When war broke out in 1939, Cadbury had already started looking back at their records of WWI to plan for it.
Rationing was enforced and raw materials were in short supply so it was a question of making do and concentrating on those products they were still able to produce. Cadbury Dairy Milk came off the shelves in 1941 when the government banned manufacturers from using fresh milk. Instead there was Ration Chocolate, made with dried skimmed milk powder.
Once the war ended, the company had to sort out many areas of the business affected by wartime, but business boomed. Cadbury expanded its biscuit range, did a lot of promotional work and managed to fend off competitors like Mars by keeping their direct distribution system (rather than selling to wholesalers as Mars did). Cadbury moved into TV advertising in 1955 at the launch of commercial television, with an ad for Drinking Chocolate. New countlines like the Aztec Bar appeared and pre-packaged cakes were launched in 1962.
In 1969 the business merged with Schweppes, after the new Cadbury Chairman, Adrian Cadbury, was approached by his opposite number Lord Watkinson. Television advertising was at the fore in the 1970s, when many Cadbury brands – Flake, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Whole Nut and Fruit and Nut – vastly increased their sales.
In 1980, Dominic Cadbury took over, and immediately worked to make the company more competitive, introducing state-of-the-art new production lines and reducing the number of staff.
Cadbury Schweppes was the fifth largest confectionery company in the world by 1997, and with the acquisition of leading chewing gum brands in 2003, became the number one confectionery company in the world.
Recently Cadbury and Schweppes (now known as Dr Pepper Snapple Group) have demerged, allowing each business to concentrate on its areas of expertise.