide, and ‘tu’ having many meanings, including a play on the mathematical symbology of raising a number by the power of two,” said Nichole Gunn, CMO, Extu.

For the visual look and feel, the team first reviewed how competitors presented themselves in the marketplace. “In merchandising, you know that you are going to have a sea of competing products, and you need to find a way to stand out visually. We took that same approach and printed out logos of similar brands, put them on the wall and worked through how we could stand out,” said Ken Szpindor, Art Director, Extu.

Most competitors relied on similar design elements like blue and purple hues, predictable fonts, and symbols. “The previous Incentive Solutions had an exclamation point in their logo – a symbol also seen in not one, but two of their competitors,” said Brittany Blankenship, Creative Director, Matchstic (Extu’s agency).

For Extu’s logo, the team opted for bold, vibrant colors, anchoring their visual identity in differentiation, with an up arrow symbolizing financial growth.

Creative Sample #4: New logo

Creative Sample #5: Email template after

RESULTS: 450% increase in new clients

The team announced the rebrand in September 2023. Since the rebrand, there has been a 450% increase in new clients signed and website traffic has increased 157%.

The team has also received positive client feedback specifically mentioning the new brand’s clarity and aesthetic appeal. One client, a 200-year-old family-owned company, even reached out for advice on how they could successfully rebrand their own company.

“This redesign lets us connect with our clients more clearly and purposefully than ever,” said Steve Prebble, CEO, Extu.

Quick Case Study #3: How newsletter got 2,000 visits from Reddit in two months

Pickle Rooms is a newsletter for founders and CEOs.

BEFORE: No feedback on Instagram

“I'd been trying to grow on Instagram with my previous brand, but I got so little engagement that there was almost no feedback,” said Robert Benson-May, founder, Pickle Rooms.

Feedback was important to Benson-May, because he felt he couldn’t improve his posts without feedback on which ones were good.

So when he launched his new venture, he decided to turn to a different platform.

AFTER: Feedback (and traffic) from Reddit

“I turned to Reddit, a platform where anonymity levels the playing field (I didn't need an existing audience to get immediate feedback),” Benson-May said.

He focused on the r/Entrepeneur subreddit. A subreddit is a specialized forum, focused on a specific topic or theme. These sections of the platform allow users to engage in discussions, share content, and connect with others who have similar interests. Each subreddit operates independently with its own rules, moderators, and community guidelines.

He used two kinds of posts – storytelling and engagement prompts.

In the storytelling posts, he shared his experiences, including with a previous brand. “The trick was explaining how I did that particular thing, and not just what,” Benson-May said.

Creative Sample #6: ‘Here's how long it took me to do £30,000 e-commerce. Enjoy!’ post on Reddit

In the engagement prompts posts, he created posts that invited discussion. These posts let people comment and share their own interesting experiences. Benson-May considered these posts user-generated content, where he is the facilitator by being the one to originally create the post.

For his top-performing post, he asked, ‘What's Your Most Unexpectedly Profitable Side Hustle?’ He used the word ‘unexpectedly,’ since people often like to share interesting things that happened to them unexpectedly. The post got 253,000 views and was shared 716 times.

Creative Sample #7: ‘What's Your Most Unexpectedly Profitable Side Hustle?’ post on Reddit

He made 18 posts, which took less than 10 hours in total.

RESULTS – 2,000 visits in two months

These posts brought in 2,000 visits in the first two months. “There is also the long tail, I'm still getting a small number of clicks from those posts now (since the posts rank on Google and are somewhat evergreen),” Benson-May said.

He got 474,000 views across 18 posts in just two months.

“The immediate feedback loop on Reddit allowed me to identify which content resonated and refine my strategy. Reddit gave me a platform to test, fail, and iterate super quickly!” Benson-May said. The feedback was based on the number of upvotes and the number of comments. If a post got no upvotes in the first hour, he knew it was a bad post.

“I was getting plenty of engagement, as opposed to Instagram which (for me) was like tumbleweeds, even on good posts,” he said.

When I interviewed the co-founder of Reddit, he told me “Every other social media platform has trained us to be very unnatural, and Reddit’s the way to just go back to doing what we’ve been doing as human beings for thousands of years.”

When I asked Benson-May about this insight from Alexis Ohanian, he told me “Absolutely, you cannot simply post an ad. You have to provide some value, and only mention your company at the very bottom of the post. Having more experience with it now, the best practice may be to do maybe nine random posts unrelated to your company in a sub-reddit, and then one post in which you mention your company towards the bottom of the post.”

Related resources

Marketing Strategy: Data tells stories at Nationwide, fast mistakes, and the triage method (podcast episode #25)

Innovative Marketing Leadership: It is okay to think outside the box but make sure you don't create surprises (podcast episode #82)

Marketing and Brand: Embrace healthy friction (podcast episode #48)