Cadbury to enter the high street café market

Confectionery giant Cadbury is entering the high street with the launch of Café Cadbury, a food, beverage and leisure retail concept, created by Abingdon brand consultancy Marketplace.

Marketplace won an unpaid, three-way creative pitch to take the project, working with Cadbury to create the brand positioning and all aspects of the design, including the identity, interiors and graphics. “We were asked to move the perception of the Cadbury brand on, to deliver a premium offer and find an opportunity to explore new routes to market,” says Marketplace communications consultant, Richard Gillingwater.

Its first and only site in Bath will serve as a test-bed, though Cadbury is waiting to see how the three-tier complex fares before deciding on a future roll-out. A Cadbury spokesman says, “We believe it offers something you can’t [already] find in the market and early indications are that it will be successful.”

The largely chocolate-based products of Café Cadbury can be bought for consumption on-site or out-of-store, with different themes to each floor. The ground floor offers a wide selection of chocolate and retail merchandising, the first floor is home to the café, while the top floor offers a relaxing environment with sofas and armchairs.

“It has a very warm, indulgent feel with soft furnishings and soft imagery,” says Gillingwater.

The concept follows the Cadbury World of Cadabra, a £1.2m “brand experience” designed by events specialist Imagination in 1997, for which the consultancy won a Design Effectiveness Award.