Kraft is hoping to stem decline in the countline and sharing bars markets with new Cadbury Dairy Milk products.

With sales of single countlines falling as fewer women buy into the category, and larger chocolate bars under pressure from a shift towards sharing bags, Kraft has responded with a new single bar and three sharing blocks.

dairy milk Bubbly Mini launches next week in a resealable pack (rsp: 59p/40g) and will be backed by a £1.5m push including social media, TV advertising and PoS.

The company hopes to build on the success of the 90g Bubbly launched at the beginning of the year, which has racked up £10.1m in retail sales [Nielsen w/e 7 July 2012].

It believes the Mini could boost sales in the overall singles countlines market, which has fallen 6.6% in value over the past year [Nielsen 52 w/e 14 July 2012]. The fall was a result of fewer purchases by women and the closure of CTNs, said Kraft marketing activation director Matthew Williams, adding that Bubbly’s new squarer shape had the potential to bring younger women back into the category.

“Some of our bars are quite big, which can be guilt-inducing,” he said. “We specifically didn’t go for a straight baton bar.”

Kraft, which launched chocolate-coated popcorn in May, is also hoping to boost interest in sharing bars with a 150g Dairy Milk bar containing toffee popcorn (rsp: £2.25). It rolls out next week alongside a Dairy Milk Golden Biscuit Crunch block, and a Nutty Caramel block exclusive to Sainsbury’s (both rsp: £2.25/200g).

They are the first NPD for Dairy Milk tablet bars since 2007 and are designed to reinvigorate the sharing bars category, which has dipped by 0.2% to £127m over the past year as shoppers shift to bagged chocolate and other formats.

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