The Challenge
Turn a charity donation moment into a shareable brand experience that spread the GenerosiTrees message far beyond the shopping centre.
Cadbury Dairy Milk's GenerosiTrees campaign had a compelling mechanic at its core: donate a pre-loved toy, book, or game and receive a Cadbury slab in return. It was a generous exchange — and the campaign needed to be amplified far beyond the walls of Gateway Theatre of Shopping if it was going to build the kind of social momentum that a festive season charity drive requires.
The challenge was to create a shareable brand moment inside the activation — one that consumers would be motivated to share, that carried Cadbury's GenerosiTrees branding, and that was emotionally resonant enough to feel worth posting. Two immersive themed rooms were at the heart of the experience — the Reindeer Room and Santa's Workshop — and the technology needed to match the magic of those environments: a frictionless photo experience that put a beautifully branded Cadbury memory on every visitor's phone before they left the mall.
— Capture professionally lit DSLR photos in two separate immersive rooms
— Give consumers control of their own photo moment via a camera remote
— Deliver branded photos instantly to every participant via SMS
— Make sharing to social media a single tap — extending campaign reach organically
— Brand every photo with the Cadbury Dairy Milk GenerosiTrees photo frame on a custom microsite
"GenerosiTrees is about spreading generosity — the photo experience needed to make that feeling shareable, so that every visitor became a storyteller for the campaign."
— Cadbury Dairy Milk Marketing Team
The Solution
Two immersive Social Photobooths — DSLR photography, wireless transfer, touchscreen selection, SMS delivery, and a custom Cadbury branded microsite.
Social Wiiv deployed two fully integrated Social Photobooth systems — one inside the Reindeer Room and one inside Santa's Workshop. Each booth gave consumers a professional DSLR photo experience triggered by a handheld camera remote, with photos transferred wirelessly to a touchscreen plinth outside the room where visitors selected their best shot, registered their details, and received their branded Cadbury GenerosiTrees photo via SMS — linking to a custom microsite where they could share it with one tap.
Reindeer Room (Night Sky + Stars) & Santa's Workshop — Two Immersive Photo Environments
1. Two Immersive Photobooth Rooms
The GenerosiTrees activation featured two distinctly themed rooms, each offering a unique branded photo opportunity for visitors. Both rooms were fitted with Social Wiiv's photobooth system, allowing either room to operate independently and simultaneously — maximising throughput across the 7-day activation.
The Reindeer Room
A magical night sky environment decorated with twinkling stars — an enchanting, immersive backdrop designed to capture the festive spirit and create photo moments that felt truly special. Consumers posed under a glittering star canopy, camera remote in hand.
Santa's Workshop
The hustle and bustle of a fully dressed Santa's Workshop — with Santa himself present for photo opportunities. A warm, festive environment that gave families and children a truly memorable branded Cadbury Dairy Milk moment to take home and share.
Camera Remote → DSLR + Flash → Wireless Transfer → Touchscreen Plinth
2. DSLR Photography — Consumer-Controlled, Wirelessly Delivered
Inside each photobooth room, every consumer was handed a camera remote before they entered to pose. When they were ready — in their position, with their group, with Santa or under the stars — they triggered the photo themselves by pressing the remote. The remote fired the DSLR camera and flash instantly, capturing a professionally lit, high-resolution image. The photo then transferred wirelessly to the touchscreen plinth stationed just outside the room, ready for the consumer to review within seconds of stepping out.
Consumer-Controlled Camera Remote — Handing the remote to the consumer gave them ownership of the photo moment — they could pose, adjust, settle their group, and fire the shot exactly when they were ready, resulting in more natural, expressive photos.
Professional DSLR + Flash — A DSLR camera with professional flash delivered studio-quality lighting inside the room — producing sharp, well-exposed images that looked genuinely professional against the immersive backdrop of each themed environment.
Wireless Transfer to Plinth — Photos transferred wirelessly from the DSLR to the touchscreen plinth outside the room in real time — no cables, no manual handling, no delays. By the time the consumer stepped out of the room, their photo was already waiting for them on screen.
