"1033" chocolate bar revealed as brand strategy and no TPSA campaign

Despite speculation that Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) might be behind the launch of the new "1033" chocolate bar, it turns out that the manufacturer is Michalek, a small Silesian confectionery producer. "1033" is TPSA's long-distance access number, and it had been thought that the company had launched the new chocolate bar as a way of promoting its long-distance services in the face of fierce competition. Explaining Michalek's thinking behind the launch, the company's brand expert, Wlodzimierz Januszkiewicz, said, "Branding confectionery products with well-known symbols that are recognized by consumers is a widespread practice. The name of such a product should be associated with something well known." The confectioner has plans to launch other chocolate bars, named "1044", "1055" and "1066", the access numbers of TPSA's three long-distance competitors. "It turns out there is nothing we can do [to stop this] because our rights have not been infr inged," a representative of one of them, NOM, told Gazeta Wyborcza, "We can only hope that our 1044 chocolate bars taste better than 1033." (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 27) T.J.