The story began in Birmingham, England, on 1 March, 1824, when a 23-year-old Quaker named John Cadbury placed his first advertisement in the Birmingham Gazette. He ran a grocer's shop selling tea, coffee, and a curious sideline that he prepared himself—drinking chocolate, ground by hand using a mortar and pestle. Cocoa had been in England since the 1650s but had never peered out of aristocratic drawing rooms. Cadbury believed it could belong to everyone.
So, he set up a small factory in 1831. By 1854, Cadbury Brothers held its first royal warrant as manufacturer of cocoa and chocolate to Queen Victoria—a distinction the company continues to hold. What followed was over a century of expansion—mergers and evolution, from Cadbury Brothers to Cadbury Schweppes to Cadbury—before Kraft Foods acquired it in 2010 and spun off its confectionery business as Mondelez International in 2012.
But the chapter that holds maximum relevance to India began on 19 July, 1948, just months after the country drew its first breath of independence. Cadbury India opened its first headquarters in India, in Mumbai, setting up its first plant in Thane and second, in Pune. For a newly free nation still finding its economic footing, a purple bar of chocolate was something close to magic.
For the first few decades, Cadbury in India was a children's brand. A reward. A birthday treat. Something parents bought for children when the budget allowed. The brand grew steadily but modestly—the chocolate market itself crawled at a 10 per cent annual growth rate through the 1970s and 80s. Then, the 1990s arrived. And with that, did economic liberalisation, rising incomes, and a generation of adults who were suddenly permitted to want things for themselves.
Cadbury saw the shift before most. In 1994, in partnership with Ogilvy India, it released a television commercial that would reshape not just the brand but the entire category of Indian advertising. A cricket match. A tense final over. A young woman in a blue dress—as soon as her partner hits the winning shot—breaks past the boundary rope and dances into the field—with uninhibited joy and a chocolate bar in hand. Her joyful abandon was echoed in the tagline: ‘Asli Swad Zindagi Ka’/‘The Real Taste of Life.’
The brand was not only about children anymore. It was also about the adult who deserved a an unapologetically sweet moment. The campaign dismantled the idea that chocolate was a guilty indulgence and positioned it as life's punctuation mark. The film remains to be one of the most beloved advertisements in Indian ad history.
October 2003. Just four weeks before Diwali—Cadbury's most important sales period — reports of worm infestation in Cadbury Dairy Milk bars emerged from Maharashtra. The Food and Drug Administration acted swiftly and publicly. Media coverage was relentless. Sales fell by an estimated 30–40% almost overnight. A brand synonymous with purity and celebration was suddenly a source of dread.
What Cadbury did next is a masterclass for boardrooms across the country. The company did not deflect. It took full ownership—acknowledged the distribution and retail storage failures, overhauled packaging from traditional foil-and-paper wraps to heat-sealed polymer packs, invested heavily in quality control, and went directly to consumers with transparency. And then, it brought in Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan appeared in a series of ads—not to sell chocolate, but to explain the new packaging, to look Indians in the eye and say: we heard you; we acted; now, give us another chance. It worked. By mid-2004, market confidence had been substantially restored. By 2005, the brand had not only regained market share but also launched what would become its most enduring campaign platform.
For Indians, ‘meetha’ has the power to make everything better, every celebration grander. With Ogilvy, Cadbury took a bold step to position Dairy Milk as the best replacement to the traditional mithai. The brand once again roped in Amitabh Bachhan, who was there to add a Dairy Milk to every celebration. ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ became more than just a brand campaign. It turned into a cultural bid. From 2005 to 2008, Cadbury India nearly doubled its business in three years. Compounded sales growth hit 22 per cent. The brand had inserted itself into the ritual fabric of Indian life.
The campaign kept reinventing itself. Cadbury Celebrations, launched in 2001, replaced the mithai box as the gift of choice across festivals. Dairy Milk Silk arrived as premium indulgence for a generation that wanted an experience. In 2020, as an act of solidarity during the pandemic, the brand deployed AI to create the Not Just a Cadbury Ad campaign, geotagging over 1,800 local stores into a single film. In 2021, Shah Rukh Khan became a brand ambassador not just for Cadbury, but also for the local businesses—with the brand lending its reach to kirana owners and small vendors still finding their feet after Covid.
Today, Mondelez India—as Cadbury India was rebranded in 2014—commands over 65 per cent of the country's organised chocolate market. Dairy Milk alone holds more than 40 per cent market share with a portfolio that spans across generations and price points: from the ₹5 Eclairs that introduced an entire country to chocolate, to Bournville and Silk for consumers who want something quieter and richer.
Beyond chocolate, Bournvita has been the malted health drink in Indian kitchens for decades—the brown powder stirred into a million morning glasses by a million mothers. Oreo, Tang, Toblerone, Halls—the Mondelez universe in India is wide, but Dairy Milk remains its beating heart. Globally, Mondelez International operates in over 150 countries with revenues exceeding $36 billion, and India is one of its most important markets. India is also a sourcing hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
Most brands sell products. A few, if they're lucky and good, sell feelings. Fewer still, become the feeling itself. When something sweet happens in India, people don't just celebrate. They ‘Cadbury.’
