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Cadbury was acquired by Mondelez in 2010. The second-largest confectionery brand in the world, Cadbury was viewed by many as an iconic British brand and the takeover was controversial from the beginning, with fears that jobs would be lost as production moved overseas.

An article in The Grocer in 2024 for Cadbury’s 200th anniversary summarised the ups and downs of the company’s history. Media interest in Cadbury is not confined to trade publications, however. The brand appears frequently in UK national and regional media, and this coverage is enormously influential.

Using credible consumer-centric metrics including Metricomm media audience data, YouGov BrandIndex data and Google data, our latest whitepaper quantifies how engagement with media coverage affects what consumers think and feel, and how they behave as a result.

Cadbury UK sales have increased to £2.1bn since the takeover according to The Grocer. At the same time, the controversy has continued, with media focus on changing recipes, discontinued products and value for money. Our detailed analysis quantifies how some of these issues have impacted the brand over time.

Like all confectionery manufacturers, Cadbury will be subject to the HFSS regulations governing advertising for products high in fat, sugar and salt. These come into force officially in January 2026, although the expectation is that brands will adhere to them from October 2025. With its ability to advertise severely restricted, it is more important than ever that Cadbury can lean on PR to support its product and brand marketing efforts. This means managing the impact of damaging coverage. It also provides valuable opportunities to use earned media coverage to sustain brand reputation, consolidate market share, protect revenues and build consumer trust in new HFSS-compliant products.

Media coverage can produce both headwinds and tailwinds for brands. Forget meaningless and subjective ‘sentiment analysis’. Instead, we can observe how the ‘lift’ and ‘drag’ exerted on a brand by media coverage plays out with consumers in real-time.

These effects can be measured consistently and robustly, providing PR data that sits comfortably alongside other data from across the promotional mix, helping the CEO, CFO, CMO and others make strategic decisions about resource allocation based on demonstrable impact.

PR is substantially more cost-effective than advertising. Understanding how media coverage supports other paid activity can optimise results, not only building brand equity and protecting reputation but also driving revenue.

Whether you have an existing PR measurement framework or not, our analysis goes well beyond what can be considered to be traditional media evaluation reporting, creating tangible metrics and KPIs that transform PR strategy, planning and reporting.

To receive a copy of our Cadbury whitepaper, simply complete the form below and we’ll email you the pdf.

If you’re interested to learn more about what we do, drop us a line on hello@metricomm.com.