Cookie Bear (New Zealand)
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
originally associated with Hudsons and now Griffins biscuits. Cookie Bear's popularity grew with New Zealand children through the Cookie Bear Club, their shared love of Chocolate Chippies and his famous catchphrase Dum-de-doo.
Early years
The New Zealand biscuit company Hudson was bought by Cadbury in the 1930s. In the early 1970s Don Donovan, a director of advertising agency Carlton-Carruthers du Chateau Ltd., suggested developing the Cookie Bear character for a couple of television advertisements. The black and white advertisements featured Cookie Bear (a man dressed in a bear suit) as a lover of biscuits who thought Hudson's brand was the best.The Cookie Bear Brand
Cookie Bear's immediate popularity resulted in an increase in his use as a mascot for Hudson's biscuits, with eventual heavy use of his image in advertisements, on packaging and on a growing number of promotional items. Cookie Bear became particularly associated with Chocolate Chippies, a hard round biscuit with chocolate chips. At the height of Cookie Bear's popularity in 1975, John Berry wrote and published an illustrated children's book called The Adventures of Cookie Bear.When Hudsons was incorporated into Griffin's Foods
Griffin's Foods
Griffin's Foods Limited is an Australasian owned biscuit, snack food and confectionery manufacturer operating in New Zealand. The company has sales of approximately $NZ300 million...
(Hudson's main market rivals) in 1989, the copyright for Cookie Bear was also transferred; however, while Griffins continues to use the Cookie Bear Brand on some of its products and in a few advertisements, Cookie Bear is now a less familiar New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
cultural icon.
The Cookie Bear Club
Cookie Bear's fame and popularity escalated through the Cookie Bear Club, which had a regular monthly page in the New Zealand Woman's WeeklyNew Zealand Woman's Weekly
The New Zealand Woman's Weekly is a weekly New Zealand women's magazine published by APN News & Media. , it has a circulation of 82,040, third by paid sales after TV Guide and New Zealand Woman's Day.-History:...
magazine. Children throughout New Zealand joined the club, reaching a peak of 180,000 children, or 1 in 4 New Zealand children under the age of 12. Members of the club received postcards on their birthday. Today's Cookie Bear Club has moved online to the official Cookie Bear Club website.