Unilever is extending its booming Ben & Jerry’s Core range with two new flavours.

Sales of Core, which launched last February, have hit £15m in their first year on shelf and have driven 16.1% year-on-year growth in the overall Ben & Jerry’s brand to £66.8m [Nielsen 52 w/e 13 October 2012].

New flavours Peanut Butter Me Up and Blondie Brownie are rolling out now (rsp: £4.99/500ml) and will be supported by a £5m push including cinema, outdoor and digital. The launch is also being backed with sampling focused on cinema audiences.

Like the original Core products, the new lines feature two flavours of ice cream and have a liquid centre. Peanut Butter Me Up is based on a peanut butter sandwich, with peanut butter and vanilla ice creams around a raspberry jam core while Blondie Brownie has a caramel core with chocolate and vanilla ice cream and chunks of brownie.

The Core range benefited from being positioned as a dessert ice cream, which lent itself to year-round sales, said Ben & Jerry’s brand manager Rhodri Morgan.

Ben & Jerry’s is also expanding its Classic range with Clever Cookies (rsp: £4.49).

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