End of an era: Cookie Bear dropped from Griffin’s biscuits

The golden days of Griffin’s treasured Cookie Bear mascot are over after a 57-year run with the company.

Griffin’s told the Herald it is “refreshing” the packaging “to make it clearer and easier to find your favourite biscuits”.

“The new pack design focuses on the Griffin’s brand and the biscuits themselves and appeals to a wider range of Kiwi biscuit lovers,” the company said.

“While the packaging is changing for our Chockie Chippies, Hundreds & Thousands, Stripes and Shrewsbury biscuits, consumers can expect the same quality, recipe and great taste.”

The company confirmed Cookie Bear will still feature on its Cookie Bear Mini Bears biscuit snack packs.

With his signature catchphrase “Dum-de-doo”, the mascot was a pop culture phenomenon for generations of Kiwi kids.

The Dunedin company’s marketing strategy had significant appeal at the time, making use of the fluffy bear’s charming image to promote brand loyalty among young consumers.

Advertising executive Don Donovan first had the idea of bringing Cookie Bear to screens, placing the character in a number of successful television commercials throughout the 1970s.

Hudson’s soon threw its support behind Cookie Bear. A fan club was created for kids under 12, with a monthly column in NZ Woman’s Weekly sharing the bear’s games, jokes and correspondence with his fans.

At its peak, the Cookie Bear Club’s membership grew to 162,000 – nearly one in four Kiwi children under 12 at the time – and members received a card from Cookie Bear on their birthday.

Perhaps the most important development to arise from the club was the creation of Hundreds & Thousands biscuits.

One of its members, Sandra Choate, told Stuff she saw a call for biscuit ideas in the NZ Woman’s Weekly column when she was 11 or 12 and pitched the treat to Hudson’s – a wine biscuit with pink icing and sprinkles.

While they never gave her an official response, Choate said it is “family lore” that the biscuit was invented by her.

Cookie Bear used to receive letters from thousands of children. Former marketing manager of Hudson’s, Mike Groves, told RNZ in 2016 that the company hired four workers to sort through the constant delivery of fan mail.

“A bit like people write to Father Christmas, they think he’s really there and they want to communicate with him. Cookie Bear was the same, people sort of formed a bond with him‚" Groves said.

He noted that Cookie Bear’s primary role was to drive interest in the company, in turn boosting sales and creating a loyal market base.

“If you capture these little kids now, get them thinking good things about Cookie Bear and relating to his picture on a biscuit packet, they would encourage their mum to buy Hudson’s biscuits.”

Hudson’s was eventually sold to Griffin’s in 1989, which continued using Cookie Bear on its biscuit packaging and in marketing.

While his popularity never quite returned to his time in the 70s, Griffin’s loved Cookie Bear enough to keep the mascot around for another 36 years.

We’ll raise a glass (of milk) to you tonight, my friend.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald by Tom Rose and is republished here with permission.