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Attention Cadbury!

Today I bought two of your new products - Party Babies ("Fruit flavoured Jelly Babies"), and Dessert Allsorts ("Dessert flavour Allsorts"). I've not tried them yet, but I suspect they will be up to your usual standards of excellence.

Cadbury logo

However - what with this, the megabranding of Dairy Milk (Dairy Milk with Creme Egg being the latest addition), and the fact that your big Christmas idea was the Dairy Milk Share Boxes - all very nice, but hardly original - I have to ask the question. What was the last new product you launched, that didn't build on an existing brand? I'm pretty sure it was Snaps - launched two years ago.

I understand the attraction in building on existing brands. Development is quicker and easier, and you already have brand awareness - you don't need to start from scratch. And admittedly, Dairy Milk with Creme Egg has been a resounding successs - short-term, at least. (I used to work in a cash'n'carry, and sales figures do not lie.) But the fact remains that, whilst they might be more of a guaranteed success as a product, there is often less excitement about a product that is built on an existing brand than there is about something completely new - the Creme Egg bar is the exception, rather than the rule. And you can very quickly go from "less exciting", to "downright boring". And "boring" is not something your brand should be associated with.

To drag this back vaguely towards territory NTS should be covering - your brand currently is damaged. Certainly not irreparably, but enough to hurt. I know you're planning a big advertising campaign - but invest in some new NPD as well.

Because sooner or later, the mileage you can gain with building on existing brands will just completely run out. A lot of marketing is to do with excitement. For fucks sake: provide some.

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Comments

Yeah, despite this topic being boring as fuck I'm still going to make a comment like an ass. I hate how it's 'Dairy Milk' everything now. The way Mars (or Masterfoods or whatever) do it is best. They don't even put Mars on their other confectionary. Cadbury always want to rely on their name. And men never went to the Moon.

By performingmonkey
August 11, 2006 @ 4:56 am

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>Yeah, despite this topic being boring as fuck

That's a bit rude. I found it quite interesting, even if you didn't.

By Pook
August 11, 2006 @ 10:39 am

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3 facts:
Un-interesting but true, My mother used to be a nanny to the cadbury family in Bournville untill she was called into war service (munitions). The err outbreak started just a couple of miles up the road from where I'm sat now. I actually prefer Galaxy.
It's good to share....

By Cpt-D
August 12, 2006 @ 12:44 am

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It barely needs to be said, but I think we're all aware that Dairy milk with Bubbles is vastly inferior to Wispa, in alll of taste, texture and moniker.

By James H
August 12, 2006 @ 12:59 am

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Desert Allsorts are OFFICIALLY quite nice. Party Babies less so.

By Brig Bother
August 12, 2006 @ 1:04 am

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> It barely needs to be said, but I think we're all aware that Dairy milk with Bubbles is vastly inferior to Wispa, in alll of taste, texture and moniker.

Too true! And Wispa Gold...pure joy.

By performingmonkey
August 12, 2006 @ 1:11 am

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Yeah, Wispa is one they should have kept separate. It doesn't work well with the shape of the Dairy Milk brand. Caramel I can kind of accept although there was something nicer about the previous segments of that, too.

Others they'd be stupid to not keep separate:
1) Flake

Do you think that Cadbury are planning to withdraw their Fry's Turkish Delight if the Dairy Milk one goes well or is the former too timeless for that? I've not tasted the Dairy Milk version (I don't much like the Fry's one) - how do they compare?

By Geoff
August 14, 2006 @ 10:40 am

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1) Flake *

* This obviously has its own brand power as Cadbury's released loads of variations a while ago. "Snow" was crap, and something tells me the "Dipped" normal one is going to see off Twirl. They can sell one Twirl finger for the price of two when they dress them up as Dipped Flakes.

By Geoff
August 14, 2006 @ 10:49 am

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Dipped flakes are slightly different from Twirls, to be fair. Larger than a single finger, and of a different texture. I think there's room for both.

I'm more concerned with how Cadbury removed "Mint Crisp" (along with most of their premium range) and replaced with with the frankly dire "Dairy Milk with Mint Chips" - I did find out through a dodgy newsagent selling import chocolate on the cheap, though, that the original mint crisp is alive and well in Ireland, so I've at least got one place to keep myself topped up until Cadbury realise what a horrible mistake they've made.

I'm just waitiing for the day we reach the point of maximum brand-consolidation ridiculousness and Bourneville gets changed to "Dairy Milk without Milk"

By James H
August 14, 2006 @ 1:20 pm

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In Brixton recently there was a shop with some kind of old-fashioned looking Dairy Milks that had names like "tiffin". I didn't try them. They had a whole range but they don't stock any of them any more.

I thought I'd been privvy to a limited edition "Goodnight Sweetheart" portal until I checked and found this:
http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=0412221405sbc

By Geoff
August 14, 2006 @ 2:10 pm

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Yeah, that's the same line as the old-style Mint Crisps are available in. The newsagent I go to has the full range, in fact. Cranberry Crunch is definitely the oddest of those available.

By James H
August 14, 2006 @ 3:48 pm

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Are the DM Caramellos different to the one with caramel we're used to?

Oh, another one I miss: "Nuts about Caramel". Stupidest name ever though.

Green and Blacks are the best range available, but I'm gutted that since being taken over by Cadbury's the fairtrade logos have disappeared from them. Maya Gold is the only one that's still fairtrade.

