We love the new Cadbury logo – but is there a problem?

Rumours began circulating a few weeks back that Cadbury was about to update its logo to a new design, based more closely on the signature of its founder. Lo and behold, the rumours were true – Bulletproof has been revealed as the agency behind the new logo, as well as new, bolder packaging for the Dairy Milk bar.

The new logo is a thinner affair, with a more cursive quality emphasising its handwritten nature (especially with the newly looped 'b'). It isn't a huge change, but we'd say that's to be expected – Cadbury has one of the most recognisable wordmarks around (a pretty essential criteria for making our best logos list). That said, Twitter users (below) have pointed out a peculiarity with the new logo, and now we just can't un-see it.

Cadbury logos

Old (left) vs. new (right) (Image credit: Cadbury/Future Owns)

Now that we look at it, it does kind of read like 'Cadbwy.' Whether we'd have noticed that the 'r' looks like a 'w' without having it explicitly pointed out, we're not sure – it was arguably still present in the old version. That said, now that we've seen it, it's going to be weally hard not to see it. The logo is still unmistakably Cadbury's, though, and we stand by our previous assertion that the thinner wordmark looks more refined. 

One potential reason for Twitter's animosity towards the new logo is that, according to the Birmingham Mail, it cost Cadbury £1 Million – hence a "but it looks the same!" pile-on. Some marketers have begun defending the cost, however, explaining (below) that there's so much more to the rebrand than a quick logo tweak (which is news to nobody in the design world). As Bulletproof's video (above) shows, there's rather a lot more going on. 

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Bulletproof explains that it wanted to capture John Cadbury's "warmth, humanity and authenticity" with the new look. We'd say they've achieved that with the more cursive style – perhaps enough so that we're willing to look past the slight legibility issue. And hey, perhaps it even adds to the authentic, handwritten charm? 

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Daniel Piper
Senior News Editor

Daniel Piper is Creative Bloq’s Senior News Editor. As the brand’s Apple authority, he covers all things Mac, iPhone, iPad and the rest. He also reports on the worlds of design, branding and tech. Daniel joined Future in 2020 (an eventful year, to say the least) after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more. Outside of Future, Daniel is a global poetry slam champion and has performed at festivals including Latitude, Bestival and more. He is the author of Arbitrary and Unnecessary: The Selected Works of Daniel Piper (Selected by Daniel Piper).