The rampant Americanisation of Halloween means that the golden age of fobbing off badly-costumed urchins with the offer of what was left in your fruit bowl is now long gone. Shoppers spent over £40m on Halloween goods in 2015, up 22% on the previous year, in a spending frenzy that can only rocket upwards.
Looking to take a monstrous bite of this growing market is McVitie’s, with the launch of its spook-tacular cake range due to hit shelves from 5th September.
This year’s spooky season sees the return of McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes Bars, this time in ‘Fang-Tastic Orange’ flavour and a ‘Batty Blackcurrant’ variety. The latter has a new recipe which sees white sponge topped with a tangy blackcurrant jam and covered in dark crackly chocolate. Also tapping into seasonal flavours, McVitie’s Hobnobs Flapjacks have been given a makeover, with a new Toffee Apple variant.
Following its launch earlier this year, new McVitie’s Digestives Teacakes has also undergone a fiendish name change for Halloween with each treat individually wrapped in red devil foil. McVitie’s Penguin Cake Bars also get a makeover with a p-p-p-petrifying new design.
The full range features brand new Halloween horror packaging, offering seasonal stand out on shelf with McVitie’s forecasting a retail sales value for its sharing cakes of over £1.2m.
Claire Hooper, Senior Brand Manager of McVitie’s Cake Company, commented with a sinister cackle: “Halloween continues as one of the top three seasonal moments in the retail calendar. Shareable sweet treats are a key impulse purchase driver within the seasonal market which presents a fantastic opportunity for retailers to capitalise on, especially in the cake aisle. As one of the biggest brands in cake, we’re confident our range, with its new fun designs and flavours, will catch the eye of shoppers as they look to stock up on spooky surprises for their Halloween festivities.”
The McVitie’s Halloween range comprises:
- Digestives Devilish Teacakes, 16 pack (rrp £2).
- Hobnobs Toffee Apple Flapjacks, 5 pack (rrp £1).
- Jaffa Batty Blackcurrant Cake Bars, 5 pack (rrp £1).
- Jaffa Fang-tastic Orange Cake Bars, 5 pack (rrp £1).
- Petrified Penguin Cake Bars, 10 pack (rrp £1).
