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The Cadburys Takeover: Dairy Milking?
January 22nd, 2010 | 
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Over the years, my company has worked with a great many heritage brands – from Horlicks to Gordon’s Gin, Hovis, Selfridges, R White’s Lemonade and of course Wispa. I understand, as a consequence, that these sorts of brands – usually on the back of iconic advertising campaigns and careful PR that pushes all the least sickly nostalgia buttons – connect with the public deeply, right in the heart.
But big business does not run on warm and fuzzy feelings of love born of fond memories of adverts and childhood fun. The Cadbury brand has long ceased to be a family brand. It may be national icon, but we can cross off yet another heritage item from the – now very short – list of British brands.
Will it make a difference that it is foreign owned? In the long term, not really, I think. The most recent ‘owners’ had no affinity with the brand. They were not part of the Cadbury family, merely caretakers, who have now lined their pockets with plenty of silver. And the chocolate will taste the same, wherever it’s made. The truth is that there are almost
The worry with Cadbury is much more that there is every chance that the owners will have no respect for the human element of the company and see the deal purely as a way to service debt and make money. What the Glazers have done to Manchester United is a travesty and there’s no reason to believe that Kraft won’t do the same.
The only winners are the senior people at Cadbury, who will get a fat payout, and those who invested in shares. The workers will most likely eventually be left standing, redundant, outside the factory gates.
The Cadbury brand has only been kept alive by a chocoholic public. Will they stop buying Cadbury chocolates now that the Americans own it? A few diehards may cause a short blip, but in time, it will recover, depending on what Kraft do next. What Kraft will most likely do is bring in more business-focused expertise, attempt to make the brand more profitable and play with evolving communications and marketing.
Losing a great British brand to a foreign investor may massively jeopardise the emotional connection and nostalgic appeal that the consumer has with the brand. Cadbury has been a part of the fabric of British culture for years and its demise is like losing a trusted friend. This may well have a significant impact on social media as I don’t believe consumers will feel a part of the change; therefore they will not be engaged or empowered to join the brand conversation.
Consumers trust heritage brands and Kraft has a big job ahead to build up a new trust relationship with the UK audience. Social networking, which the Americans will doubtless utilise ruthlessly, will have to be made to work harder and will become even more important for foreign brand owners to embrace. Foreign owners will not have near the same level of respect as their financial objectives are so clearly the driving force behind this deal, at the expense of human and emotional issues such as jobs and brand character – which the consumer relates to most.
Kraft have won the first stage of the PR battle hands down – they have Cadburys and will be moving it onwards. If that means asset stripping or careful nurture of a brand remains to be seen.
Posted in Mark My Words | 
Tags: advertising campaigns, big business, brands, cadburys, Gordon’s Gin, Horlicks, Hovis, R White’s Lemonade, Selfridges, Wispa
Where are the new Virgins?
A thoughtful piece as always from a PR guru! (who delivered shedloads for me a few years’ back by the way at Aviva!). When I read the peice I thought of the US customer’s initial reaction to Unilever taking Ben and Jerry’s. What Unilever subsequently did very cleverly was ensure Ben and Jerry seemed as if they were still part of the brand/buisness (I am not sure it is, or was, true but the facade was pretty good) and I would bet most UK and US punters dont get the Corporate peice when they pick up the latest blueberry muffin ice cream! If Cadbury can maintain the personality which is rooted in ‘a glass and a half’ (the essence of the brand) then provenance will matter less;. Although I do worry that the UK will end up with zero manufacturing assest to speak of…..what with Santandaire, HSBC, Coke (Innocent) and many others. Where are the new Virgins? Colin Webb
Kraft should be concerned if as Mark suggests consumers will not “feel a part of the change”.
When L’Oreal took over Body Shop the whole caboodle had huge media play. In the UK, the brand values took a hit – this was after all the company set up by Brighton-based quasi social entrepreneurs Gordon and Anita Roddick. Shouts of ’sell out’ etc
On the other hand when Cadburys took over Green & Blacks, seemed a much lower key affair, strong media management I presume. As with the Ben & Jerry’s/Unilever takeover cited above what followed was an astute campaign deepening, widening G&B’s core values.
Kraft can’t go back in time to erase a month’s worth of negative publicity and blogging – but don’t be surprised if we see big-hitting campaigns down the line pushing the Cadbury values.
I have a more modest past consultancy connection to Cadburys than you do Borko, but I agree with you that to deal with they are a global enterprise like any other. So the fact that all and sundry including us (of all people) are going on about Cadburys’ historical/traditional brand values suggests it’s all in the spin and we are as amenable to a good story as the next.
There is however another narrative out there – a desire for ‘authentic’ tradition, customs, histories and the values of civil society to be out there. Because of course enterprise is generally seen as appropriating the language and clothing of the original/authentic/true originators of values and mores: namely civil society. So the mournful words about the demise of traditional British brands is underneath it a dirge about the perceived demise/passing away of an age and time…
While I am at it, last year John Grant(author of Green Marketing Manifesto; Co-Opportunity; St. Lukes co-founder)and myself worked on harnessing public discontent and anxiety about the demise of BEES for a project called ‘Tweehive’* which we put on at the SouthBank Centre. Here we had fun saving bees while establishing that the public does want to have recourse to the tools of branding and communications IN A GOOD CAUSE. Tradition for tradition’s sake is not necessarily the cause that ‘new’ Cadbury’s may push but they would do well to listen in and take note of what lies behind the public’s expressions of sadness and anger over the Kraft takeover.
*Mark and TrendCentral were kind enough to big up Tweehive last year