Müller UK has signalled that the UK's obsession with brain boosting ingredient Omega-3 could be on the wane by removing it as an ingredient from its Vitality brand just three years after adding it.
The company is relaunching its functional yoghurt and drinks brand with greater emphasis on its prebiotic and probiotic content after feedback showed consumers were more concerned about digestive health than brain health and found the inclusion of Omega-3 confusing. The brand's content of prebiotics, healthy ingredients that occur naturally in foods such as onions and garlic, is being doubled so that each pot or bottle contains 2.5g, half of the RDA.
Müller incorporated Omega-3 into Vitality in 2005 when it said Omega-3 was the ingredient most people wanted to see in functional food. Since then products with the ingredient have moved on, it said, and consumers were more aware of other foods where they could obtain their daily intake of Omega-3.
"It was right to incorporate Omega-3 in Vitality in 2005 when there was a surge in demand for products enriched with it," said marketing director Chris McDonough. "But our new research found that people simply weren't interested in having it in a yoghurt product, particularly one aimed at adults. We are putting a lot more emphasis on the prebiotic content of Vitality."
The brand's three-in-one message, which promotes the drink's probiotic, prebiotic and Omega-3 positioning, is being axed as part of the relaunch. It will be replaced by the new strapline 'Keeps your tummy working like clockwork'. Yoghurt pots will also decrease in size from 150g to 125g to bring the brand in line with other functional yoghurts in terms of calorie, fat and sugar content.
A £2.5m campaign will support the new recipe and pack designs with press and sampling advertising later in the year.
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