50 Years of Fame: Brandfame - Cadbury

Products such as Dairy Milk, launched in 1905, Milk Tray (1915), Flake

(1920) and Roses (1938) have all appeared on the small screen.

The Flake girl debuted on ITV in 1959 in an ad designed to show that the
chocolate bar's crumbly nature made it an indulgence that couldn't be
shared. The concept was so successful that it lasted for 45 increasingly
suggestive years.

Another long-running creation was the stuntman who took whatever risks
were necessary to deliver a box of Milk Tray to the object of his
affections.

The campaign ran from 1967-2000 and proved so popular that when it
finally ended, the press bemoaned the death of romance.

But Cadbury's TV ads have done more than generate column inches. For
example, the 'How do you eat yours?' campaign for Creme Egg boosted
sales from £20m in 1986 to £60m a decade later, despite a
rise in competition.

The company's decision to tweak its work for Caramel in 1988 also paid
dividends. The introduction of a curvaceous, animated female bunny who
tempts Mr Beaver with the chocolate bar helped to treble value sales by
1993.

Cadbury's dedication to the channel peaked in 1996 with the UK's biggest
ever TV sponsorship deal, when it became the first brand to tie up with
ITV's flagship soap, Coronation Street.

The partnership was initially agreed for two years, but it proved so
successful that it continues to promote the parent brand and its
products to an audience of over 10m.

The deal has paid off for Cadbury, which shows up in consumer research
as the most successful broadcast sponsor in terms of brand awareness.
The Coronation Street link attracted a 35% spontaneous recall in one
2004 study, the same year it picked up silver at the IPA Effectiveness
Awards.

'Our sponsorship credits have been recognised as some of the best-loved
and most successful in TV history,' says Louise Cooke, marketing
director at Cadbury Trebor Bassett.