Cadbury’s move urging support for chocolatiers is vital
Conventional wisdom on marketing strategy dictates that attention is largely focused on encouraging consumers to want more or engage more with a certain product or brand, yet in these strange days we inhabit, these rules are now being broken.
While Cadbury may not be the first to do this, the confectionery company has taken the bold step of saying ‘don’t buy our Dairy Milk for your next treat,’ as we would rather you support independent chocolatiers in these pandemic times.
Linked to this, the business is supporting six independent chocolate and cocoa businesses in the UK with its latest television campaign in recognition of just how tough things are out there for many companies in the sector.
According to industry research last autumn – a total of two fifths of small retailers as a whole were either forced to close, or were threatened with immediate threats to their future survival, such has been the brutal impact of the coronavirus crisis.
This is a patter that has very definitely played out around many global markets, with SME enterprises clearly being the least equipped to deal with lockdown conditions, which have varied considerably around the world.
The UK for its part, has fared worse than most amid its three major retail shutdowns, which have been necessary owing to one of the highest levels of deaths in the world (over 127,000), which the comparatively fast roll-out of the vaccine programme is now thankfully seemingly bringing that grim statistic to a relative halt.
While the past few days has brought some suggestion from senior economists that as far as Britain is concerned, we may potentially see a return to an economy at pr-pandemic levels by the end of 2021, but that very much remains to be seen.
As for as businesses in our sector, they have continued on during the pandemic, with many recording a heightened interest in their online retailing, which has in part made up for the loss of accessibility to physical stores.
But with many having soaked up major costs for well over a year associated with loss of trading hours, initiatives such as those being launched by Cadbury can only be a good thing in reminding people that we do in fact have some amazingly talented companies out there producing great food and drink produce, with confectionery being no exception to that.
One of the most notable comments on our coverage of this unusual story prompted a response wondering whether Cadbury, as well as supporting a selected group of six independent store, simply list all other such businesses in the UK to offer them some much-needed publicity as the country attempts to get back on its feet.
That’s something that will surely be welcomed by many, and it will be interesting to see if other major confectionery companies follow in Cadbury, and parent group Mondelez International’s footsteps in remembering that though it may be a major enterprise these days, Cadbury started as a humble single store in Birmingham. It’s only by supporting such ventures, will our sector thrive in a post-pandemic future.
- Neill Barston, Confectionery Production editor.
Keep in touch via email: [email protected] and social media: @sweetsnsavoury or @confectionprod
