Wispa Explained

Wispa should not be confused with WISPA (disambiguation).

Cadbury Wispa
Type:Confectionery
Currentowner:Mondelez International
Origin:United Kingdom
Related:List of Cadbury products
Tagline:Time Well Mis-spent

Wispa is a brand of chocolate bar manufactured by British chocolate company Cadbury. Using aerated chocolate, the bar was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England, and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983. It was seen as a competitor to Rowntree's Aero (now owned by Nestlé).In 2003, as part of a relaunch of the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand, the Wispa brand was discontinued and the product relaunched as "Dairy Milk Bubbly". As part of the relaunch, the product was reshaped as a standard moulded bar (similar to other 'Dairy Milk' products) instead of a whole-bar count-line.[1] [2]

In 2007, helped by an Internet campaign by enthusiasts, the Wispa bar was relaunched, albeit for a "limited period".[3] In October 2008, Wispa permanently returned to shops in the UK and Ireland due to the chocolate bar's popularity during the previous limited period release.[4]

Manufacture

The tiny bubbles within the chocolate form via aerating the molten chocolate with gas, typically carbon dioxide or nitrogen, while at a high pressure, which causes microscopic gas bubbles to form within the liquid. The liquid is then lowered to atmospheric pressure as it cools, causing the gas pockets to expand and become trapped in the chocolate. Air is not used to make the bubbles as this would oxidize the chocolate.

Advertising

The bar was launched by teaser advertisements in 1983 bearing the phrase "Have you heard the latest Wispa?" which did not identify the product as a chocolate bar. Original Wispa advertisements, all performed to camera in front of a black background, featured well-known actors such as Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne, Victoria Wood, Julie Walters, Simon Cadell, and Ruth Madoc. John Le Mesurier and Arthur Lowe also made a final appearance as their characters from Dad's Army.

At the time of its comeback in 2008, Wispa was re-launched using large outdoor posters featuring the tagline "It's back. Apparently." and smaller, roadside posters featuring conversations about Wispa returning, which read; "Apparently, the Wispa thing is true. It's coming back. Finally. Brilliant." In December 2009, Wispa aired a television advert entitled "For the love of Wispa",[5] starring members of the public recruited from an earlier advertising campaign. The advert included cheerleaders, choirs and grandparents, and was aired on 20 December at 8 pm on ITV.

In 2009, to mark the return of Wispa Gold a request for submissions to be considered for an outdoor poster campaign received over 7,000 submissions and featured over 900 different posters across Britain and Ireland".[6]

In 2015, Mondelēz International shrunk the size of the Bitsa Wispa sharing bag from 130g to 110g and also reduced the size of the Wispa Easter Egg making it 78g lighter. The Wispa chocolate bar wrapper was also redesigned ditching the blue coloured wrapper for the traditional Cadbury purple. The wrapper was redesigned again in 2016, as part of the Cadbury 'Obey Your Mouth' brand re-positioning, in which the Wispa logo now resembles the shape of a balloon.

Products

Available

Discontinued

Australia release

During October or November 2016, Wispa chocolate bars released into IGA stores for around $2. Cadbury Heroes was released in Australia in November 2016 at certain retailers which contained mini Wispas.

In April 2017, Bitsa Wispa 110g bags were released, alongside another 3 items including chocolate buttons and bite size flakes.

Discontinuation and relaunch

In 2003, Cadbury made Dairy Milk into a family brand by taking existing brands and marketing them as Dairy Milk sub-brands. As part of this change, the Wispa brand was phased out and replaced by "Dairy Milk Bubbly".

Since the discontinuation of the Wispa bar in 2003, a host of internet campaigns and an online petition to bring it back slowly gained momentum. During Iggy and the Stooges' 2007 performance at Glastonbury Festival, several Wispa fans invaded the stage armed with a banner saying "Bring Back the Wispa." In addition, several "Bring Back Wispa" groups on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook were set up.[8] In August 2007, these campaigns prompted Cadbury to announce that the bar would be relaunched on 8 October 2007 for an initial limited production of 23 million bars, with a permanent return possible if sales are high enough.[9] Predictions that the relaunched product would be marketed as Wispa Classic[10] proved unfounded, and the new Wispa hit shelves in similar packaging to the original bar, a combination of the original colours and the slightly updated lettering style of the later bars. There have been claims that the spontaneous 'campaign' was pre-planned and orchestrated by Cadbury, rather than by members of the public.

On 24 August 2007, the first box of the relaunched Wispas was put up for auction on eBay, with a press release from Cadbury stating that the auction was real and that the proceeds were going towards the Cadbury Charity, Ghana for the Source. The winning bid was £195 by a 23 year old Nicholas Bradley from the Isle of Man.[11]

In February 2008, Rebecca Wells auctioned an original out-of-date Wispa bar, which she found in a sofa, on eBay for the charity LAM Action.[12] The initial winning bid of £2,550 was found by eBay to be "unauthorised".[13] It has since been re-listed, and raised £1,000 for the charity.

