Cadbury Case Study
Cadbury Crisis Management
B. CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
On October 3, the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner received complaints about infestation in two bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury India’s flagship brand with over 70% market share. He ordered an enquiry and went directly to the media with a statement. Over the following 3-week period, resultant adverse media coverage touched close to 1000 clips in print and 120 on TV news channels. In India, where Cadbury is synonymous with chocolate, the company’s reputation and credibility was under intense scrutiny. Sales volumes came down drastically in the first 10 weeks, which was the festival season; retailer stocking and display dropped, employee morale - especially that of the sales team - was shaken. The challenge was to restore confidence in the key stakeholders (consumers, trade and employees, particularly the sales team) and build back credibility for the corporate brand through the same channels (the media) that had questioned it.
A focused and intense communications program was implemented over the next six months to rebuild credibility and restore confidence among the key stakeholders. The results:
- In media, the key message that infestation was a storage-linked problem, not manufacturing related, found widespread acceptance. Across the board, media carried Cadbury’s point-of-view on the issue.
- Sales volumes climbed back to almost to pre-crisis levels eight weeks after the launch of new packaging – a concrete step taken by the company to minimize the incidence of infestation. This reflected consumer confidence in the brand and the company.
- There was significant upward movement in ratings amongst consumers on parameters like company’s image, responsiveness of company and behavioral parameters like intention to buy Cadbury chocolates.
The last two helped to restore faith in the corporate brand among the trade and employees.
C. MARKETING CHALLENGE AND OBJECTIVES
On October 3, the Food
B. CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
On October 3, the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner received complaints about infestation in two bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury India’s flagship brand with over 70% market share. He ordered an enquiry and went directly to the media with a statement. Over the following 3-week period, resultant adverse media coverage touched close to 1000 clips in print and 120 on TV news channels. In India, where Cadbury is synonymous with chocolate, the company’s reputation and credibility was under intense scrutiny. Sales volumes came down drastically in the first 10 weeks, which was the festival season; retailer stocking and display dropped, employee morale - especially that of the sales team - was shaken. The challenge was to restore confidence in the key stakeholders (consumers, trade and employees, particularly the sales team) and build back credibility for the corporate brand through the same channels (the media) that had questioned it.
A focused and intense communications program was implemented over the next six months to rebuild credibility and restore confidence among the key stakeholders. The results:
- In media, the key message that infestation was a storage-linked problem, not manufacturing related, found widespread acceptance. Across the board, media carried Cadbury’s point-of-view on the issue.
- Sales volumes climbed back to almost to pre-crisis levels eight weeks after the launch of new packaging – a concrete step taken by the company to minimize the incidence of infestation. This reflected consumer confidence in the brand and the company.
- There was significant upward movement in ratings amongst consumers on parameters like company’s image, responsiveness of company and behavioral parameters like intention to buy Cadbury chocolates.
The last two helped to restore faith in the corporate brand among the trade and employees.
C. MARKETING CHALLENGE AND OBJECTIVES
On October 3, the Food