Back by Popular Demand
By Bernice Hurst, Managing Director, Fine Food Network
Ah, nostalgia. Many of us have fond memories of food and drink that we no longer find readily available. But thanks to the wonders of the internet, thousands of candy fans have persuaded Cadbury to relaunch Wispa, a chocolate bar popular in the U.K. in the 1980's.
Tony Bilsborough, Cadbury's media relations manager, said that the web interest "reveals a consumer passion which swayed our opinion about relaunching Wispa." In a radio interview, Mr. Bilsborough said the re-launch was an experiment to see whether web interest translates into sales.
Online networking through a combination of websites, blogs and discussion threads turned one person's cravings for Wispa into an international campaign. According to The Guardian, there were 93 Bring Back Wispa groups on Facebook with approaching 14,000 members as well as strands on MySpace and Bebo. In addition, "clips of Wispa TV advertisements from the chocolate's heyday in the 1980s - it was introduced in 1981 and discontinued in 2003 - have also been posted on YouTube and similar sites, with fans appealing for missing examples."
Chris Cleaver of brand strategy specialists, Brandsmiths, shared Mr. Bilsborough's reservations and told BBC Radio 2 business correspondent Philippa Busby that many people campaign for the sake of it. It's possible, he suggested, that now they have won this round, they will forget the product and move onto the next thing, just to flex their muscles and prove that consumers count. Alternatively, they may remember the television commercials at least as fondly as they remember the chocolate. And, as Ms. Busby pointed out, the new product may not be what customers remember and sales will not be sustainable.
Discussion questions: Will we see more old brands revived as a result of internet campaigns such as that in the case of Wispa? Do the think consumer efforts to revive brands through online campaigns is an accurate reflection of actual demand for a product?