TORONTO—Cadbury Canada called on The Hive to design a new campaign, showcasing its Dairy Milk chocolate bar's new Fair Trade certification. Cadbury Canada director of chocolate and candy Mackenzie Davison says it has worked with The Hive on previous projects, including the Cadbury Bicycle Factory, which took the team to Ghana.



Ghanaian artist Nil Ashangmore illustrated this campaign to bring awareness to the positive changes that Fair Trade chocolate can have, says The Hive chief creative officer Simon Creet. “We looked for an authentic Ghanaian who had a sense of joy and positivity to show in their work. We wanted the amount of joy being spread in Ghana through the fair trade campaign to come through in the work.”

Everything in the campaign, which includes a website, social media and out of home components, is designed to work off of the colour palette of the mural itself, says Creet.

Although it was great working with an authentic artist on the project, Creet says it was also one of the challenges of the campaign. “It is interesting when art and commerce come together,” he says. “We weren’t working with an artist who is used to the timelines that come with commercial work. In this case, there were timelines because the mural needed to be finished and shipped back to Canada.”

Being able to visit Ghana and spread the positive message of the campaign was a highlight for Creet. “It’s such a positive message to put out to people,” he says. “I think people have a perception of fair trade being just about fair wages. This is an opportunity to show you’re helping hospitals to get built and schools to buy books. You’re doing so much with your dollar.” Contact: Thehive.ca, Dairymilk.ca