Sales: £241.7m -0.4%
After a mighty 2012, a small sales slip. That’s in spite of Persil’s biggest-ever ad campaign starring a spooky child and proclaiming ‘dirt is good’.
The £10.5m campaign in support of the July relaunch of Small & Mighty liquids introduced the stain eraser ball to the market, a new device allowing measurement of dosages and stain pre-treatment.
Persil also launched its first dishwasher tablet, PowerPro - now produced, like its hand dishwash line, by brand licensee McBride.
Sales: £230.9m -7.6%
Even reanimating Audrey Hepburn for a new ad campaign hasn’t helped Galaxy stand up to Dairy Milk. Its value decline also masks an even steeper fall in volume sales, which fell 9.8%.
The Hepburn ads were part of a £10.7m investment in marketing by parent company Mars Confectionery, which has tried a number of different tacks to avoid getting flattened by the Cadbury juggernaut.
The shape of the chunks in bars of Galaxy was changed and packaging was spruced up with the aim of giving it a more indulgent theme.
In February 2013, Galaxy Counters were extended from sharing bags into singles for the impulse market and in August two new bars were introduced: Galaxy Honeycomb Crisp and Galaxy Nut Crunch.
NPD has been more effective in achieving growth for Galaxy away from the core confectionery category, however. Mars claims that Galaxy’s RTD dairy products have been enjoying double-digit growth following the rebranding launch of two Galaxy Café mocha lattes in new cartocans last year.
Hot beverage sales were also buoyant, says licensee Aimia, and three new Galaxy drinks have just hit shelves. The products include a powder that can be mixed to make a hot or cold drink, and pieces of Galaxy chocolate.
Perhaps the biggest leap for Galaxy has been the launch of tubes of chocolate & hazelnut spread into Sainsbury’s in October. The retailer certainly seems impressed: buyer Mark Bartholomew told us in January NPD is “bringing new customers into the category.”
Sales: £226.0m +7.3%
With the help of ads fronted by Nicole Scherzinger, Corner has gone posh, racking up £12.5m with the de Luxe range, which includes Coconut Dream and Marc de Champagne variants.
Müller is after our kids too. It kicked off 2013 with the launch of Kids Corner, followed by the unveiling of My First Corner in April.
The NPD has continued in 2014 with two new de Luxe variants and the first ‘crunchy’ variant of the Greek Style Corner range, with almond biscuit and dark chocolate.
Sales: £225.8m -3.5%
Many soup brands say the snow that lasted well into March last year helped boost sales. Not Heinz, which has seen volume sales fall at nearly twice the rate of value.
There’s not much joy on the horizon either. Heinz says its results, and the wider market’s, have been hampered by “the recent mild winter”.
It wants to pep things up with its Black Label soups, exotic twists on varieties such as Cream of Tomato with a Kick of Chilli, which it claims attract younger consumers.
Sales: £224.0m +4.3%
Felix has got it licked. Selling single pouches at the round pound price point has helped attract pet owners to the brand in the past year as many of its peers in petfood have lost share to heavily promoted own-label lines.
Larger multipacks have also helped the brand gain the upper paw. Sales of 44-packs surged 48% in the past year, according to Purina.
Felix has also cashed in on growing sales of treats following the 2012 launch of Goody Bags.
Sales: £221.1m +10.4%
Cadbury is a licence to print money: licensed across eight categories, it’s clearly benefiting from the present strength of Dairy Milk: Müller Wiseman says its range of Cadbury pot desserts is now worth £54m and is looking to grow further with a Marvellous Creations line launched last week.
Highlights hot chocolate is also doing well. And Burton’s has enjoyed huge success in pimping its Cadbury’s Finger biscuits. The only setback has been Cadbury cakes, made by Premier Foods.
Sales: £219.7m -3.1%
Heinz seems to be fighting a losing battle as Britain continues to go off the beans.
Still, it’s fighting hard. In 2013 Heinz put its Five Beanz variant in two new formats - Snap Pots in January and a Triple Pack in September - and backed the brand with TV ads throughout the year.
The investment is ongoing, says Heinz, which claims its Full of Beanz TV campaign has driven an 8.6% boost in value sales on volumes up 19.3%. It seems the brand is no has-bean just yet…
Sales: £218.6m -5.9%
New poster boy Gok Wan is helping Activia look good not only naked but in the form of last April’s Summer Specials range and the addition of two new variants to the Intensely Creamy offering (Banana Toffee and Bursting Blueberry).
The pouring variant’s packaging has also been revamped to highlight its versatility and a new, thicker texture.
Deals have also been important, though, helping volume sales increase 1.4% despite the loss of value sales.
Sales: £216.5m +1.3%
It’s not been a straightforward year for Innocent. While sales of its not-from-concentrate range have been booming over the past year (we reported a double-digit increase in December’s Top Products Survey), the brand’s smoothies are tanking.
But Innocent’s come out fighting, this month launching Super Smoothies - functional drinks combining fruit & veg with seeds, botanicals, vitamins and minerals. Each of the three drinks in the range has a specific health claim: Defence, to help the immune system; Energise, which contains guarana and vitamins to help release the energy in food; and Antioxidant, to keep cells healthy.
“We’ve been making smoothies for 15 years now and are always looking for new ways to excite and invigorate the category,” says Innocent MD Dave Pickup. “We think they will appeal to existing Innocent drinkers, but also believe the range will help bring new consumers into the category and brand.”
Innocent has also been busy with its food products, last year rolling out a range of noodle pots inspired by Asian street food, and says it plans new food launches for 2014.
And things have been far from quiet behind the scenes. Coca-Cola boosted its stake further in the business early in 2013, prompting a major management shake-up last May. With the founders of the business stepping back from day-to-day responsibility, marketing and innovation boss Doug Lamont became the business’s first-ever CEO, and Pickup was promoted from commercial director to MD.
Sales: £204.4m -0.5%
Dogged use of deals has helped Pedigree maintain its premier position. In November, we reported how it had more than doubled featured space deals.
That’s not all. It launched lines offering bespoke nutrition for small, medium and large puppies and extended the DentaStix Fresh range with products tackling gum disease and freshening breath.
Pedigree also invested £8.4m in the Feeding Brighter Futures campaign, which donated meals to rescue dogs.
See the complete list of Britain’s 100 Biggest Grocery Brands
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