#OnShelf: A new brand identity for Cadbury Dairy Milk

by Louise Burgers. Cadbury Dairy Milk has undergone a brand CI update; Montego adds herbs to its dog treats; and Ozow brings payment innovation to market.

Purple haze

Thankfully, Cadbury has stuck to brand form with the relaunch of its new global brand identity for its Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bar and not tried to make out it is solving world peace with a font; unlike its parent company which believes it has invented a new word for human connections, ‘humaning’ and discovered that its consumers are, well, actual humans. This new Cadbury identity celebrates the brand’s philanthropic spirit with “a distinctive and modern twist”. The revitalisation of the Cadbury wordmark drew inspiration from the hand of John Cadbury himself, to create a crafted signature with a more contemporary feel. Created by design agency, Bulletproof, the new look and feel, which includes a redrawn wordmark, new iconography and typography, aims to reinforce the unique Cadbury Dairy Milk assets and product story at a time when consumers are looking for more natural, authentic, and higher quality offers. Taking cues from the archives, the Dairy Milk logotype has been recrafted and a distinctive Dairy Milk pattern based on the original 1905 pack has been created, which gives greater depth and purpose to the iconic Cadbury purple and provides an element of discovery on the packaging.

The iconic Glass and a Half logo has also been redesigned so that it links directly with the chocolate chunk. As interest and demand for sustainably sourced products increases, Cadbury wanted to share more about its long-standing commitment to cocoa farmers and the environment on the new packaging. The Cocoa Life sustainability programme has been integral to the brand for the past eight years helping to train 140,000 cocoa farmers to look after the environment; helping to plant 1.2 million trees in cocoa regions across the world and helping to ensure cocoa farming is a viable livelihood. This has ensured that every Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate slab is 100% sustainably sourced. Lara Sidersky, Mondelez South Africa category lead for chocolate said, “Over the last three years we have been re-connecting with our roots, which is why the new identity is grounded in the original intent behind the brand and celebrates our unique product credentials and iconic distinctive assets in a modern way”. South Africa is only the second market to unveil the new brand identity, which has started to filter into stores from November 2020, with the full range relaunch expected to be completed in 2021.

New pet treats

Montego Pet Nutrition has announced the launch of its newest pet treat product, from Montego’s premium Karoo range, the Karoo Tender Meat Bits. With more pet parents seeking high-quality pet food at an affordable price, Montego Pet Nutrition says its new pet treat products are available in four variants: Chicken and Lamb infused with rooibos, Beef and Lamb infused with lavender, Ostrich and Lamb infused with rosemary, and Venison and Lamb infused with spekboom. Karoo Tender Meat Bits treats are also free of corn, soya, gluten, and artificial colours and flavourants. Each variation includes a combination of two fresh, high quality meats (Duoproteins), which are hardwood-smoked and infused with beneficial herbs and plants. “Our customers have a wide variety of needs they expect to be met when it comes to their pet’s nutrition,” said Wilfred Cawood, marketing manager at Montego. “We’re committed to giving pet parents a full range of options so they can help their fur babies stay healthy, active and happy,” he concludes. The Karoo Tender Meat Bits range of treats is available at a recommended retail price of R50.00 per 120g resealable packet.

Payment innovation

Digital payments company Ozow, has launched the Ozow Revolution. According to the company, this is in an effort to make digital payments available to everyone, and create greater opportunity to participate in the digital economy – especially for historically excluded communities that rely on costly and unsecure cash payments. Thomas Pays, CEO and co-founder of Ozow, says far too many consumers and businesses have been excluded from the benefits of the digital economy. “While more than 80% of South Africans hold a bank account, only one out of every eight have a credit card. This locks the vast majority of consumers out of digital payments and excludes them from a huge range of services. By simplifying payments for consumers and merchants alike and supporting them with helpful innovations such as zero-rated data costs, we can enable greater participation in the digital economy for all consumers and businesses.”

The company has introduced two new online payments solutions to its platform for the South African market, Ozapp and Ozow PIN. Ozapp is a progressive web application (PWA) that enables any customer with a bank account or eWallet to transact without a card through a QR-code enabled payment. Pays says it is designed to ease adoption by doing away with the need for a dedicated native application. “Despite smartphone penetration standing at more than 90%, many South Africans still rely on lower-cost models that lack the storage space needed for many mobile apps,” says Pays. “In a further effort at enabling greater digital inclusion, the data needed to use Ozapp is zero-rated, meaning consumers have zero data cost to make use of the progressive web app and can make payments anytime at any Ozow-enabled point-of-sale or pretty much anywhere, including the comfort of their home.”

Louise Burgers (previously Marsland) is the Publisher and Editor and Co-Founder of RetailingAfrica.com. She has spent over 20 years writing about the FMCG retailing, marketing, media and advertising industry in South Africa and on the African continent. She has specialised in local and Africa consumer trends and is a passionate Afro-optimist who believes it is Africa’s time to rise again and that the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will be a global gamechanger in the next decade.

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