By Geoff
August 14, 2006 @ 4:44 pm

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"Do you think that Cadbury are planning to withdraw their Fry's Turkish Delight if the Dairy Milk one goes well or is the former too timeless for that? I've not tasted the Dairy Milk version (I don't much like the Fry's one) - how do they compare?"

I talked to the Cadbury rep about this when I worked at makro - they're not getting rid of Fry's.

I prefer the Fry's version personally, but if you want a higher chocolate/turkish ratio, go for the Dairy Milk Turkish.

"Snow" was crap, and something tells me the "Dipped" normal one is going to see off Twirl. They can sell one Twirl finger for the price of two when they dress them up as Dipped Flakes.

They still sell Snow, actually. As for Dipped - I thought *exactly* the same - that they'd just get rid of Twirl. Mainly because Dipped is far nicer. But Twirl actually sells *really* well - it was one of the top-selling Cadbury bars at makro. Dipped sells pathetically by comparison. Stupid really, as Dipped is far, far nicer.

By John Hoare
August 14, 2006 @ 9:42 pm

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I'm more concerned with how Cadbury removed "Mint Crisp" (along with most of their premium range) and replaced with with the frankly dire "Dairy Milk with Mint Chips"

There is a reason for this - at the same time, they released Dairy Milk Crispies, and they didn't want confusion over the name. I agree Dairy Milk Mint Crisp is better name, though. Irritatingly, they've got rid of Dairy Milk Crispies now (I *adored* it, but it just wasn't selling), so the name change was pointless in the end - they won't change it back now, though.

I did find out through a dodgy newsagent selling import chocolate on the cheap, though, that the original mint crisp is alive and well in Ireland, so I've at least got one place to keep myself topped up until Cadbury realise what a horrible mistake they've made.

Indeed - I had some in Ireland, and they also sell them in a dodgy newsagents in London I went to recently. Lovely stuff.

By John Hoare
August 14, 2006 @ 9:47 pm

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Oh, and I'm entirely agreed about Wispa. A dumb change.

"Desert Allsorts are OFFICIALLY quite nice. Party Babies less so.

When I opened the Dessert Allsorts bag, THE STENCH OF DEATH emanated from it. Some of them are quite nice though, although I wouldn't buy it again. Ironically considering my post, it's commendable that Cadbury tried something different - those flavours have never been done before.

By John Hoare
August 14, 2006 @ 9:49 pm

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Twirls sell well because they're good. I'm sure if sales of the Fry's Turkish Delight dropped they'd axe it. I doubt they give a crap about the nostalgia.

By performingmonkey
August 14, 2006 @ 10:22 pm

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I'm sure if sales of the Fry's Turkish Delight dropped they'd axe it. I doubt they give a crap about the nostalgia.

Oh, absolutely. All I meant was that there are no plans at the moment.

By John Hoare
August 15, 2006 @ 4:18 am

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I've been thinking about the Fry's v Dairy Milk Turkish question, and I've reached the conclusion that Cadbury would be nuts to axe the former, whether the latter is more popular or not...

"I doubt they give a crap about the nostalgia."

I think the Dairy Milk brand shows a very keen awareness of their heritage, and if you check Cadbury's website you'll see that they view Fry's to be an important part of the history of chocolate in general, and they seem proud to own it. It puts them in the fortunate position of having a product that transcends Cadbury's as well - a lot of people will consider Fry's Turkish (with its seemingly unchanging packaging) as being the original Turkish Delight and not related to Cadbury at all. The sales of Dairy Milk Turkish Delight might overtake those of Fry's Turkish (I'd be surprised mind you), but axing the Fry's brand would take away the apparent original that all the others are imitating. Then when Nestle and Mars release their Turkish varients there'd be nothing making the Dairy Milk one win out.

By Geoff
August 15, 2006 @ 1:39 pm

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> I'm just waitiing for the day we reach the point of maximum brand-consolidation ridiculousness and Bourneville gets changed to "Dairy Milk without Milk"

Ha. I'm similarly observing the expansion of the Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes brand and wondering how long it'll be before Frosties are absorbed and marketed as "Crunchy Nut Cornflakes without Nuts".

By Ben
August 26, 2006 @ 11:04 pm

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I'm still lamenting the end of my childhood favourite - Cadbury's Cookies and Cream. White chocolate and biscuit bits? Yes please. In comparison, there Dream white chocolate is shambolic. I sill remember buying the last box of the bars at my local newsagents when they were flogging them near the end of their shelf life...

By Rosti
April 09, 2007 @ 1:56 pm

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i like cadbury. especially dream and boost bars. best ever

By meeeee.....
May 02, 2007 @ 11:31 am

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why is everyone so into critisizing these brands? if u dont like them, dont buy them, simple.

By meeeee..... (again)
May 02, 2007 @ 11:36 am

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" I'm still lamenting the end of my childhood favourite - Cadbury's Cookies and Cream. "

do milky bars make something like that? i thought they did?

" they'd axe it. "

whats that mean? stop making it? or change it?

By Anonymous
May 02, 2007 @ 11:38 am

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I believe that there's some kind of Milky Bar/Smarties hybrid bar that fills the same niche for me, which you may be thinking of, , assuming that is your name (gasp). Still not as nice, as far as my memories are concerned.

As for criticising, isn't that what noise to signal -does-?

By Rosti
May 04, 2007 @ 12:29 am

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