Sales: £198.7m +5.8%
Wrigley’s 2013 was all about bottle, launching the 46-pellet format in January and later reformulating the 60-pellet bottle, allowing the brand to bring its price point below £2.
The activity proved that packaging innovation can be just as beneficial as NPD. Wrigley’s says it shifted more than 5m 46-pellet packs in their first year on shelf.
But NPD also helped: last April saw the launch of Extra White Bubblemint to tap growing demand for fruit and sweet-flavoured bubble gum.
Sales: £197.2m -19.9%
WeightWatchers’ fall in value equates to a staggering £48.9m in lost sales over the past year.
“While we’ve seen consumers spending less on reduced-calorie foods, there’s been significant investment in healthier own-label ranges in the past 18 months,” says head of licensing Matthew Davis.
Davis wants to pep up sales with marketing (new ads kick off in May) and range improvements. In January the brand launched the Love Fibre cereal with Weetabix.
Sales: £194.4m +5.0%
It’s been a particularly busy year for Auntie.
Not only did the frozen food giant revamp its packaging, moving away from a bold blue to softer tones of gold and brown to give a more homely feel, it also moved into an entirely new sector, making the leap from the freezers to the chillers last June, launching a range of chilled pies produced under licence by Pork Farms.
Key growth areas for Bessie in the past year have been frozen vegetables and desserts, according to the brand. In our December Top Products issue we reported how Aunt Bessie’s frozen Homestyle Chips, made under licence by Heinz, had enjoyed value growth of 12.1%.
Frozen veggies aren’t as simple as they used to be, however. According to the brand, some of the strongest performers in its portfolio have been value-added veg products often served as an accompaniment to the traditional roast. These include Special Roast Potatoes in Duck Fat, Honey Roast Parsnips and a Roasting Veg Mix. The brand’s Home Bake Yorkshire Puddings, backed by ads featuring a gaggle of spying grannies, have also had a strong year by capitalising on the roast’s renaissance.
But it’s the brand’s puddings that have really hit the sweet spot, enjoying double-digit growth and toppling the venerable Viennetta from the top spot in Nielsen’s frozen desserts ranking. This is down to a number of factors. Auntie has cashed in on the trend for retro-style desserts, with its Jam Roly Poly being a stand-out performer, by promoting hard and pushing its Great British Puddings range.
Sales: £190.5m +2.8%
The decline of traditional table sauces continues, and Heinz is not immune, with volumes down 4.2%. But it’s not for want of trying. “2014 will see increased investment in Heinz Sauces for the fourth year running and will not only focus on above the line support, but also activation at point of purchase,” says a spokesman.
Bright spots include Hot Thin sauces, launched in October 2012, which account for 7.7% of hot sauce volume sales - Hot Thick sauces launch next month - and tartare and mint.
Sales: £190.5m -5.5%
When Android named its new operating system after Kit Kat in September, the brand backed it up with an on-pack promo offering the chance to win Google goodies and launched a series of YouTube videos gently spoofing Apple.
But this and the roll out of another Choose a Chunky campaign, which was won by the mint variant and backed by big ad spend, wasn’t enough to put Kit Kat in the black. Volume sales have fallen at almost the same rate as value over the past year.
Sales: £187.7m +21.9%
Maltesers offerings have been multiplying like bunnies in the past year, helping the brand post the biggest percentage gain in chocolate.
Most significant was the unveiling of Teasers last March, Mars UK’s “biggest innovation in a decade” according to the brand owner, backed up by a £4m marketing campaign.
The brand also launched the festive Malteaster bunny and Merryteaser products and spread the word with its sponsorship of Britain’s Got Talent.
Sales: £184.6m -3.2%
An Ariel 3-in-1 pod has been sold every six seconds since launch last June, according to owner P&G, claiming the innovation, which promises to clean, lift stains and brighten fabrics, is one of Ariel’s “biggest success stories”.
But it wasn’t enough to brighten up the brand overall - value is down 3.2% on units down 5.3%, thanks largely to declining sales of Ariel Powder. The brand is promoting its Which? award for ‘best liquitab on tough stains’ rating to boost sales in 2014.
Sales: £178.2m -11.5%
Britain’s biggest margarine brand has suffered one of the biggest value sales losses (£23.2m) in this year’s list.
A backlash against the 2012 recipe change hasn’t helped, nor the fact that marge is looking rather passé next to butter brands cashing in on the home-baking trend.
Flora’s taken note, reverting to the original recipe and launching a web app allowing cooks to pause, play and rewind YouTube videos with hand gestures to take the mess out of following recipes online.
Sales: £176.7m +8.2%
As unlikely as it seems, a mariachi makeover of smash hit The Final Countdown by 80s Nordic poodle rockers Europe is partly to thank for Dorito’s impressive growth.
But not all of it. The boom in sharing formats has also helped, boosting the brand’s unit sales by 7.9%, the equivalent of nearly 12 million bags of crisps. A social media ‘name that tune’ contest last Easter and the worldwide Crash the Super Bowl competition also helped.
Rock on!
Sales: £167.2m +13.6%
Pringles has bounced back from a decidedly dismal 2012, recording double-digit sales increases that make it one of the year’s best performers. NPD and strong promotions have helped the brand shift 14.4 million (14%) more units.
None of Pringles’ NPD has raised quite so many eyebrows as the brand’s first foray into sweet snacking in October, with the launch of Mint Choc and Sweet Cinnamon limited-edition flavours. The brand says the move helped it “drive sales by adding intrigue and fun to the category”.
In the run-up to Christmas, its standard ranges were on £1 promotions at a number of retailers, including One Stop, Morrisons, Tesco and Asda. In One Stop, the deal proved so popular the c-store chain was forced to limit customers to five per transaction.
It also ran a summer Disco Speaker promotion and a Merry Pringles Christmas programme. A spokeswoman says these “really helped us to work closely with our retail partners to unlock great offers and in-store visibility for our shoppers.”
The biggest launch of the year came in January with the arrival of the Xtra sub-brand, which was boosted in March with the addition of two new flavours - Kickin’ Sour Cream & Onion and Cheesy Nacho Cheese. Xtra will be the focus of a new campaign in 2014 including a partnership with the latest X-Men movie.
“It’s going to be an incredibly exciting year for Pringles with the launch of a brand new advertising campaign, ‘You don’t just eat ’em’, which will be supported all year,” says a spokeswoman for the brand.
See the complete list of Britain’s 100 Biggest Grocery Brands
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