The candy line features a bottle-shaped lollipop that is dipped into flavored powder and popping candy. Each bag of Baby Bottle Pop lollipops, retailing for around $1.65, includes four individually wrapped pouches in three flavors: blue raspberry, strawberry (two pouches) and watermelon.
The company said the launch of the lollipop products will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign, including broadcast advertising as well as digital and social media promotion.
Baby Bottle Pop Popping Powder will be available across the US in Q1 of 2018.
Double-digit growth
Sidra Riaz, senior associate of brand manager at Bazooka, told ConfectioneryNews, Baby Bottle Pop is one of the company’s core brands along with Juicy Drop, Ring Pop and Push Pop. Baby Bottle Pop base brand has been experiencing strong growth and innovation testing for Baby Bottle Pop Popping Powder went very well in consumer research.
“We haven’t innovated the brand for a couple of years. We’ve taken the strong equity of the bottle shape, plus the powder, and ascended into this new product so consumers can share,” she said.
Riaz said Baby Bottle Pop has been performing very well, and it has been experiencing double-digit growth since 2015.
Introducing new flavors to children’s candy
“In the next 10 years, new flavor introduction is very important for the children candy category,” she said. “We’re introducing a new flavor every year for our single-size Baby Bottle Pop, and we’re looking to leverage the research we’ve done next year for new product innovation.”
The Baby Bottle Pop lollipop contains 90 calories per serving, and it has adopted the upgraded FDA nutrition facts label.
Expanding international market
Bazooka Candy is the confectionery division of Topps. The company recently promoted Bazooka’s former general manager, Tony Jacobs, as its president. In addition to coming up with new candy products, he said Bazooka also plans to expand its international footprint in the future.
“We operate throughout the Americas, Japan, South Korea, throughout Europe and the Middle East, and we’re going to continue expanding that,” Jacobs told ConfectioneryNews.
The US market currently contributes to the majority of Bazooka’s business, and the international market is growing exponentially with the European, Middle East and Asian segments posting 35% growth during last year, the company reported.