Cadbury Dairy Milk Cricket Ad – ‘Kuch Khaas Hai’ 2021: Creating Magic with Gender Twist

The remake of the iconic ‘Kuch Khaas Hai’ advertisement was conceptualized by Ogilvy India for Mondelez India and it showed a young woman cricketer hitting the winning runs in a game amidst lots of anxiety within the spectators. As she hit the winning runs, her boyfriend hugs one of his friends first and then runs past the security onto the field with a huge smile on his face and then performs an impromptu jig to celebrate the moment in front of the whole stadium. The ad film ended with the message #GoodLuckGirls which was to recognize the fact that women of contemporary India were breaking barriers and setting new benchmarks of performance across verticals. The ad film was considered a refreshing take on the iconic 1994 cricket ad of Dairy Milk chocolates as it showcased the reversal of gender roles where the boyfriend was found to do a little jig to celebrate his girlfriend’s winning shot in a packed stadium and then shares a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk with his cricketer girlfriend. The tagline of the advertisement was ‘Kuch Achha Ho Jaaye. Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’. [1]. 

Moments from the Recreated Dairy Milk Cricket Advertisement

The advertisement aimed to celebrate and cheer women who were carving spectacular success stories and emerging as significant role models for the youth in the country. Piyush Pandey, Chairman of Global Creative & Executive Chairman, India observed, “It needed a brave client back in 1994 to go ahead with the original Cadbury Cricket film that became so popular. It needed an even braver client to attempt something with an iconic film and make magic out of it. I am delighted that the team at Mondelez India and at Ogilvy India has done this magic, made it relevant, exciting, and so Cadbury, in its bold and front foot fashion.” 

The 2021 remake of the ‘Kuch Khaas Hai’ advertisement was considered a tribute to women athletes of the country by many. Industry insiders believed that the timing of the remake could not have been better as young women athletes of India brought laurels for the country in the Olympic and Paralympic Games held in Tokyo in 2021 and then the women’s cricket team of India was taking rapid strides in establishing its dominance in the international arena. The ‘Kuch Khaas Hai’ advertisement with the gender twist was loved by many netizens as several congratulatory messages and messages of admiration were found on Twitter (a microblogging site) and other social media platforms. 

Reactions to the Remake

On September 17th 2021, Mondelez India shared the tweaked version of its iconic cricket advertisement of the 1990s on various social media platforms. The Cadbury Dairy Milk Twitter handle stated, “Join Cadbury Dairy Milk in celebrating and cheering for our girls who are making spectacular success stories and emerging as powerful role models for the youth.” The post had the following hashtags – #CadburyDairyMilk, #GoodLuckGirls, #KuchAchhaHoJaayeKuchMeethaHoJaaye. The post garnered 4300 likes, 1800 retweets and 315 comments as on the 20th of September 2021 [2]. “Lovely ad then…even better now”, commented a Twitter user and then comments like “I so love this new ad. Outstanding ” and “Brilliant” followed. 

The advertisement was found to evoke nostalgia and received favorable comments from celebrities on various other social media platforms like Instagram. Shankar Mahadevan, the singer of the ‘Kuch Khaas Hai’ jingle shared the ad on Instagram and mentioned, “After 27 years it is back!! The roles are reversed!! The company has decided to retain the same song that I had recorded then in 1994!! Nostalgiaa.” Singers like Harshdeep Kaur and Anusha Mani also expressed their reactions to the commercial. Kaur posted, “Wow!! Brought back all the old memories.” Anusha Mani mentioned, “This is so amazing! The iconic jingle by Louis Banks and you with the most amazing take on the film.” Celebrities like Dia Mirza and Navya Naveli Nanda responded with heart emojis to Cadbury’s post on Instagram. 

Commenting on the Dairy Milk cricket advertisement of 2021, Anil Viswanathan, senior director – Marketing, Mondelez India opined, “From acing in the corporate world to winning Olympic medals, women are at the forefront of creating new milestones, every single day and our film is an ode to each one of them. As a brand that has always promoted gender inclusivity, contemporizing an iconic campaign is our way of recognizing the changing times and extending support to all the women trailblazers. An extension of our ongoing generosity narrative, the film also lands the message of how taking small yet significant steps to acknowledge the achievements of women would make the world a better place.”