The show has completed a three-month run in Cape Town, and is now showing at the State Theatre in Pretoria.
Cadbury Whispers played a major role in promoting the musical, but the brand building value for Cadbury's has been enormous.
Cadbury Whispers were handed out at the opening night of the megamusical Cats in Gauteng. The show included a giant Whispers box as part of the junkyard set and a Cadbury's sign lighting up when the magical Mr Mistoffeles leaped on stage.
The Whispers logo appears on the front page of the programme as well as in all press advertising, on all the posters around the country and on the 200,000 show brochures given out in Cape Town and Gauteng.
Producer, Pieter Toerien, comments "It is a new concept in SA, but it has proved to be highly successful". Cadbury's had sponsored the show successfully elsewhere in the world.
Cadbury's brand manager, Joy Pereira, says that the show is a perfect vehicle for Whispers, which is Cadbury's entertainment brand. While it has an effect on sales, the sponsorship is more about brand building.
When Cats premiered in London in the 1980s, it was its aggressive marketing strategy not the show that was considered revolutionary.