Touchscreen Plinth — Photo Selection · Name, Surname & Cellphone Registration · SMS Dispatch
3. Photo Selection, Registration & Instant SMS Delivery
After exiting the photobooth room, consumers were directed to the touchscreen plinth positioned just outside the entrance. All photos taken during their session were displayed on the touchscreen — consumers could browse through their shots, select the best one, and send it to themselves in a few taps. The registration process was intentionally simple: name, surname, and cellphone number was all that was needed to trigger an instant SMS with a link to their branded photo.
Photo Delivery Flow
1
Select Your Photo
All photos from the session displayed on the touchscreen plinth outside the room — consumer browses and taps to select their favourite shot.
2
Register Your Details
Consumer enters their Name, Surname, and Cellphone number on the touchscreen — quick, frictionless registration that captures a first-party data point for Cadbury.
3
Instant SMS Delivery
An SMS is automatically dispatched to the consumer's phone with a personalised link to their photo — delivered within seconds of registration while they're still in the activation zone.
4
Custom Branded Microsite
Tapping the SMS link opens a custom Cadbury Dairy Milk GenerosiTrees branded microsite — displaying the photo with the official Cadbury GenerosiTrees photo frame applied automatically.
5
Share or Download
One-tap sharing buttons on the microsite enable the consumer to post their branded Cadbury photo directly to social media, or download it to their phone — turning every participant into a GenerosiTrees brand ambassador.
4. Cadbury Branded Microsite & Social Amplification
The SMS link delivered consumers to a fully custom-built Cadbury Dairy Milk GenerosiTrees microsite — designed to match the campaign's visual identity and apply a branded photo frame to every image. The microsite served as the campaign's social amplification engine: every photo that left the activation carried Cadbury's GenerosiTrees branding, and every share to social media extended the campaign's organic reach far beyond the 7-day Gateway activation.
Cadbury GenerosiTrees Photo Frame — Every photo was automatically overlaid with the official Cadbury Dairy Milk GenerosiTrees branded photo frame on the microsite — ensuring consistent campaign branding on every image shared across social media, regardless of which platform the consumer chose.
SMS-Linked Personalised Microsite — Each SMS contained a unique link to the individual consumer's photo on the microsite — making the experience feel personal and ensuring the right photo reached the right person without any confusion or manual handling.
One-Tap Social Sharing & Download — The microsite included simple sharing buttons for social media and a direct download option — lowering the barrier to sharing as far as possible, and enabling every activation participant to become a GenerosiTrees storyteller with their network.
The Results
Two immersive rooms. Seven days. Every visitor left with a Cadbury branded photo on their phone — ready to share.
The GenerosiTrees Social Photobooth activation delivered a frictionless, professionally branded photo experience across both rooms for the full 7-day activation window. The technology ran seamlessly — consumers moved through the photobooth rooms, collected their photo on the plinth outside, and walked away with a Cadbury GenerosiTrees branded image on their phone in under two minutes. Every share to social media carried Cadbury's campaign branding, extending the GenerosiTrees message across the networks of everyone who participated.
2
Simultaneous photobooths — Reindeer Room & Santa's Workshop
7
Days of continuous activation at Gateway Theatre of Shopping
SMS
Instant photo delivery — every participant, every session
100%
Branded — every shared photo carried the GenerosiTrees frame
The activation's design created a natural amplification loop: consumers donated a toy, received a chocolate, entered an immersive room, took a professional photo, and left with a branded Cadbury Dairy Milk GenerosiTrees image on their phone — every step reinforcing both the charitable act and the Cadbury brand. The microsite's social sharing functionality meant that every photo posted online carried the campaign frame, turning individual experiences into a collective, visible social movement around GenerosiTrees generosity.
Following the Gateway Theatre of Shopping activation's success, a travelling version of GenerosiTrees — GenerosiTrees on Tour — took the campaign nationwide in late 2019, continuing the toy collection drive and extending the brand's charitable reach across South Africa.
"The magic of GenerosiTrees was already in the campaign — giving people a beautifully branded photo of that moment, delivered to their phone with one tap to share, meant that magic kept travelling long after they left the activation."
— Cadbury Dairy Milk Marketing Team
