Cadbury had too many brands—95 global and local brands, over 250 variants. Investment in marketing and innovation was highly fragmented. This disadvantaged Cadbury against competitors such as KitKat and Kinder.
The company had ambitious goals. Our team was charged with the task of reinventing the portfolio strategy to accelerate growth. The approach was future-back. We analyzed changing consumer tastes, from wellbeing and sustainability to premiumization, and created a picture of the chocolate market in 2030. We took the existing quantitative segmentation studies apart and analyzed them in new ways.
The outcome was a shift from a product way of thinking to a portfolio architecture based on consumer needs, prioritized based on future market financial potential. Through this lens, we rationalized brands and identified priority brands. Marketing budgets were reallocated to priority brands. We used the new needs-based architecture to identify multiple innovation opportunities. R&D budgets were reallocated to direct investment to priority innovations.