Cadbury Tales: March 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Cadburys - Another one bites the dust

Sanjay Purohit quits Cadbury

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Corporate-Announcement/Sanjay-Purohit-quits-Cadbury/articleshow/5725140.cms

26 Mar 2010, 0231 hrs IST, Pramugdha Mamgain & Mahima Puri, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: A 11-year veteran of Cadbury India has quit to head jeanswear brand Levi Strauss’ India operations in what is seen by insiders at the

chocolate maker as a fallout of its global merger with rival Kraft two months ago. Sanjay Purohit, Cadbury’s Asia-Pacific head for chocolates, was also an executive director in the company board. He will join the $4.1-billion Levi Strauss & Co as MD of its Indian operations.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I am quitting Cadbury. But I am equally excited to work with an iconic consumer brand with such an incredible heritage,” Mr Purohit told ET. Levi India’s MD Shumone Chatterjee will move into a regional role in the Asia-Pac region making way for Mr Purohit, said company officials.

US food major Kraft had acquired Cadbury in a $19.7 billion deal in January 2010. The maker of Oreo and Toblerone had recently announced a new structure for the chocolate maker’s key executives in India. Accordingly, Anand Kripalu, managing director of Cadbury India, will be part of Kraft’s Asia-Pacific team and report to Pradeep Pant, president of the new Kraft Foods Asia-Pacific region.

Mr Kripalu also gets additional responsibility for South Asia and Indo-China. Bharat Puri, senior vice-president, chocolates global category team, will continue in his current role.While neither Mr Purohit nor the company would give any reasons for his exit, Cadbury officials seeking anonymity told ET that he was expecting to be made the company MD. They said that Kraft had offered Mr Purohit a plum role in the merged entity’s Indian operations, but failed to satisfy him.

Mr Purohit was an ‘A’ lister, a top performer recognised within the system as one with potential to be groomed as a leader, in the Rs 2,000-crore firm. A marketing expert, he was the most visible face of the company that has been growing at an annual rate of 20% for the last three years. “Sanjay will join us at an exciting time when we celebrate our 15th year in India and gear up for more growth in a country of significant opportunities,” Aaron Boey, president of Levi Strauss Asia Pac, told ET. He is expected to join Levi India sometime in June 2010.

Cadbury India has delivered a 20% sales growth and a 30% jump in profit in the past three years. Cadbury also has a 70% market share in chocolates and a 30% share of the local confectionery market. Kraft’s interest in Cadbury globally was primarily to get an entry into emerging markets like India where the brand enjoys a dominant market share. Brands such as Cadbury’s Dairy Milk and Bournville has made India a money-spinner for the UK-based Cadbury’s. Sales has been growing at 20% for the last three years, and profit at 30%.

Levi Strauss & Co is one of the world’s largest branded apparel companies with brands such as Levi’s, Dockers San Francisco and Signature.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Cadbury Colour Purple

This is the colour we've heard so much about folks

Cadbury adopted the colour purple, Pantone 2685C, way back in 1905, for its royal associations to send a message that “eating its chocolate was a rich and indulgent experience”

The "colour purple" is Pantone colour 2685C (In the Hex system is #3B0084)

Here it is in its splendour and glory:

PMS

Hex

Colour

2685C

-61

132

#3B0084

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:GeeJo/Sandbox/Cadbury_purple
http://www.umsiko.co.za/links/color.html
http://www.inspirationbit.com/signature-colours/
This is something that I've always wondered about.

Kraft says sorry for broken promises

Job losses: Kraft is under fire for backtracking

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/markets/article.html?in_article_id=501219&in_page_id=3

Kraft says sorry for broken promises

Rupert Steiner, Daily Mail
17 March 2010, 8:42am

Reader comments (7)

Kraft executives have made the extraordinary admission that key elements of their bid for Cadbury were based on information gleaned off Google.

Representatives from the US conglomerate told MPs they pored over satellite images of factories owned by the chocolate maker before making a pledge to keep its Somerdale plant in Keynsham open.
This emerged as Marc Firestone, a Kraft executive vice-president, issued his firm's first apology to workers.
He said he was 'terribly sorry' for breaking the promise on Somerdale, adding: 'I do sincerely personally express my apology.'
Keeping Somerdale open was a key pledge made during the controversial £11.9bn bid battle for Cadbury. Kraft reneged on it just days after winning control last month.
The American company insisted it did not know 'tens of millions of pounds' of equipment had been installed in a new Polish factory.
Firestone was hauled in front of the Commons Business Select Committee for a grilling on whether Kraft had misled workers, unions and politicians.
In a fiery exchange, the American lawyer claimed Kraft had acted in 'good faith', and was acting on limited information because the bid was hostile.
Cadbury was not sharing information with them, he said. 'We believed we had adequate time to keep the factory open,' said Firestone.
'We Googled it and had satellite images of it, but could only see the outside.'
Politicians were incredulous that Kraft had 'lifted the hopes' of the 400 workers only to dash them so quickly on such 'flimsy' research.
Peter Luff, chairman of the committee, described the decision as 'very cynical'. He said the damage to Kraft reputation in Britain had been 'considerable'.
Firestone was parachuted in to the Commons to deputise for Kraft chairman and chief executive Irene Rosenfeld. MPs were furious that Rosenfeld had snubbed them, instead fielding three middle-ranking managers.
Conservative MP Brian Binley said: 'It is a sizeable discourtesy that Irene is not here.' Firestone replied that Irene 'has the deepest respect for this body' but had had to attend a board meeting.
But Luff said the date of the meeting had been set at Kraft's behest.
When asked to offer some cast iron guarantees for the future of Cadbury's workers, Firestone, who was visibly shaking throughout his testimony, would only promise no compulsory redundancies or factory closures for the next two years.
One MP Lindsay Hoyle, accused Kraft of acting like a Viking 'pillaging' great British companies.
Firestone said: 'We are a strategic investor and are not, to use the metaphor, Vikings.'