The biscuit aisles are brimming with innovation from new flavours to new formats. We’ve crunched the numbers, with the help of Kantar, to discover the biggest new biscuit sub-brands of 2016. McVitie’s secured the top three spots thanks to innovative NPD and Brits’ love of everything retro. Find out what the top five are here…

McVitie’s Nibbles

McVitie's Nibbles

Taking Digestives into sharing bags paid off for McVitie’s as Nibbles tops our list, coming in at two and a half times the size of the next brand. The launch was supported by a £4m investment including a new instalment of its Sweeet campaign, complete with adorable kittens.

“The first innovation of its kind for the UK biscuit category, the product is a major innovation for Pladis, offering the well-loved taste of the number one McVitie’s Digestive biscuit range in a modern bitesize format,” says Sarah Lonorgan, director of customer marketing, Pladis.

Trio Bar

Retro brand Trio returned to shelves this year – 13 years after being discontinued by Jacobs – thanks in part to The Grocer’s Bring Back A Brand campaign. Its retro aspects were embraced with the well-known calypso jingle from the original 1984 TV advert given a new twist in support of its relaunch.

“The return of the well-loved iconic brand, famed for its catchy advertising jingle, follows overwhelming consumer demand to see the ‘Best British Biscuit of the 90s’ back on UK shelves,” adds Pladis’ Lonorgan.

Go Ahead! Cookie Bites

A brand refresh and NPD worked wonders for Go Ahead! Cookie Bites, putting it in third place on our list. The mini cookies come in packs of six 23g bags in two variants: White Chocolate & Raspberry and Chocolate & Orange.

With under 100 calories per pack, they are designed for the weight-conscious consumer. A £2.5m media campaign, including a TV advert, was launched to support the NPD and redesign featuring the tagline ‘snack smart’.

Fox’s Chocolatey Biscuit Bars

Fox’s decadent Chocolatey Biscuit Bars blur the lines between confectionery and biscuits. The packs contain five individually wrapped bars in either Milk Chocolate & Lemon Mousse or Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Mousse flavours.

The NPD was an expansion of the Chocolatey sub-brand, designed to tap demand for on-the-go portion-controlled snacks while offering customers new flavours.

Nature Valley Protein

Nature Valley bulked up in 2016, on protein and sales. The brand relaunched its protein duo with 10g of the magic ingredient, up from 8g, and no gluten.

The changes were brought about as owner General Mills believed it would help Nature Valley stand out among competitors by tapping the trend for healthier biscuits.

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