Cadbury Trebor Bassett has shrugged off the bruises of this summer's salmonella scare-induced product recall to announce its Easter range and is calling on stores to swap Easter egg price deals for premium offerings, claiming that the former do not increase footfall, while the latter boost value.

"Price is consistently overplayed in this marketplace," said head of

customer relations Mike Tipping. "Florists don't drop their prices on Valentine's Day and retailers don't need to do confectionery deals at Easter."

With a focus on dark chocolate and luxury lines for next year's Easter range, the newcomers include a £9.99 dark chocolate egg and a £14.99 super-premium mixed milk and dark

chocolate variant for the company's Russian doll-inspired Delight egg range.

CTB is also improving tag information on the concept of an egg within an egg, within an egg, as well as axing the range's £4.99 size, because, it said, consumers compared its value unfavourably to larger standard shell eggs at the same price.Other new Easter egg lines include large Flake variety, Fruit and Nut and Dairy Milk variety eggs, a Crunchie giant egg and a gold and purple liveried chocolate chick filled with Cadbury Buttons.

The company will focus on mini eggs, a format which Tipping admitted performed poorly last year. It is also spooning out £5m to promote its regular limited edition Creme Egg brand, including an updated version of the brand's My Way TV ad campaign, which will kick off early in the year, and replacing multipacks with new four, eight and 12-egg sizes featuring new pack designs. New PoS material will also be available.

Tipping also said early displays were critical because, although 40% of shoppers did not buy until the week before Easter, they needed reminders that the products were available.

"Retailers have to be brave and take a risk on their stock because they'll be sitting on 90% of it until the last week," he said. Tipping predicted the final week of the Easter 2007 season would be even bigger than this year.