Müller is overhauling its Müller Corner portfolio in a bid to knock Danone off the top spot as the nation’s biggest-selling yoghurt brand.

At £240.1m, Danone’s Activia has a £14.5m sales lead over Corner [Nielsen MAT 15/09/2012] but Müller is reformulating and repackaging to win back its lead over the French dairy giant.

Key to Müller’s strategy is a reformulation of its Fruit Corner yoghurt, to make it thicker, creamier and more indulgent.

The change in recipe would bring Fruit Corner into line with the “treat appeal” of the rest of the dairy giant’s Corner portfolio, said marketing director, Michael Inpong. “Crunch Corner and Corner Greek Style Yoghurts have that ‘treat appeal’, and with the new recipe for Fruit Corner we are aiming to extend this association with deliciousness to ‘everyday’ fruit yoghurts.”

The reformulation ties in with the roll-out of new packaging across the full Corner portfolio. A greater surface area on pots and the wrap on six-packs will be devoted to photographs of the fruit, granola and confectionery contained inside.

In addition, all packs will carry a ‘no artificial colours, preservatives or sweeteners’ statement and the product’s calcium content. ‘Low fat’ will feature on the Breakfast Corner, and Fruit and Greek Style Corners will carry a ‘Made with Real Fruit’ flash. Corner six-packs will also carry two flavours instead of three after consumer research revealed that in each six-pack there tended to be one flavour that was more “polarising”.

The changes would help Müller regain brand leadership, said Inpong. “We plan to accelerate the growth of the Corner brand in 2013 with a strong marketing support focusing on innovation and a new high-profile media campaign.”

The blue block-branding, introduced last year, will stay.

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