We’re chocolate lovers at PILOT. You have to have at least one vice to make life worth living and as far as vices go, a predilection for chocolate is harmless enough. In fact dark chocolate is positively good for you and as a mood-enhancer chocolate can be relied on to instantly improve any social situation.
New Zealand produces some of the best dairy milk in the world so we’ve always enjoyed an especially strong relationship with dairy milk chocolate, until recently, this invariably meant chocolate made by Cadbury. Over the years Cadbury have been very successful at marketing their products in NZ, so successful that many consumers even believed that Cadbury was a New Zealand company. Just 2 years ago Cadbury was named New Zealand’s most trusted brand in the 2007 Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brand survey for the fifth consecutive year. Now that’s brand loyalty. But relentless marketing will only get you so far. Remember the recent Cadbury Gorilla playing the drums to Phil Collins TVC? That really was a brilliant ad and people loved it. But no more.
Recent events have seen Cadbury piss away all this consumer goodwill inciting a consumer backlash that is growing in momentum and doing wonders for Whittakers, a small NZ owned company and direct competitor to Cadbury. Cadbury have made 3 key changes to their chocolate bars, each of which have fuelled a PR disaster for Cadbury in NZ.
- Cadbury chocolate is now made in Australia, not Dunedin.
- Cadbury have changed their recipe and added palm-oil to the chocolate. Palm-oil production is a contributor to rain-forest erosion. Cadbury claim to use sustainable sources of palm-oil.
- Cadbury have changed the packaging to their chocolate bars and reduced King-Size blocks from 250 grams to 220 grams.
In response Auckland Zoo have pulled Cadbury products from its shops and restaurant because of concern over the damage palm oil production does to rainforests, the natural habitat of orangutans and other species.
And now Whittakers are cleverly exploiting the consumer backlash with a new TVC that highlights the differences between both brands. It’s a risky move taking on a massive corporate like Cadbury with a direct comparison ad, but the backlash against Cadbury is so strong, I think this is going to pay off for them big time.
Join the chocolate revolution people and support Whittakers, proudly making NZ chocolate since 1896.
Watch the Whittakers TVC here
UPDATE: My old mate Rob Warner just emailed this PXT he took on Sunday at Countdown Greenlane. This sums it up nicely. Thanks Rob!
19 Comments
Excellent blog. I too am an intense chocoholic (I also happen to be a passionate Orangutan Conservationist!) so when these changes happened I was inspired to start a facebook group for my mates (which has grown to 1770 members and increasing by 100’s daily) and a petition to Cadbury with over 1200 signatures. We are asking Cadbury to prove that they are using 100% Certified Sustainable Palm Oil, and everyone in the group is boycotting until that time.
Thanks for helping spread the message about the Auckland Zoo’s bold decision to ban Cadburys from its shops. It takes courage to act with integrity and concern for the environment– especially in the midst of an economic downturn. Not all zoos are willing to take a stand… and some literally sell snacks loaded with palm oil right beside the enclosures of animals whose native habitats are being decimated to produce that oil. The most egregious case is that of orangutans– intelligent, gentle creatures who are getting a truly raw deal at the hands of greedy timber barons and palm oil conglomerates…
Orangutans are critically endangered in the wild because of rapid deforestation and the expansion of palm oil plantations. If nothing is done to protect them, they could be extinct in just a few years.
Please visit the Orangutan Outreach website to learn how YOU can make a difference!
Richard Zimmerman
Director, Orangutan Outreach
http://redapes.org
Reach out and save the orangutans!
Facebook Cause: http://causes.com/redapes
Go Whittakers!
I went to the supermarket yesterday and had to laugh. In the chocolate section – all the Cadbury chocolate was on special and very cheap. Cadbury are obviously trying to buy their way out of trouble on this one. Even though the Whittakers chocolate was more expensive I grabbed a bar of Whittakers goodness and snobbed the cheap and tacky Cadbury bars… everyone I know is doing the same.
xx
Great photo Rob!
I bet it is the same situation at many supermarkets around the country….
x
Go Whittakers alright!!!
