of long-time friend, fellow advertising man and best-selling author Bryce Courtenay. They hit upon the idea of a confectionery product as a vehicle for Yowie, and in 1994 pitched the concept to confectionery giant Cadbury. After three years developing the characters and the manufacturing process, in 1997 Cadbury launched Yowie as a foil-wrapped character-shaped milk chocolate shell containing a plastic capsule. Within the capsule was a multi-part collectable model of a native Australian or New Zealand animal, together with a leaflet featuring information, a photo of the animal and assembly instructions for the collectable. The first series featured 50 animals, plus figurines of each of the six Yowie characters. Cadbury Yowie was selling over one million units weekly and in its first year sold 2.5 Yowies for every man, woman and child in Australia. The brand won multiple industry awards in Australia and internationally, including Best Global Supermarket Product and Best Global Confectionery Product at the 1997 Sial international food industry awards in Paris. A Yowie collector scene soon emerged with collector clubs forming across Australia and New Zealand and websites devoted to displaying and swapping Yowie collectables. Cadbury Yowie was also released in Singapore, Japan and the UK. Publishing and merchandising To coincide with the release of Cadbury Yowie, a series of Yowie books was released, telling the stories of the Yowie characters as they protect their domains from the threat of the Grumkin. Written by Geoff Pike and Bryce Courtenay and illustrated by award-winning artists Christopher Minos and Helen Steele, the series sold more than 2 million copies, topping the Australian best-seller lists for children's books. Numerous lines of Yowie merchandise were produced, including soft toys, clothing, games, activity books, and Yowie music CDs. Further Yowie series Following the success of the first series of Yowie collectables, a second series was released in 1998, this time featuring 50 new animals. The third series of Yowie, released in early 1999, was composed of 50 figurines and 6 limited edition mini Grumkins. This series remained the most common of all the series, extending into 2002, with further scattered releases until the series ended in 2005. The fourth series was released in late 1999 and featured ‘Yowie World’ collectables, with animals from beyond Australia and New Zealand, as well as 6 limited edition crystal Yowies, 6 ‘Yowie playmates’ and a Lord Balthizzar figurine. It remained the second-most popular series, extending until