Our first ever client brief!

Where do we begin? We knew we’d have to let AI help in some capacity… we were all confident it would do the opposite of help. In some ways it pleasantly surprised us.

What did we have to do?

Produce and present a deck to VCCP for Cadbury showing our idea of what a true disruptor to the Christmas chocolate market might be. 

Within our final deck, and enlisting the help of AI in places, we had to produce:

1. A whole new product and its name
2. Images of this product 
3. 3 6-sheet posters
4. Images of the product in a supermarket setting
5. A 15 second promotional video
6. A public intervention / stunt
7. Straplines 

We all entered the brief with enthusiasm, which, truthfully, made it tricky to follow De Bono’s Six Hat system that Marc had introduced us to earlier this week. Though following this model did benefit our team as a 20 minute exercise, we found that with such little time it was proving a real challenge to sit and consciously separate out different approaches. Where we were meant to spend 2 minutes on each hat, whether that be mellow yellow or critical black, there were times where we were so swayed by an idea or vision that we lost our North Star: to disrupt!!!

How did we approach such a mammoth task? Well, we considered what Cadbury stands for, ‘there’s a glass and a half in everyone,’ and how we can bend the rules. It was not a matter of following rules, it was a matter of finding which rules to break. 

First and foremost, Cadbury is all about sharing, as is Christmas in general. We decided we wanted to change that and adopt a ‘s-elfish’ approach. Chocolate wasn’t going to be shared around like Quality Street anymore, it would morph into a secret stash, disguised as an unassuming minimal white box, and at the dispense of the many people out there who just want to treat themselves. We are in a cost of living crisis after all. 

When it came to making, we decided we could afford to use our own imaginations more over AI… maybe against the guidance of Dave Birss. 

IMI:

I took the reins of producing images of the actual exterior and interior of our boxes, putting these in supermarket environments and I also dabbled with some editing for our videos. I decided to give in and use Adobe generative fill to embed our boxes into supermarket environments… though as you can see here, this was a long-winded process of continuously adding and taking elements away. 

Even producing the white box, which maybe I could have sourced on the internet far more easily, proved a struggle. The simplest part of producing the product images was taking our illustrations, applying the distort setting to them and applying to the box. I actually enjoyed that- very satisfying! 

What wasn’t satisfying was… The AI generated images of supermarkets did not immediately resemble typical supermarkets. They looked like Ikea from the perspective of Salvador Dali.. or DALL.E, har-har…

The lesson I learnt from the long-winded ness of producing the supermarket images and actually the white boxes themselves was that AI’s idea of a ‘long white rectangular box’ (and all of my efforts to rephrase) were abnormally large-lidded boxes and scary looking children. Learning to communicate with AI at the SCA is another line of communication and a frustrating one at that. In future, I probably would avoid using AI for these mock ups and images and instead work directly from real footage. Of course, in this instance and with time restraints, AI felt like a convenience… It actually took me whole days at a time to get a hold of a realistic looking box and a friendly looking child.

ALEX:

I also used AI to generate images, but ultimately they didn’t give us the aesthetic we wanted for our campaign. Instead, I found it slightly more useful when it came to the product names and straplines, in that it saved me a lot of time – I could ask ChatGTP for 30 synonyms for a word, it would come back with them within a few seconds. I could then ask for names or straplines using a particular word or theme that it had suggested… and so on and so forth, until it gave me something which I thought was interesting. Not necessarily good, mind. Here are a few examples of the prompts I used, and the responses given:

What names could a product be given that is packaging designed to hide chocolate from children? It looks like a normal box for a boring item but has chocolate inside

Creating a playful and clever name for a product designed to hide chocolate from children while looking like a mundane item can add to its charm. Here are some creative name ideas:

• “ChocoCloak”
• “KiddoCamouflage”
• “Secret Sweet Stash”
• “Cocoa Concealer”
• “ChocoGuardian”
• “Kid-Proof Chocolate Box”
• “Stealthy Sweets Safe”
• “Chocolate Disguiser”
• “Sweet Tooth Securer”
• “Candy Clandestine”
• “ChocoMystery”
• “Innocent Indulgence”
• “Chocolate Covert”
• “Confectionery Camo”
• “ChocoSafe”

These names incorporate elements of secrecy and disguise to highlight the product’s purpose while maintaining a sense of fun and intrigue.

think again but do not use the word, or part of the word, chocolate in the name

Understood! Here are some creative names for your product designed to hide chocolate from children without using the word “chocolate” or any part of it:

• “Sweet SneakBox”
• “Candy Concealer”
• “Kid’s Crave Camo”
• “Confection Cover”
• “Treat Trickster”
• “Sugar Secrecy”
• “Snack Subterfuge”
• “Delightful Disguise”
• “Innocence Keeper”
• “Sugar Surprise”
• “Mystery Munch Box”
• “Sweets Shield”
• “Kiddo Candy Guard”
• “Yummy Yonder”
• “Sneaky Delight”

These names emphasize the element of hiding sweets in a fun and creative way without mentioning “chocolate.”

Think again but this time do not use any words to do with confectionary in the name

Of course! Here are some creative names for your product designed to hide chocolate from children without using any words related to confectionery:

• “Guardian’s Gadget Box”
• “Secret Snacker’s Safe”
• “Innocence Protector”
• “Candy Concealment Kit”
• “Youngling Deception Device”
• “Treat-Time Trickster”
• “Sugar Stash Solution”
• “Sweets Security Box”
• “Youthful Temptation Tamer”
• “Guarded Goodies Gear”
• “Delightful Distractor”
• “Covert Cravings Container”
• “Family Friendly Cover”
• “Stealthy Sweets Solution”
• “Snacking Safeguard”

These names focus on the protective aspect of the product and its role in safeguarding treats without referencing confectionery directly.

think again but give me one word names

Certainly, here are some one-word names for your product designed to hide chocolate from children without using any confectionery-related terms:

• Guardian
• Stealth
• Secrecy
• Mystery
• Clandestine
• Enigma
• Cloak
• Camouflage
• Conceal
• Privacy
• Subterfuge
• Veil
• Mask
• Covert
• Hideaway

These one-word names emphasize the discreet and hidden nature of the product.

Ultimately, we found AI useful as a tool, but there was no way we could have relied on it to do any of the heavy lifting in terms of creativity. As it was, we decided from the off to film our own launch and stunt videos, agreeing that perhaps we could use AI in post-production if necessary. To conclude our SCAB, here are some pictures of Richard during filming, to make you smile:

Alex, Imi & Richard