What really cracks me up though is the very idea that claiming use of ’sustainable palm oil’ a marketable concept. Demand for palm oil greatly exceeds supply, thus by purchasing any palm oil, no matter how it is produced, you are simply driving greater demand for ‘unsustainable palm oil’. The market in New Zealand is smart enough to know this, and this decision is really the straw that breaks the camel’s back in regards to public tolerance of Cadbury’s other recent moves. Whittakers’ marketing manager Philip Poole is a shrewd and experienced individual, and I have little doubt he will have a good game plan to make the most of this situation : )
I also have little doubt that Cadbury’s marketing and communications staff are currently writing their names into future uni text-books… as a case study of just how easily good will can be squandered when your approach is fundamentally asymmetric and unethical ; )
Once again, go Whittakers!!!
that photo showing all the empty Whittakers shelves is classic
go Team Whittakers!
Yep, we were in New World on Saturday and the shelves looked this way too, go Whittakers, we had to buy 3 blocks just to put the knife in more!
go whittakers
cadbury had a fantastic product but have now shot themselves in the foot. whittakers must be laughing all the way to the bank now. that is my perfered brand now
i use to love cadbury but now it is descusting go Whittakers your chocolate is the best now and yes evan if they do lower the prices down it still wont sell go whittakers
go whittakers i totally love whittakers now in class we did a survey about which was better by trying oth chocolates but my classmates still said cabury was the best the traitors
Whittakers for the win!
I’m Australian, and I STILL prefer Whittakers chocolate over Cadbury chocolate, although I have to say – the peanut slabs are kind of addictive… Good job here Whittakers.
I’m the same but not only re: the rainforrests and the conservation side – Its the use of the veg oil that cadburys use now and it really Sucks on the root of your mouth and you can’t get it off!!!!
Whittakers now for pureness, reliability, and no greed (they must end up happier) and healthier with this criteria in the long run.
We need to keep NZ clean and green no misconceptions!
whittakers are rude and not at all professional. look at their average attempt to make themselves look better by putting Cadbury down! that’s one lame shot at advertising.
Cadbury tried something new.. they have every right too. and now that people have told them they don’t like it, they’re spending money to change it back for them.
And the reason their shelves are empty is because their mechandisers and reps are useless and the stock hardly ever arrives in store. Cadbury looks good and well stocked in your photo.. Whittakers is messy and not stocked. Bad merchandising!!!
C.D. you don’t perchance either work for or have a financial interest in Cadbury’s do you?
I think you do protest too much.
Actions speak louder than words, Cadburys simply got greedy, and now they are in a panic that they are going to loose their market share.
That is the first time I have seen that Ad, and from my point of view they are simply pointing out the differences between the 2 products, I say ‘good on them’.
And no I have have financial or other interest in Whittakers, other than they have now become my preferred chocolate block of choice.
My first visit to this blog because I was googling whittakers. Reason? Well, I have just heard that Cadbury has decided to go fair trade which I think is a great move. I didn’t realise until now the issue of the Palm Oil. Hmmmm….Well…one ingredient ethical, another not. What to think?
Anyway, would be interested in finding out the sources of Whittakers ingredients and whether there is fair practise and safe conditions taking place. Any one know? I have emailed them .
I prefer Whittakers for taste.
I have tried just about every choc’ on the market after being a die hard Cadbury’s chocoholic. It took a major stuff up on there part for me to go searching for something better than the crap they now make. I, with some help of a fellow shopper found; Whittakers.
I too really love Whittakers over Cadbury’s, pathetic, unreaserched new receipe.
Cadbury’s released a small news paper & TV notice say they are going back to the old receipe, BUT, I will not be returning.
Whittakers forever !!
I boycott Cadburys. They made the bars smaller and started using cardboard packaging so as to make things appear bigger. And as for moving to Aussie, well as far as Im concerned good luck to them. Its not the best chocolate in the world its the most common. I have alway been a fan of Whittakers products. So go Whittakers.
Can any one remember K bars. You can still get them, but my favourite was the Milky K bar which is no longer available. Are they made by Whittakers?
Brilliant! and the pic really does sum it up perfectly to add punch to your words
I’m currently doing marketing assignment on Whittakers Creamy Milk Fair Trade chocolate and had also come to a similiar conclusion prior to doing this study. Go whittakers..you deserve the love 
I like all chocolate, but i think i prefer cadbury over whittakers but i havent tried a lot of whittakers so i cant really judge