New choc on the block

SLR looks at some of the chocolate innovations helping to set retailers’ tills ringing at the moment.

It’s been a decent year for the chocolate confectionery category with plenty of exciting new lines to drive trial and generate excitement in-store.

CDM Freddo Treasures

Cadbury Dairy Milk, the nation’s favourite chocolate, brought ‘treasure’ to the market earlier this year with an innovation in the Freddo family. Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo Treasures comes in the form of a purple treasure chest filled with Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons and, at 76 calories per chest, Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo Treasures is aligned with Mondelez’s broader strategy to increase wellbeing choices across its portfolio.

Susan Nash, Trade Communications Manager at Mondelez International, says: “Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo is now worth £25.1m [Nielsen, Oct 2018] with 76% brand awareness. Freddo Treasures offers the great taste of Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons, made with quality ingredients including a Glass and a Half of Fresh Milk, and a toy which is suitable for kids of all ages. With the portion of Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons coming in under 100 calories per chest it’s a treat parents can feel good about giving their children.”

The launch was supported by a £6m campaign, which included Freddo’s first ever TV ad, to drive additional sales for independent retailers with this new product.

£1 PMP hanging bags

Chocolate sharing formats, like bags and tablets, are key and bags are the fastest growing standard chocolate segment. To help retailers capitalise, Mondelez International has introduced new size £1 promotional price-marked packs to improve price perception among their shoppers and help drive sales. The new £1 (RSP) 95g promotional PMPs are available across some of its bestselling bags: Cadbury Dairy Milk Giant Buttons, Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Nibbles, Cadbury Twirl Bites, Cadbury Bitsa Wispa and Terry’s Chocolate Orange Minis.

Darkmilk Salted Caramel

The premium market is the fast-growing chocolate segment that is incremental and bringing in new, higher value shoppers. To capitalise on this popularity, Cadbury Darkmilk was launched to meet consumer demand for higher cocoa content products. The range launched with two variants – Cadbury Darkmilk Original and Cadbury Darkmilk Almond – and earlier this year a new Cadbury Darkmilk Salted Caramel variant joined the range in single format.

Bournville Orange

This year also saw the return of an old favourite, Cadbury Bournville Orange. First launched in 1927, the bar combines strong cocoa notes with the thick, chunky texture of Bournville and real orange fruit pieces. It is now a permanent offering for the brand to tap into the trend for orange chocolate and is also now available as a PMP.

M&M’s block variants

Mars Wrigley UK is bringing four brand-new M&M’S block variants to the UK market: Chocolate, Crispy, Hazelnut and Peanut. Considered the brand’s biggest launch in a decade, the four M&M’S Block variants will contain mini M&M’S alongside pieces of peanut, hazelnut or crispy and will be encased in milk chocolate.

By combining Block – the biggest chocolate segment – with the biggest chocolate brand in the world, M&M’S aims to drive new consumers to the segment.

Green Tea KitKat

Nestlé is bringing the flavour of Japan to the UK this summer with the launch of KitKat Green Tea Matcha, inspired by one of the most popular of the 350+ KitKat varieties that have been available in Japan over the years and follows requests from chocolate lovers to make innovative KitKat flavours available to consumers outside of the country.

Matcha is a traditional drink made from powdered green tea that has been enjoyed for centuries in Japan. In KitKat Green Tea Matcha, it is combined with smooth white chocolate to give a sweet and fragrant flavour.

KitKat Green Tea Matcha is made with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives using Matcha green tea. This green coloured four-finger treat will be available as a limited edition and has an RSP of 85p. Each outer contains 24 x 41.5g bars.

Aero Bliss

Following the launch of Aero Bliss in a carton format earlier this year, Aero has introduced a new premium single variant, in milk chocolate, which contains three individually wrapped pieces. The Aero Bliss Single is available across the market with focus on the convenience channel.

Each individually wrapped smooth milk chocolate is filled with a cocoa aerated centre and the addition of delicate cocoa pieces. The velvety, whipped bubbles inside the chocolate shell melt in the mouth with every bite, creating a smooth chocolate sensation.

The single carton has an RSP of 85p and is available now. The launch is being supported with a wide-reaching media campaign, including out-of-home, social and digital advertising as well as sampling and experiential activity. The Aero brand in total will benefit from a £3m media spend across 2019.