Yowie is a confectionery brand originating in Australia in 1995. First produced by Cadbury under licence from Kidcorp, it was one of the top selling chocolates in Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, selling over a million units a week. After a break of nearly a decade, Yowie was relaunched in 2014 for US markets. The brand had been acquired by a Perth-based Australian company, the Yowie Group, in 2012. The chocolates reemerged in the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2017.
Development
The English-born advertising man, illustrator and author Geoff Pike and South African-Australian advertising director and novelist Bryce Courtenay originated the Yowie concept. Serving in the Royal Navy, Pike jumped ship in Australia, finding work as a jackaroo on remote cattle stations. He became enchanted by Australia's outback and its unique wildlife, and devoted his free time to nursing injured and orphaned animals back to health.
Decades later, after a successful career in advertising, Pike drew on these early bush experiences and his love of wild places to create the Yowie Kingdom, a fictional magical realm free of the destructive influence of humanity, where threatened wildlife finds a safe haven. Inspired by Australian folklore, Pike borrowed the mythical man-like creature, the Yowie, reputed to roam the Australian bush. To watch over the fictional Yowie Kingdom and its animals and plants, Pike created six Yowie characters, each related to a well-known Australian animal, and each one guardian of key wild habitats:
Boof the Bottlebrush Yowie, cousin of the bandicoot, protector of rainforests and mountains Crag the Mangrove Yowie: cousin of the Saltwater crocodile, protector of swamps and wetlands Ditty the Lillipilli Yowie: cousin of the wombat, protector of woodlands and meadows Nap the Honeygum Yowie: cousin of the koala, protector of forests and bushland Rumble the Redgum Yowie: cousin of the red kangaroo, protector of deserts and plains Squish the Fiddlewood Yowie: cousin of the platypus, protector of rivers and streams
Additional characters included animal companions for each of the six Yowies, and Balthizar the Bunyip, ruler of the Yowie Kingdom. To represent the threats facing the world's natural habitats and threatened species, Pike created the Grumkin, careless creatures constantly seeking to destroy the harmony of the Yowie Kingdom. The Grumkins were: Munch (careless building, enemy of Rumble), Blob (pollution, enemy of Crag), Ooz (also pollution, enemy of Squish), Spark (careless firelighting, enemy of Nap), Slob (littering, enemy of Ditty) and Chomp the Tiger Toothed Tree Chomper (deforestation, enemy of Boof).
Pike enlisted the aid of long-time friend, fellow advertising man and best-selling author Bryce Courtenay. They hit upon the idea of a confectionery product as a vehicle for Yowie, and in 1994 pitched the concept to confectionery giant Cadbury.
Initial launch
After three years developing the characters and the manufacturing process, in 1997 Cadbury launched Yowie as a foil-wrapped character-shaped milk chocolate shell containing a plastic capsule. Within the capsule was a multi-part collectable model of a native Australian or New Zealand animal, together with a leaflet featuring information, a photo of the animal and assembly instructions for the collectable. The first series featured 50 animals, plus figurines of each of the six Yowie characters. Pike and Courtney retained the intellectual property rights in the Yowie concept, which was licensed to Cadbury by Kidcorp.
Cadbury Yowie was selling over one million units weekly and in its first year sold 2.5 Yowies for every man, woman and child in Australia. The brand won multiple industry awards in Australia and internationally, including Best Global Supermarket Product and Best Global Confectionery Product at the 1997 Sial international food industry awards in Paris.
Cadbury Yowie was also released in Singapore, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Publishing and merchandising
To coincide with the release of the Cadbury Yowie, a series of books was released, telling the stories of the Yowie characters as they protect their domains from the threat of the Grumkin. Written by Geoff Pike and Bryce Courtenay and illustrated by Christopher Minos and Helen Steele, the series sold more than 2 million copies, topping the Australian best-seller lists for children's books.
Numerous lines of Yowie merchandise were produced, including soft toys, clothing, games, activity books, and Yowie music CDs.
A Yowie collector scene soon emerged with collector clubs forming across Australia and New Zealand and websites devoted to displaying and swapping Yowie collectables.