• Ad Age, Friday, November 20, 2009 10:39 AM

Emily Bryson York plays the "what if" game this morning with Cadbury as the trophy that will indicate who becomes the world champeen of the global confectionery market. Mars took the title last year when it chewed up Wrigley, but it will slip to No. 2 if either Kraft or a combination of Ferraro and Hershey wins the British company in a takeover.

Bryson York also looks at the possible impact on spending on the accounts at various advertising agencies, a noble exercise in exponential what-ifism that we will not attempt to replicate here. Suffice to say that if a deal happens, everything is up in the air.

Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow doesn't think that Hershey could readily swallow Cadbury if it were working on its own. Combining with the closely held, mysterious, Italian-based Ferrero presents complications of its own -- namely, "there is no obvious way to split the assets, as for the most part both companies could feasibly want any part of Cadbury."

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