Every year, about 35,000 children in India are born with a cleft lip or palate. These children, unfortunately, face social stigma; a cleft lip is often seen as deformity in a society that has discriminatory standards of physical appearance. This can impact the self-esteem and morale of children as they are subject to discrimination at such a young age. These kids come from underprivileged communities, who cannot afford cleft treatments or surgeries to correct the problem. To make things worse, there is lack of awareness and education on the issue, as even other children use the opportunity to poke fun at kids with a cleft lip.
Britannia Good Day, India’s largest and most-beloved cookie brand, has always celebrated smiles of every kind through their cookies. The Good Day cookies have special ridges that resemble a smile, and, over the years, they have introduced different kinds of smiles – a smirk smile, a wide smile, a dimple smile, and so on. It is the brand’s purpose to spread the message of joy and happiness through their cookies. Because everyone deserves a Good Day.
So, on World Smile Day in October 2023, they decided to add a smile on their cookies that could change a mindset. A simple yet powerful idea that modified an iconic product and brought attention to a cause.
For the first time in the 38-years history of Britannia Good Day, we changed the iconic product to include a smile that has been overlooked – the cleft smile.
Changing the design of the cookie wasn’t an easy task – to alter the manufacturing line of a company that produces over 900 million cookies a quarter. But Britannia found a way. Specially designed molds were created and integrated into the manufacturing process in Britannia’s largest factories, so that they could achieve something they have never attempted before. A novel idea of changing the design of an existing brand – something unheard of in the market.
These packs were introduced on World Smile Day, to spread the message of inclusivity. To stand with those children who have been subject to discrimination due to their cleft. And to educate the other children – and the world at large – about cleft. Here was a big brand celebrating it. Telling the world that cleft or not – a smile is a smile is a smile.
To draw further attention to the cause, the iconic Good Day logo on the packs were changed too. Proudly sporting a cleft in its logo. Britannia rolled out over 70 million packs of Good Day cookies, featuring the new Cleft Cookie. Which means, over 360 million Cleft Cookies reached Indian consumers in Britannia’s biggest markets in India – Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat – through 0.5 million shop outlets as well as popular e-Com platforms.
The campaign was met with an enormous response from consumers. The Cleft Cookie and what it stood for, was amplified by mainstream, digital, PR and a social engagement campaign. The announcement ad on Print media that was released on 6th October 2023 via leading dailies, had a reach of 2.6 million. Overall, the campaign received 14.2 million views online and over 3 million digital impressions on social media. An online activation featuring custom cookie stickers received 221k + shares on social media, further highlighting the popularity of the campaign and how consumers have acknowledged the cause. The initiative was also actively supported by other popular brands like Flipkart, Xiomi, Liscious, Swiggy, and Himalaya, who went on to tweet about the cause using #CleftCookie
India embraced the Cleft Cookie. A simple change to a much-beloved product enabled a huge shift in a mindset and sparked wide-spread conversations.
