Fresh fuel is to be given to flavoured milks by the ambitions of Nestle. The food giant is restructuring its impulse drinks division in preparation for an assault on the children's market via its Nesquik brand (The Grocer,August 24,p15). Nestle director of beverage sales Vince Robinson said: "Nesquik is a fast growing brand with lots of untapped potential."
Nestle as repackaged Nesquik Ready to Drink range and introduced two new pack size to attract younger consumers. A 200ml single bottle and a multipack are aimed at five to seven-year-olds with the single pack designed to fit into lunchboxes and vending machines.
In an attempt to appeal to children aged between nine and 11, a 330ml single bottle has been introduced as a replacement for the 250ml bottle and a multipack, both designed for the shelves of convenience stores. In addition to the new packs ­ where the design develops Quicky the bunny character ­ Nestl頨as also introduced a banana flavour to the range. Nesquik says that both fresh and ambient flavoured milks are achieving double digit growth, with Nesquik "acutely aware" of adult trends.
Sunny D's arrival hit flavoured milk sales, but now consumption trends have swung back in their favour with products such as smoothies, blended milk and fruit juice, straddling the category, according to Mintel. Growth in the milk drinks market is maintained by brand extensions and packaging innovation, and novelty varieties and limited editions that maintain the appeal to children.
Consumer demand for eating on the go and packed lunches also boosted sales of short-life brands 28.5% last year.
Campina's Yazoo ­ the UK's number one flavoured milk brand ahead of Dairy Crest's Frijj [TNS Superpanel MAT Jan 02] ­ is to add a vanilla ice cream flavour to its range in 4 x 200ml, with 500ml and one litre formats in the pipeline.
Nichols Foods is adding a creative dimension to flavoured milk with its new Milky Way Shake It drink which can be converted into a mousse dessert.
The newcomer joins Mars, Galaxy and Maltesers in the manufacturer's Masterfoods-branded drinks portfolio and is its first product manufactured especially for children. In the big league, Unilever Bestfoods has extended the Ambrosia Splat brand into the milkshake sector
However, milk drinks are not only for children, they also appeal to adults and Arla Foods has put £600,000 behind the relaunch of Gulp! to appeal to "a more grown-up, style-conscious audience".
Arla is also testing the adult market which it says is in "desperate need of a fresh and original product" , with two chilled milk drinks made in Denmark under the CafeMet brand. The variants, Choc o'Latte and Moch a'Latte come in retro-style 290ml glass bottles.
Mars claims to be the top chocolate long-life milk in the UK [Nielsen Audit, June 2002]. Masterfoods European sales coordinator Nigel Shackleton says: "We introduced a range of special editions to attract female drinkers and those who hadn't tried the drink."
Lancashire Dairies has a range of Superlife flavoured milks, which feature innovative fliptop lids, as well as Milky Way milkshakes, and says it has broken new ground with West Coast Simply Organic.


{{Z SUPPLEMENTS }}

Topics