Cadbury Milk Tray

Agency: Design Bridge
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Cadbury
Location: London, UK
Packaging Contents: Chocolate

Design Bridge make Cadbury Milk Tray special again with new packaging design

Design Bridge today announce details of their work in designing new packaging for Cadbury Milk Tray. The redesign comes in Cadbury Milk Tray’s centenary year and re-establishes the chocolates as being a thoughtful and special gift-choice to give to friends and family.

Gemma Roche, Client Director at Design Bridge explains, “Despite being one of their oldest and best known brands, Cadbury Milk Tray had recently been overshadowed by competitors. Our research showed that the packaging had come to be seen as old-fashioned and they had gained the reputation of being a ‘last-minute gift’. It was our challenge to turn this around, re-discover what makes Cadbury Milk Tray unique and create packaging that’s as special as the feelings people once had for the brand.”

By asking people what their impressions of Cadbury Milk Tray were Design Bridge quickly discovered that many still had an underlying love for the chocolates. Gemma Roche continues, “The shapes of the chocolates themselves sparked the fondness that people had for Cadbury Milk Tray. The familiar shapes led people to reminisce about their Gran’s favourite strawberry cream, their childhood friend’s love of the hazelnut swirl and the family gatherings where a box of Cadbury Milk Tray would be happily passed around.”

Design Bridge selected the five most iconic chocolates, unchanged since the brand’s launch in 1915, and created hand-drawn illustrations based on their unique shapes and textures. These illustrations are used as ‘hallmarks’ for the brand, stamped in gold below the name. Kate Galle, Creative Director at Design Bridge explains, “Using the ownable hallmarks we created a fashion-inspired pattern, much like the prints seen on a designer scarf or beautiful paper-wrapping. We used the pattern like gift-wrapping to cover the box, reiterating the thought behind the gesture.”

The pink accent colour from the previous packaging now lifts the entire box, highlighting the unique pattern and giving the brand a new fashion-led, feminine appeal.

Kate Galle continues, “As well as becoming a precious gift, we felt that the patterned box also widened the appeal of Cadbury Milk Tray so it becomes a gift that a younger audience would gladly choose to give to their best friends, as well as their family. Presenting the chocolates as illustrated hallmarks on the front also gives a precious quality to the treats within.”

Also incorporated into the design is a gift-tag that brings together the Cadbury Milk Tray brand mark, royal warrant and the five new chocolate-shaped hallmarks that Design Bridge have created. This adds another layer of distinctiveness and meaning to the box and points to the preciousness of the chocolates inside. The gift-tag shape is also a playful nod to the iconic adverts of the 1980s in which the famous ‘Milk Tray man’ leaves a card with a box of the chocolates for his loved one.

Graham Shearsby, Chief Creative Officer at Design Bridge added, “Cadbury Milk Tray now embraces and celebrates what people love most about the brand. For the first time in 100 years we’ve brought what’s inside the box to the fore, reinterpreting this familiar selection of shapes and flavours to create a striking pattern and set of quality stamps for the brand.”

Benazir Barlet-Batada, Marketing Manager at Mondelēz International commented, “Design Bridge worked hard to understand the Cadbury Milk Tray brand and what makes it unique in people’s hearts. The new packaging design not only restores a sense of specialness, it builds on it and reaches out to a younger audience. We hope this will keep Cadbury Milk Tray alive for the next 100 years and beyond!”

– New design re-establishes Cadbury Milk Tray as a special and thoughtful gift and attracts a younger audience in the brand’s centenary year.

– Illustrated hallmarks, inspired by the public’s fondness for the iconic chocolate shapes, bring a precious and unique quality to the packaging.