Excelent, more chocolate
Excelent, has relaunched its Kandia branded chocolate under a
multi-million dollar investment. The money has also included an
extensive revamp of its production line in an effort to meet
increased demands for the brand and maintain quality improvements.
The company said it had purchased the new equipment for the production line from a Swiss company, but could not include any further details, including the price of the contract. A report from the national news agency, Rompres, said that the total investment in both the advertising campaign and modernising the facilities would come to $17.5 million.
The relaunch is including an extensive television advertising campaign from the McCann Erickson agency. The campaign, which started at the end of last month and finishes in March, includes a competition to win cash prizes.
Excelent bought out the Kandia brand back in April this year, paying $6 million for the company, including the assumption of its debts and other financial obligations. The deal meant that Excelent won control of the Kandia chocolate factory in Timisoara, which was originally started up two centuries ago. Excelent is controlled by the East Europe Development Fund which it bought out in 1999.
Currently Excelent-Kandia is the leading confectionery brand in Romania with a market share of almost 40 per cent, followed by Kraft Foods Romania with 35 per cent, Primola with 8 per cent and Heidi Romania with 6.8 per cent.
Comparatively the Romanian confectionery market is still relatively undeveloped, with overall consumption low compared to other Central and Eastern European countries. However, with the advertising market still very small, observers believe that the Excelent campaign should pay high dividends.
