Cadbury 5 Star ‘Ends the War’ on Valentine’s Day with twist-filled Ogilvy India campaign

Created by Ogilvy India, 5 Star’s latest Valentine’s Day campaign flips expectations by ‘ending the war’ on the occasion – sponsoring 1 million dates to restore the holiday, only to reveal a playful twist that doubles down on its iconic “Do Nothing” philosophy. Last year, its “Destroy Valentine’s Day” campaign sought to take the fizz out of the occasion by inviting ‘uncles’ to hijack it. This February, however, the brand surprised audiences by announcing it is ‘ending the war’ on Valentine’s Day and undoing the impact of its previous campaigns.

The campaign’s teaser video on 5 Star’s YouTube channel revealed that the brand will restore Valentine’s Day to its intended spirit by using its marketing budget to sponsor 1 million dates.

And now the brand has followed this up with a ‘reveal video’ which explains that in order to truly ‘restore’ the occasion, the brand has brought together experts to research the origins of Valentine’s Day to craft the ideal Valentine’s Day itinerary just like its creator might have planned it. By sponsoring 1 million such research-backed Valentine’s Day packages, the campaign hopes to restore Valentine’s Day to its pure and original form. However, the research has uncovered a surprising and unexpected twist.

With this revelation, Cadbury 5 Star has doubled down on its long-running philosophy by demonstrating that the only way to truly honor the day of love and its creator is to spend that day doing nothing.

Nitin Saini, Vice President – Marketing, Mondelez India, said: “Cadbury 5 Star has always approached Valentine’s Day with playful mischief, and this year we wanted to evolve that narrative in a way that surprises audiences and drives engagement. By ‘ending the war’ and announcing 1 million sponsored dates only to reveal it as a classic 5 Star bluff, we created a campaign that brings consumers in on the joke while reinforcing our ‘Do Nothing’ philosophy. It’s our way of keeping Valentine’s Day fun, relaxed and unmistakably 5 Star.”

Sukesh Kumar Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India, said: “5 Star’s Valentine’s Day campaign has become an annual tradition by now, with several widely popular editions that offered to save audiences from all the hype. But this year, Karunasagar Sridharan (ECD) and the Ogilvy team proposed an idea that takes the brand in a completely unexpected direction – sponsoring 1 million dates in order to ‘restore’ the day to its original form. But there’s a twist – a surprising truth bomb that might just change the way we look at Valentine’s Day forever. Yet again, the brand has pulled off an unconventional stunt that only 5 Star can get away with. The campaign is supported by a web platform put together by our Creative Tech team where couples can sign up for the free dates.”

Shekhar, President, Client Solutions, South Asia, Wavemaker, added: “This year, Cadbury 5Star takes its iconic ‘Do Nothing’ manifesto from philosophy to provocation. We introduce Esther Howland as a never-before-seen celebrity endorser not to celebrate romance, but to interrupt it. By reimagining this historical figure across modern cultural touchpoints, we position her as a ‘circuit breaker’ in the romance economy. From endless digital scrolls to real-world dating hotspots, our media intervention disrupts predictable Valentine narratives, nudging Gen Z to opt out, slow down, and unapologetically ‘Do Nothing.’”