Cadbury culls brands in fewer, faster restructure

Wed, 20 Jun 2007

Cadbury Schweppes is axing support for family favourites brands, including Maynards, Bassetts and Trebor, as it consolidates its £250m global adverting budget across 13 brands. The move is part of a major restructure of the company, including 7500 job cuts and factory closures.

The company plans to focus on five of the 13 key brands –†Green & Black’s, Trident, Cadbury, Halls and The Natural Confectionery Company –†and is expected to cull a number of smaller brands. The strategy comes under Cadbury’s new policy statement “fewer, faster, bigger, better”.

A Cadbury spokeswoman says the strategy means that the company will focus investment on brands that will provide “proportionate value”.

But, in a move that appears to go against its new strategy, the confectionery giant is planning to reintroduce Wispa, which was axed four years ago, for a limited period at the end of the year. It will receive £1m in marketing support, which is expected to include TV.

One industry insider says the company hopes that bringing back Wispa will help to generate a bit of “Cadbury nostalgia”. He adds that the company is struggling to “shift volume” this year and has stopped promoting its products after many independent retailers refused to increase prices.

The new strategy, which was announced on June 19, has already led to the departure of UK managing
director Simon Baldry, who will leave the company along with nine other senior executives. It is not clear how the cuts will affect the UK marketing team.

Cadbury chief executive Todd Stitzer also confirmed that the company is planning to sell its US beverage division, rather than demerge it. It then plans to drop the Schweppes brand from its name.