Born in the purple: Cadbury drops trademark amid battle for wrapper colour February 4, 2019 Cadbury’s legal battle to protect its distinctive shade of purple has come to an end after the chocolate maker gave up its trademark. In December the Court of Appeal ruled against the confectionery company, which had tried to trademark the shade of purple used on its wrappers. Read more: The colour purple: Cadbury loses latest court battle [...]
Big brands doing big deals show the UK sports sponsorship industry remains in rude health January 14, 2019 January is typically the time to look forward, to forecast and predict what will happen in the coming year. To understand the state of the UK sponsorship industry, however, it’s more worthwhile to look at what happened in the months leading up to Christmas. Rewind to the week after Black Friday in December and big [...]
Halo Top ice cream defrosted from the startup doldrums to become a retail success December 17, 2018 Junk food is, rightly, under assault. This year, we’ve seen the introduction of a sugar tax on soft drinks, and last month London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a ban on junk food advertising on the capital’s public transportation network. This comes after tougher TV advertising rules introduced last year, which meant that ads for food [...]
The colour purple: Cadbury loses latest court battle over trademark December 5, 2018 The Court of Appeal has ruled against chocolate-make Cadbury in a battle over its ability to trademark a shade of purple. Cadbury was attempting to modify a trademark it already holds in relation to the use of a distinctive shade of purple with its chocolate bars. Cadbury’s trade mark for the shade of purple “applied [...]
Weapon of choice: How nutrition brand Grenade has exploded into the market November 12, 2018 Grenade is the kind of brand that just appears out of nowhere – you blink and suddenly the products are a staple stock in shops around the country. For those who have somehow missed the craze, Grenade is a food company specialising in healthy snacks – and now you’ve heard the name, you’ll probably start [...]
Customers stay sweet on Cadbury’s despite low-tax owner October 17, 2018 Last week, several news outlets carried the news that Mondelez International – owners of chocolatier Cadbury – paid no corporation tax in 2017, though the company made profits of £185m. Mondelez’s subsidiaries were reported to have paid a combined total of £5.9m to HMRC. The news drew opprobrium from figures such as shadow chancellor, John [...]
Theresa May’s new merger powers would be a hostile takeover by the state October 16, 2018 Back in July 2016, Theresa May launched her campaign for leadership of the Conservative party by promising radical action on foreign takeovers of British businesses. In the wake of Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury and Pfizer’s failed bid for AstraZeneca, May promised to defend workers and local communities from transient shareholders who, she said, were more [...]
Proper corporate governance rules would save the UK from a crisis like Theranos September 11, 2018 The spectacular downfall of Theranos, the US healthtech company, makes a terrific story: a disrupter startup run by a university drop-out, who modelled her persona on Steve Jobs (right down to her black turtleneck sweaters), and became a virtual messiah figure for many in Silicon Valley. For those who aren’t familiar, Theranos promised cheap, accessible, pain-free [...]
Unilever shareholders to hold crunch vote on Netherlands move September 11, 2018 Unilever shareholders will vote next month on plans to streamline the consumer goods giant and move its headquarters to Rotterdam over London. The company, which makes Marmite and Pot Noodle, has revealed details of its proposal to abandon its dual-headed structure and become one legal entity in the Netherlands. The Anglo-Dutch firm, which also produces [...]
Sticky business: Cadbury owner stockpiles chocs for hard Brexit September 11, 2018 Cadbury’s owner is stockpiling chocolate, biscuits and raw ingredients in the event of a hard Brexit, it has emerged. Mondelez Europe warned that the UK cannot provide all its own ingredients to produce Cadbury chocolate, and so the firm is making other arrangements in case the UK spins out of the EU without a deal. [...]