With levels of household penetration for bread a saturating 99%, activity focused on organic and speciality alternatives to encourage shoppers to trade up. Efforts and investments appear to have paid off as the major brands Kingsmill, Warburtons and Hovis can be satisfied with their growth, while the morning goods category is up 3.8% and prepacked up 3.4%. Advertising wise, Warburtons led the pack with a £3.6m campaign in March to support Toastie and Seeded batch. In April, Allied Bakeries threw £5m behind the launch of Kingsmill Tasty Crust loaf. It said the new launch would allow consumers to enjoy bakery-quality bread day to day, adding that its research proved families want bakery bread at weekends and sliced bread convenience in the week. And a £3.6m launch of organic white and wholemeal stoneground loaves from Warburtons followed predictions that the organic bread market will double in the next two years. May saw the launch of the Ranks Hovis McDougall's Enjoy Organic brand, with plans to dominate organics in five categories. {{MARKETING }}

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