Slice Design harks back to sweeter times for Cadbury

The consultancy says it was appointed to the project last spring, following a credentials pitch involving two other design groups.
Cadbury briefed Slice to find a way of communicating clearly to consumers what its internal marketing team has traditionally considered to be the children’s brand portfolio. Three of the four chocolate bars were launched in the 1970s and 1980s, while Fudge was created in 1948.

‘We needed to find a common visual language to link the bars and so build a stronger portfolio, as well as achieving shelf stand-out in the incredibly busy children’s confectionery segment,’ says Slice director Alan Gilbody.

The design group opted to reintroduce packaging graphics elements from the 1970s and 1980s in an attempt to remould the bars as nostalgia brands.
Fudge’s new packaging graphics are inspired by the chocolate bar’s early-1980s packets, reintroducing blue to the Fudge letterform for the first time in more than 20 years.

Meanwhile, Slice has redrawn the Curly Wurly logo (pictured above) so that it resembles the ‘softer, friendlier logo from the 1970s and early 1980s’, according Gilbody. The treat-sized Freddo bar’s frog character (left) has also been redrawn to ‘make him warmer, more 3D and more integrated with the logo’.
‘Parents are the primary confectionery buyers for children, so the nostalgic design cues should appeal to them,’ says Gilbody. ‘Cadbury is lucky to have these classic bars with such a long history.’

Gilbody believes that the new designs will be received particularly well ‘in the current economic climate, as they will remind us of the days when life was easier’.
Slice has also created a bite-mark motif that will appear on the packet closures across all four bars, ‘giving them an element of fun and exuberance’ and providing a unifying design element.

Cadbury’s nostalgic children’s chocolate portfolio:

• Fudge – launched in 1948, but best remembered for its 1980s TV jingle ‘A finger of fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat’
• Curly Wurly – launched in 1971. The new packaging will feature a redrawn logo that refers back to the 1970s and 1980s
• Freddo – launched in 1973 for six years before returning to the shelves in 1994
• Chomp – launched in 1989