The bar returned on a permanent basis in October 2008.[14] Prior to the permanent launch of Wispa, for a limited time a Wispa McFlurry was available at McDonald's restaurants until 30 September 2008.[15] During Easter 2009, a Wispa Easter Egg was made.

On 14 September 2009, Wispa Gold was relaunched for a limited time,[16] following a Facebook campaign. The product was initially released for sale at Foreways on Warwick Road in Carlisle two weeks earlier, after the shop had been chosen from many around the country as part of a competition. As of 20 January 2010, Wispa Gold once again became available in Australia (having been previously marketed as the Crave bar) following parallel importing by Coles Supermarkets.[17]

On 26 August 2011, it was announced that Wispa Gold would return permanently in November in support of team GB at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.[18]

In April 2013, Cadbury launched Wispa Hot Chocolate. A Wispa Gold version of the Wispa Hot Chocolate was launched and Cadbury later launched Wispa Biscuits.[19]

Notes and References

  1. News: New name for Wispa bar?. 7 May 2003. BBC News. 26 August 2007. 22 September 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070922120512/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3008325.stm. live.
  2. News: 27 May 2007 . Sweet dreams are made of this. Raeburn. Steven. The Scotsman . 23 September 2007. Edinburgh, UK.
  3. Web site: 18 August 2007. Internet Forces Return of 80s Icon. Sky News. 26 August 2007. 20 August 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070820001126/http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1280368,00.html. live.
  4. Web site: Cadbury Global :: Media :: Wispa... Officially Back for Good . Cadbury.com . 4 August 2008 . 5 June 2009 . 22 August 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080822132044/http://www.cadbury.com/media/press/Pages/wispaofficiallyback.aspx.
  5. News: 6 January 2009. For the Love of Wispa. Cadbury. 6 January 2010. 26 April 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100426092012/http://www.fortheloveofwispa.com/. live.
  6. News: 6 January 2009. Wispa Gold Messages. Cadbury. 6 January 2010. 3 January 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100103111900/http://wispagoldmessages.com/. live.
  7. Book: Berry . Steve . Norman . Phil . A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers . 2014 . . London . 9780007575480 . 109.
  8. Web site: 18 August 2007. Cadbury to revive Wispa chocolate bar for limited period. Talking Retail. 26 August 2007. 31 August 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070831190616/http://www.talkingretail.com/products/6172/Cadbury-to-revive-Wispa-chocol.ehtml. live.
  9. News: 18 August 2007. Web campaign prompts Wispa return. BBC News. 26 August 2007. 1 March 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090301212742/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6952362.stm. live.
  10. Web site: 20 August 2007. Cadbury's re-launch Wispa. UTalkMarketing.com. 26 August 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070928015017/http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Article.aspx?id=2721&SectionID=. 28 September 2007.
  11. Web site: 24 August 2007. First Wispa bars auctioned on Ebay. Cadbury. 23 September 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071016210121/http://cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/information/press_releases/products/wispaauction/?CMP=ILC-ebwi. 16 October 2007.
  12. News: 10 February 2008. Online bids for 'rare' Wispa bar. BBC. 10 February 2008. 13 February 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080213070031/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7237724.stm. live.
  13. News: 11 February 2008 . 'Rare' Wispa auction in meltdown . BBC . 15 February 2008 . 14 February 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080214201419/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/7238680.stm . live .
  14. Web site: Cadbury brings back Wispa permanently 2008-08-03 . Marketingweek.co.uk . 10 April 2008 . 5 June 2009.
  15. http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/pages/eatsmart/treatyourself.html
  16. Web site: Wispa Gold makes a comeback . Talkingretail.com . 29 May 2009 . 5 June 2009 . 1 June 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090601103626/http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/12673-wispa-gold-makes-a-comeback.html . live .
  17. Web site: Wispa Gold is Back – Exclusive to Carlisle . newsandstar.co.uk . 29 August 2009 . 29 August 2009 . 7 March 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120307135315/http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/wispa_gold_is_back_exclusive_to_carlisle_1_605217?referrerPath=home.html . live .
  18. Web site: Cadbury reveals next wave of Olympic products . talkingretail.com . 26 August 2011 . 1 September 2011 . 28 August 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110828060149/http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/cadbury-reveals-next-wave-of-olympic-products . live .
  19. Web site: Staff Writer. 2014-07-14. Burton’s Biscuit Company launches Cadbury Wispa Biscuits. 2022-01-25. Talking Retail. en. 25 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220125162254/https://www.talkingretail.com/products-news/crisps-snacks/burtons-biscuit-company-launches-cadbury-wispa-biscuits-14-07-2014/. live.

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