9/29/2005

Late Pope, U.S. PR Firm Cause Ripples In Poland

Blame the Pope? An award for the most imaginative use of the April death of Pope John Paul II goes to Peter Knauer, chief executive of Cadbury Wedel. That's a Polish chocolate maker, which Cadbury Schweppes bought from PepsiCo in 1999. Knauer told Forbes Poland that the death of the pope hurt the sales of sweets.

But instead of the pontiff's death, perhaps Cadbury Wedel's troubles came from introducing too many new flavors, including sixty two types of chocolate. Polish consumers seemed content with the traditional offerings of Wedel, a 154-year-old chocolate maker. Besides the surplus of new flavors, cutting its marketing budget may weaken the Cadbury Wedel brand, estimated by Ernst & Young to be worth $200 million.

In related news in the Eastern European nation, turmoil arose when the U.S. public relations firm Edelman entered the Polish PR arena. According to another report in Forbes Poland, Edelman had worked with a local partner, then decided to set up shop in Poland on its own. But the U.S. firm hired away its former partner's partner to run its new operation. Edelman's ex-partner cried foul, as Edelman's worldwide clients, including Eli Lilly, signed up with the new operation.

Other Polish PR firms, which currently work with Edelman's worldwide clients - including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson , Samsung and Coca-Cola - are afraid that Edelman will take their business away. The report says that the Polish public relations industry is worth over $ 50 million in annual billings.

(Source: Forbes Poland)

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