Hit or Miss: Social network campaign to bring back Wispa chocolate bar

Wispa comeback People power triumphed this week when Cadbury announced it would reinstate its Wispa chocolate bar for good in response to pleas from fans on social networking sites.

Cadbury brought the bar back for a limited period last August after thousands of people joined groups on Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. Borkowski PR, the agency advising Cadbury, said Wispa would be back on full sale from October.

How I see it

Gillian Edwards
Account manager, 3 Monkeys

Children of the 1980s rejoiced this week at the permanent return of Cadbury's Wispa, thanks to an ‘independent' fan campaign on a number of social networks. This shows how brands can and should harness public support by tapping into nostalgia and helping to generate ‘talkability' via digital media. Chinese ‘Wispas' in cyberspace questioning the extent of the involvement or otherwise of the brand (and its agency) could be deemed churlish. But as a rule, when using social media, brands should be transparent to avoid backlash by cynical consumers. However, credit where credit is due - the sheer numbers involved in the campaign as it progressed reflect genuine engagement with the product.