One of Cadbury’s most iconic products in the 80s, Wispa was discontinued in 2003. In 2008 Cadbury decided to re-launch the chocolate bar, after fans of the brand invaded the Iggy & The Stooges gig at Glastonbury Festival armed with a banner stating “Bring Back the Wispa.”
It was tempting to play on the 80s heritage of the brand, but we opted for a bolder approach by making a campaign for Wispa asking the public; Do you love Wispa? Do you REALLY love Wispa?
For the Love of Wispa
The narrative for Wispa’s re-launch was the plan to make a TVC that would be created with literally anything Wispa fans could pledge and donate ’for the love of Wispa’. Donations were paid for with Wispa bars.
A social media campaign at its core, all communication was designed to mobilize hardcore Wispa fans to unite under a single objective: make a TV commercial to bring back the Wispa. After weeks of campaigning through Facebook, online banners asking for pledges, bus posters and the pledge website (all paid for with Wispa bars), the campaign culminated with the airing of the TVC on ITV, who had pledged a December slot ‘for the love of Wispa’.
The engagement from the fans was overwhelming. Facebook sparked up like fireworks, growing the Wispa page to over 180,000 fans. We had more pledges than we could utilize. By the end a little over 300 (of the thousands) of pledges participated in the film that celebrated all of the chocolate bars fans and Wispa’s return to market.
Wispa became the fastest selling Cadbury launch for four years, selling six bars every second in the UK. Today Wispa’s Facebook page counts nearly two million fans.
The ‘For the love of Wispa’ campaign won a Gold IPA Effectiveness Award in 2010.
Media: Social media, Digital Banners, Pledge Website, Print, Bus Posters, PR and TV
Markets: United Kingdom
Agency: Fallon, London
Role: Creative Director
