Brand extensions have become commonplace, with both Mars and Cadbury launching 451-500ml sized tubs. Cadbury launched Crunchie, Dairy Milk, Heavenly Vanilla and Caramel in September 2000, while Mars brought out Mars, Snickers, Twix, M&M's and Bounty in March 2001.
Cadbury made a big impact on the wrapped handheld sector, particularly with the launch of Cadbury's Bournville chocolate stick. This has been coupled with the continuing success of the Dairy Milk version, as well as brands such as the Flake Cone, which has experienced an 80% sales increase.
The new Mars Galaxy bar is the bestselling new product of this year. Launched towards the end of last year, Magnum Caramel & Nut bars have continued to perform well. These launches may account for a proportion of the downturn in the existing Magnum and Mars variants, although the total Magnum brand remains firmly at the top of the league.
Cones have experienced something of a renaissance this year with Cornetto growing in excess of 28 per cent despite the introduction of new cone varieties such as Supremo and Snickers. Cornetto Whippy launched this year has succeeded in gaining sales of more than £5m so far.
Ben & Jerry's continue to grow by bringing out new weird and wonderful flavours to tempt consumers. Haagen Dazs has also been launching new varieties backed by their £6.5m marketing and advertising campaign entitled Pleasure is the path to joy.'
Carte D'or, who specialise in the bigger 900ml tubs, remains in front however, pushing growth through the introduction of new flavours such as Danubienne and Triple Choc. Heinz has also launched a Weight Watchers selection of tubs and blocks with sales of over £1.3 million to date.
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