Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Cadbury Apprentice Competition










OK, so I'm going a little off track here but Cadbury's were one of Urney Chocolates biggest competitors in the Irish market so I am going to give this a mention.
Last Fridays Independent reported that the Broadcasting Authority of ireland (BAI) had a bone to pick with TV3 over the excessive promotion of confectionary giant, Cadbury's on TV programme
The Apprentice. The particular episode, aired last November, required contestants to develop a new dairy milk 8 square bar. The broadcasting authority claimed that advertising rules were broken during the briefing of the apprentices on their task to create a bar with a distinctive Irish feel.

"Watchdogs ruled there was product placement through visual and verbal branding of Cadbury's products which was not editorially justified and gave the sponsor undue prominence."

TV3 denied the accusation of unnecessary over-exposure and explained that the programme could not be produced without sponsorship.

Well, what Cadburys may have gained in undue prominence on The Apprentice it lacked in decent new packaging designs. Maybe that's what prompted Cadburys to take the task nationwide. In January they launched The Cadbury Apprentice Competition with €10,000 prize money for the most appropriate design. Entrants were whittled down to 5 finalists with graphic designer Paul Ruane taking the ultimate prize. His packaging design above, picked by public vote, will be featured on a wrap/package for Cadbury Dairy Milk to be launched in 2010. Look forward to seeing it in your shops anytime soon.