Cadbury have announced the momentous decision to bring back the Wispa bar permanently. The Wispa was originally reintroduced in a limited edition in 2007 after Cadbury’s responded to an online campaign for its return*.
23 million bars were sold in seven weeks and the success of the revival has encouraged Mars to rebrand Snickers as Marathon and Starburst as Opal Fruits.
Mark Borkowski is the legendary publicist employed by Cadbury to tell the world about the return of the Wispa. He comments: “A consumer campaign like this is a Godsend to a brand. It tells you that there are people out there who are passionate enough to badger their friends about your product. That means you have a large, unpaid sales force out there banging the drum for you.
“The temptation is to interfere, to market to those people. But they don’t want to be marketed to, they just want the product. The best thing you can do for them is to act. And that’s what Cadbury have done, by bringing the Wispa back.”
Borkowski this week publishes The Fame Formula a study of how celebrity is achieved and maintained. He has discovered that the natural lifespan of a celebrity from a standing start is 15 months. Are brands subject to the same law?
Borkowski thinks they have something in common: “The most long lasting brands are the ones that people bring into their lives, and make an emotional connection with. Some brands share the characteristic all celebrities aspire to: they achieve our loyal affection. The feeling for Wispa lived on even after the brand disappeared.”
*Full disclosure: Market Sentinel are retained by Cadbury and monitored the consumer campaign campaign for the return of Wispa on their behalf.
