| Product: |
Cadbury's Flake |
| Date: |
09/09/03 (525 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Lovely, lovely
Disadvantages: You may dislike Flakes
Whilst I'm still waiting for a couple of categories to be added by Dooyoo (sigh), I thought I'd take a minor detour via my favourite choccie. If ever there was a more sexually alluring food product over the years then please let me know because Cadbury Flake is hard to beat. I grew up with television images of dusky young maidens lying back in gondolas, slowly peeling back the wrapping and slipping a length...of Flake into her mouth <<shudder>>. To compound the provocative scenario, the words "Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate.." would lilt out in the background to add that dreamy effect to a potential male paradise. The sexual imagery surrounding this and subsequent campaigns is strong although the notion of "Sex sells" is hardly new or exactly defunct with plenty of current TV campaigns using similar tactics to promote their wares.
Cadbury Flake has been around for years, having survived any prospective name changes and design although other products have come along to compete with this famous brand (think Ripple etc). Flake is distinctive due to both it's packaging (a bright yellow foil with the words Cadbury Flake in blue writing emblazoned across) and the actual product design. I can't think of any packaging that exactly looks like the Flake type, what with the twisted ends making it different to open in simply twirling the ends to reveal the product inside.
As a brand, you can hardly go much further to beat Cadbury for recognition and durability. The company has been around since John Cadbury's inception in 1824. What started out as a grocery shop in Bull Street, Birmingham laid the foundation for a drinking chocolate and cocoa manufacturer by 1831. Cadbury Flake itself was inspired by a machine operator in 1911 after he noticed folds of chocolate by the side of one of the machines and liked the look of it. For anyone interested in Cadbury, there is Cadbury World located in Birmingham that c
aters for thousands of visitors every year. This particular company is fondly thought of in Birmingham for it's Quaker associations and the way it has looked after its workers in byegone times.
Big up to the company as it is now the leader in the UK chocolate market with Cadbury Limited being the confectionery division of Cadbury Schweppes PLC.
Everything said so far points to a brand that looks like it will last the test of time. It's unique selling points include both the design of the packaging and the flaky notion of the chocolate itself. Biting into a Flake can be decidedly messy. Whilst made from predominantly milk, sugar, cocoa mass and vegetable fat (note, no gelatine vegetarians), the chocolate crumbles as soon as one bites into it to you might want to think about where you are when you eat it (a dead easy way to upset a neighbour you don't like whilst standing on their brand new carpet).
The Flake itself looks a lot like a tree truck with gnarled bark and all that. Nutritionally, it's not gonna do any favours for your figure...lads....180Kcals and 10.4g of fat in the standard bar is not going to help if you are looking to slim down for that latest convention. <<Quick taste test>> Mmmmmm...tastes laverly and chocolatey (surprisingly) with the bar flaking straight away <<Catches crumbs before they hit neighbour's new carpet>>
Like most chocolate, Flake will have it's alternative uses as a million ice-cream vendors will testify. The ever popular flake slipped into the top of your cone at a nominal extra price is a standard feature of today's sunny landscape as adults and children surround Mr Whippy on a particularly hot summers day. As well as simply slipping one into your mouth, Flakes can be crumbled over cakes, hot chocolate and desserts like trifle to add that finishing touch (*at family parties, it's quite a choice choosing whose trifle to eat. It can mean the difference
between a life time family vendetta or a friend for....erm...a few hours).
My personal favourite is trying to slip a Flake in horizontally to see just how big one's mouth is. Whilst this may appear trivial, bets on oral diameter can be quite fun on a quiet day a
lthough the aftermath of slipping a whole one in this fashion can be catastrophic with chocolate foaming all over the shop (not recommended to under 12s). Another possible time-waster is a bit similar to whether folks chew Rowntree's fruit pastels or not. In our case, can the eater allow the Flake to melt in their mouth whilst slowly and pleasurably rolling their tongue around the product with their head tipped back or will they be impatient and gobble quickly? (depends on time, I suppose)
Flake is available in most supermarkets that I am aware of as well as pretty much all newsagents (unless they don't sell chocolate?). This particular one cost 39p from my local Dillons over the road (now Tesco Express, they're taking over the world!) but you can buy in bulk to save money when trying to satisfy those wee ankle biters. Packs of 4 are available from Tesco for around £0.99p whilst individual bars may vary from the price mentioned as Tesco Express seems to be marginally more expensive than Tesco (tsk).
If you happy to encounter a rogue bar (say, one that comes with a slightly pierced packet of salmonella attached or samfink) then one can get a refund by returned the package to Cadbury Limited, Bournville, P O Box 7011, Birmingham B30 2PY. or Cadbury Ireland Ltd, Coolock, Dublin 5, if bought in Ireland (further details at http://www.cadbury.co.uk)
So who would buy a Cadbury Flake? Well, if you talk to Cadbury then they do use sophisticated market segmentation to identify potential markets and end-users. If you look at the company strategy then they have identified clear segments around the immediate eat segment, home stock segment, kids segment, gift segme
nt and the seasonal segment. Those heady days of simply appealing to distracted men may have been a smoke screen after all. I could bore you with all the marketing analysis blurb but in my simplistic world, Cadbury Flake should appeal to all chocolate lovers. If you don't love chocolate, what are you doing with your life?!
Thanks for reading
Marandina
*Based on true events
btw: There is a story to the title (of a mate of mines) but I can hardly reveal it here, this is a family site for Lordy's sake! :o)
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