Mr Kipling is a brand of cakes, pies and baked goods widely marketed in the United Kingdom. The trademark is owned by Premier Foods, after its acquisition of Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM).
In 1967, at a time when cakes were more often bought from local bakers, the company introduced cakes of a local baker's standard to supermarkets. With advertising featuring the phrase exceedingly good cakes, the company had become the brand leader in the UK by 1976, a position it still holds 31 years later. Since then, the company has also marketed varieties of single-serving and individually wrapped cakes. In the early 2000s Mr Kipling moved away from its traditional branding, and for about 1 year used a modern logo consisting of a red oval with "Mr Kipling" in a new font inside the oval. The slogan was modified to simply "Exceedingly Good" and the descriptions of cakes on the back of the packaging was altered so that it no longer appeared as if it were written by the fictional character Mr Kipling. However around 2005 the company briefly experimented with another new logo, before deciding to whole-heartedly return to its roots. The current logo is very closely based on the original one. The slogan "Exceedingly Good Cakes" is now back in use, and the write-ups on the back of their packaging once again is written in the person of Mr Kipling.
Mr Kiplings Cakes are made by the RHM subsidiary known as Manor Bakeries Ltd. which also produces products under the Lyon's and Cadbury names. The Cadbury cakes are produced under licence from Cadbury Schweppes plc the owners of the brand name. Mr Kiplings Personal Life Godfrey Kipling was born in 1924, in the small town of Bramley, which incidently is where he thought up the now famous Bramley Apple Pie. His early life was spent scrumping in orchards, until he reached a semi-professional level in 1937. He then retired from scrumping and took up residence in his mothers pantry. He was the most promising young baker of his generation. He spent the next five years perfecting the French Fancy, despite never setting foot in France. Since then he has established himself as the greatest baker in the world, thus earning his slogan 'Exceedingly Good Cakes' This, the highest of accolades, was bestowed on him in the 70's by Rowan Atkinson at the International Baking Convention. In 2003 Kipling was forced to outsource his baking operation to South Africa, with help from his good friend and biggest endorser, Nelson Mandela. Mandela actually described Kiplings pies as containing 'A little piece of sweet, sweet freedom' In 2005 Godfrey and his wife Madge emigrated to Brisbane, Australia. They left the company in the capable hands of his son, Rudyard. Since then, stock value has increased 900%, thus meaning that Kipling has had his cake, and ate it too. Mr Kipling is in fact a fictional personification originally intended to give the brand a more personal touch and associate it with the traditional naming conventions of local bakers in the United Kingdom. The company says, "Mr Kipling exists in the hearts and minds of Manor Bakeries' employees and all cake lovers, but not in fact as a real person. He was created over 30 years ago to represent the exceedingly good cakes the company was producing and now encapsulates everything the brand stands for, and personifies what is good about the company - its vision, its values and insistence on quality."
