Cadbury Wispa

Region

United Kingdom; Ireland

Associated With

Cadbury - confectionery manufacturer

Defining Feature

A limited 2007 return shaped by dispersed online revival activity

Status

Reintroduced - limited 2007 run; UK relaunch recorded in 2008

Overview

Cadbury Wispa returned in 2007 as a limited bar test after years of online calls for its revival.

Cadbury had planned to drop the brand in 2003 and replace it with Dairy Milk Bubbles. Petitions, blogs and groups on early social networks kept calls for its return in view. Accounts of a related Glastonbury episode conflict: Cadbury’s release described two Irish fans, while contemporaneous Guardian coverage described one audience member climbing the stage.

A limited Wispa Classic run was announced for October 2007, returning the blue-wrapped bar to shelves. Cadbury later recorded another UK relaunch in 2008.

Why It Mattered

Rather than presenting the web activity as a finished campaign, Cadbury used the limited run to test whether scattered online enthusiasm could become shop sales. The relaunch became a meeting point between petitions, blogs, early social-network groups and company marketing: a chocolate bar was the test case, with the shelf doing the counting.

Discontinuation and Return

• In May 2003, Cadbury announced plans to drop Wispa and replace it with Dairy Milk Bubbles as part of an expanded Dairy Milk range.
• Cadbury’s 2007 press release scheduled a limited Wispa Classic relaunch for 8 October, with approximately 23 million bars planned at launch.
• Cadbury’s 2008 annual report records a Wispa relaunch in the United Kingdom, without giving an exact date or describing it as permanent.

Online Calls and the Sales Test

• Cadbury’s 2007 release described petitions, blogs and activity on Facebook, Bebo, YouTube and MySpace; it reported 93 Facebook groups with 13,799 fans.
• The Guardian also reported Facebook groups, MySpace and Bebo entries, alongside old Wispa adverts uploaded to YouTube.
• A Cadbury spokesperson told the Sunday Telegraph that the limited run was a test of whether internet interest would become sales, and denied that Cadbury had created the earlier online activity.

Company-Reported Results

• Cadbury Schweppes’ 2007 annual report says second-half chocolate revenue in its Britain, Ireland, Middle East and Africa business benefited from Wispa’s successful relaunch.
• Cadbury’s 2008 annual report says one Wispa SKU recorded £25 million in sales in four months; this is a company-reported performance figure.
• Cadbury’s current UK Wispa page presents the brand as an active range and displayed eight products when reviewed.

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