We’re excited to announce that SB Licensing worked on Cadbury’s latest campaign called ‘All Heroes No Zeros’ which celebrates the groups made up of great individuals, that are even better when they're together (just like Cadbury Heroes themselves).

All Heroes. No Zeros’ spotlights the UK’s most iconic bands, teams, line-ups and figures across culture, music, history and sport by reimagining them as Heroes chocolates: from Santa’s reindeers to Robin Hood and his Merry Men, the Arsenal Women’s Football Club to Queen, even characters from Pride & Prejudice to celebrate Jane Austen's 250th anniversary.

The campaign leads with a series of high-impact OOH, including Piccadilly Lights, and includes a playful 30” spot which will be released on October 20th.

The spot reimagines the inside of a tub of Cadbury Heroes as a sell-out stadium concert where every person is transformed into a Heroes chocolate. As we fly across the crowd, Heroes versions of rock royalty Queen take to the stage: Freddie Mercury as a Crunchie Bits, Brian May as a Dairy Milk, Roger Taylor as a Dinky Decker, and a Dairy Milk Caramel John Deacon. As the camera pans up and out of the stadium, a Wispa fan finds it all too much, and a Creme Egg Twisted crowd surfs before the voiceover delivers the end line: “The best groups are all heroes, no zeros - like Cadbury Heroes”.

SB Licensing worked in close collaboration with VCCP creatives and was tasked with exploring the licensing availability of iconic IPs across pop culture. The creative team proposed a selection of IPs, while SB licensing proposed additional IP suggestions. In the end, SB Licensing investigated up to 100 ideas of well-loved characters from movies and TV series, iconic music bands, literary and game characters. The project required extensive research, and SB Licensing utilised its deep relationships with studios, talent, and estate representatives to find the perfect IP partner for the client in collaboration with VCCP’s creative, production and business and legal affairs teams.

SB Licensing then approached and negotiated rights with over 30 IP representatives, until the client settled on their chosen IP: the iconic band Queen. VCCP creative team worked on a selection of creative scripts and materials that truly encapsulated the essence of the band and paid attention to details such as using the official band crest and logo, as well as a faithful miniature replica of Brian May’s guitar.  

SB Licensing negotiated the rights, contractual business terms and secured creative approvals from the band’s representatives before the start of the campaign.

We are proud to have been trusted on this campaign, which is a real celebration of craftsmanship: the film was directed by award-winning stop-motion specialist Anthony Farquar-Smith at Not To Scale (who notoriously worked with feature film directors like Wes Anderson and Tim Burton), in collaboration with VCCP's global content creation studio Girl&Bear.