madcomments

Is Easter still Cadbury’s game?

Posted in General, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs April 11th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

Easter has passed us by rather smoothly this year and I am surprised about the lack of Easter ads – for once.

Easter always starts too early in my opinion, Christmas is barely over before the chocolate egg ads are rolling out. This year was no exception for Cadbury’s Crème Egg brand, but did its one Easter TV camapign do them any good?

Over the past year, Cadbury’s has suffered more than a few major set-backs including a salmonella scare, a product recall and one of its ads being slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority. In light of its recent ‘bad’ publicity, I was expecting much more of an Easter TV advertising push from the brand who practically defined Easter for many kids of my generation.

My parents managed to spend $AUD44 (£14) on sending me my Cadbury favourites this Easter (chocolate brands that are not available in the UK such as Cherry Ripe) suggesting to me that it’s still a favourite in Australia – but why…lack of competition? 

This Easter in the UK saw a major push of new products including a few Fairtrade and Organic brands entering the Easter egg market such as Montezuma’s, Divine Chocolates, and supermarkets’ own brand organic chocolates along with the rise of the speciality chocolate stores Hotel Chocolat and Godiva.

The many options we as consumers have is now endless and perhaps Cadbury’s is too busy focusing on its problems to remember what it does best.