brand marketing blog

Cadbury hit back today at Whittaker's comparative advertising campaign by running a full page colour advert in The New Zealand Herald (see page B5). Here's a really poor copy of it...

It makes for some hefty reading and is full of facts. I'm confident that chocolate lovers, environmentalists and Fair Trade devotees will have a lot to say on the statements made in this ad.

Whilst Cadbury is fighting this battle in the logical minds of consumers, Whittakers has already won the emotional war. I doubt that anything Cadbury says in their ads will change that, but at least they are trying. You have to admit though, it's great to see a multinational giant like Cadbury scrambling for damage control against a little chockie maker from Porirua.

The tone and style of today's Cadbury ad will simply reinforce their position as the big multinational giant, talking condescendingly down to the child. Their tone is so corporate that most would probably find it hard to achieve any emotional bond with what they are saying.

For a brand to be credible, every facet and customer 'touch point' needs to be authentic and true to the brand essence. If this is the best that Cadbury can do then it's going to be really hard for them to reposition their brand as an enjoyable emotional experience, as they try so hard to convince us of in the ad. Pity, because the drumming gorilla campaign was great.

But it does reinforce the fact that even the most popular brands need constant and careful nurturing, not just from a marketing messaging perspective, but also paying attention to the other P's - product, price and place (distribution). These are in fact the areas where Cadbury has come unstuck in this war.

I'd be interested to hear your comments on this ad.