Simon Mowbray
Competition looks set to heat up in the ice cream market with big brand launches under the Masterfoods, Nestlé and Del Monte banners all being announced this week.
The flurry of activity follows Wall's pledge earlier this month to "bring back the buzz" to the category by injecting a £20.5m round of media support for its brands, including heavyweight spending behind new Magnum and Carte d'Or ranges.
Now Del Monte has signalled its intention to enter the fray, making its debut in the sector with a range including a hand-held fruit lolly and three sorbets. Manufactured and marketed by Frederick's Dairies, which also makes Cadbury's ice creams under licence, the 80p orange lolly, prominently featuring the Del Monte logo, is likely to have to battle it out in the market with Wall's top-selling Solero. The 90ml sorbets, based on flavours in Del Monte's World Fruits range of juices, will cost 90p.
Meanwhile, Richmond Ice Cream, which owns the rights to the Nestlé range of frozen offerings, revealed that three of the confectionery giant's countlines Smarties, Milkybar and new Double Cream will be rolled out in frozen form. Smarties with Soft Ice Cream will come in a tub format at an rsp of 90p for 145ml, while the hand-held Double Cream and Milkybar offerings will cost £1.10 and 50p respectively.
Masterfoods revealed that it would be consolidating its success in the ice cream market last year with a new Galaxy Cone (rsp: £3.20 for a four-pack), a Starburst Strawberry variant (80p), and the return of the Snickers ice cream. Maltesers will continue its successful transfer into ice cream by joining the likes of Mars in 500ml tubs.
Andrew Hirst, an ice cream category controller at NisaFreeze, said there was little innovation among the new launches."Overall there is a lot less innovation coming into ice cream than into other sectors, mainly because the failure rate is so high," said Hirst. "The most interesting launch is the simple Milkybar lolly which should do very well. Del Monte will find it tough."
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Competition looks set to heat up in the ice cream market with big brand launches under the Masterfoods, Nestlé and Del Monte banners all being announced this week.
The flurry of activity follows Wall's pledge earlier this month to "bring back the buzz" to the category by injecting a £20.5m round of media support for its brands, including heavyweight spending behind new Magnum and Carte d'Or ranges.
Now Del Monte has signalled its intention to enter the fray, making its debut in the sector with a range including a hand-held fruit lolly and three sorbets. Manufactured and marketed by Frederick's Dairies, which also makes Cadbury's ice creams under licence, the 80p orange lolly, prominently featuring the Del Monte logo, is likely to have to battle it out in the market with Wall's top-selling Solero. The 90ml sorbets, based on flavours in Del Monte's World Fruits range of juices, will cost 90p.
Meanwhile, Richmond Ice Cream, which owns the rights to the Nestlé range of frozen offerings, revealed that three of the confectionery giant's countlines Smarties, Milkybar and new Double Cream will be rolled out in frozen form. Smarties with Soft Ice Cream will come in a tub format at an rsp of 90p for 145ml, while the hand-held Double Cream and Milkybar offerings will cost £1.10 and 50p respectively.
Masterfoods revealed that it would be consolidating its success in the ice cream market last year with a new Galaxy Cone (rsp: £3.20 for a four-pack), a Starburst Strawberry variant (80p), and the return of the Snickers ice cream. Maltesers will continue its successful transfer into ice cream by joining the likes of Mars in 500ml tubs.
Andrew Hirst, an ice cream category controller at NisaFreeze, said there was little innovation among the new launches."Overall there is a lot less innovation coming into ice cream than into other sectors, mainly because the failure rate is so high," said Hirst. "The most interesting launch is the simple Milkybar lolly which should do very well. Del Monte will find it tough."
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