System1: Cadbury's Heroes Ads tap into Culture and Wit to Earn Highest Ever Outdoor Score

Oct. 15, 2025

Cadbury’s latest Heroes outdoor campaign has achieved an exceptional 5.9 Stars with creative effectiveness platform System1, the highest ever score for outdoor advertising.

Two of the adverts from the campaign, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Queen’ scored 5.9 Star Ratings, well above the average rating for out-of-home adverts (2.5 Stars). A third outdoor advert in the series, ‘Robin Hood’, achieved 5.8 Stars, while the TV version of the creative also scored a top 5.9 Rating.

System1’s Star Rating is calculated by measuring emotional response to an advert, with strong, positive emotions a key factor in driving long-term brand growth.

The adverts, which show a series of chocolates from Cadbury’s Heroes collection rebranded with the names of iconic pop culture figures, subverts audience expectations to evoke humour and rewards “double-take” repeated viewing. The simplicity of the adverts’ appearance and the use of familiar brand assets make it easier for audiences to recognise Cadbury and recall the creative later on.

As well as their impressive Star Rating, all three adverts also scored exceptional Spike Ratings (indicating a creative’s capacity to drive short-term sales) and strong-to-exceptional Fluency Ratings. Fluency measures the strength and speed of brand recognition and is particularly important in out-of-home advertising, where audiences spend on average just two seconds looking at a creative.

System1 recently released research in partnership with JCDecaux UK, which revealed that when outdoor adverts provoked a high, positive emotional response (3 Stars and above), they were twice as effective at driving tangible business outcomes as those that left viewers feeling neutral.

The report, Double Take, also emphasised the importance of simplicity and clear brand assets in OOH advertising, with audiences over 50% more likely to recall well-branded campaigns.

Andrew Tindall, SVP Partnerships, System1 said: 

“Cadbury has nailed it again with a brilliantly simple and unmistakably Cadbury ad for Heroes. It rewards viewers with that double-take ‘aha’ moment when they spot the clever chocolate names, and lands perfectly with its upbeat ‘All Heroes, No Zeroes’ line. It is another masterclass in using distinctive assets like colour, tone and emotion to stay front of mind and build long-term brand love. Cadbury continues to show how consistency and creativity compound over time, with bold, joyful and instantly recognisable outdoor work that keeps them culturally relevant and unmistakably Cadbury.”