Like Crocodile Dundee, Uluru, Skippy the Kangaroo and Neighbours, Cherry Ripe is right up there as a true Aussie icon.
That delicious saliva inducing blend of moist coconut and juicy cherries enrobed in generous ripples of rich Old Gold® dark chocolate, Cherry Ripe is as distinctive as it is unique. Some people refer to it as a kind of Cherry Bounty. My four year old son refers to it as a party in his tummy.
Introduced in 1924 by MacRobertson's, a respected Australian confectionery manufacturer who for decades were the largest confectioner in Australia before Cadbury acquired them in 1967, and whose portfolio of chocolate products also included Freddo, Crunchie, Picnic, Rose's Chocolate Box, Old Gold® and Snack, Cherry Ripe remains not just Australia's oldest chocolate bar but also one of its most popular. Presently it is ranked the fourth most popular chocolate bar in Australia with a retail value of over $35million.
Available in a range of formats including 55g and 85g bars as well as 216g Share Packs and 18g Special Treats pieces, Cherry Ripe has stood the test of time. Other variations most notably Apricot Ripe have come and gone but Cherry Ripe has been the only flavour to enjoy any kind of success or longevity. As well as my four year old son, my thirty six year old wife and my seventy six year old mother-in-law both grew up with Cherry Ripe. Presumably with parties in their tummies too.
So what is it about Cherry Ripe that makes it an Australian powerhouse chocolate brand?
Well for a start it tastes really good. The Old Gold® dark chocolate coating strikes that perfect balance between cocoa and bitterness, that is so often over powering in other chocolate bars, and in doing so provides the perfect accompaniment to its delightful centre of sweet coconut that is soft and slightly chewy without being coarse or crumbly, and cherries that are neither too sweet and nor too sour as to face-screwingly be off putting. It also smells pretty good too. Resonating a subtle aroma that falls somewhere between chocolate and, somewhat bizarrely, raspberry the smell would actually make quite a good perfume. Now that I come to think of it perhaps I should give Cadbury Australia a call?
As the only bar to offer you the 'Big Cherry Taste' Cherry Ripe also sits in a bit of a niche in the marketplace which is always a good thing to achieve. However perhaps the most influencing factor to the continued success of Cherry Ripe is the way it has been marketed over the years. In particular its television adverts through the years dating from as far back as the famous 'Wild Woman' adverts of the early 1970s right through to the recent advert at the turn of the century which featured a vintage red car being smothered in chocolate against the musical score of a cover version of Brenda Lee's 'Sweet Nothings', have arguably been almost as popular as the chocolate bar itself.
When Sir Macpherson Robertson launched the Cherry Ripes in 1924 I wonder if he could possibly have imagined the kind of legacy he was creating with the chocolate bar, which up until 2002 still sported the MacRobertson's logo. Given that Cadbury Australia has only as recently as last year released a new variation, entitled the Cherry Roll which they describe as 'Ripe Juicy Cherries and Coconut all dipped in Old Gold® Rich Dark Chocolate, sprinkled with Coconut', I would say there is still some life in the iconic brand yet.
Spencer Samaroo, Managing Director, Moo-Lolly-Bar
http://www.moolollybar.com.au/
The best online chocolate lolly and confectionery store on the web!
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