NPD

Candy NPD roundup: Oreo, Snickers, Cadbury, Jelly Belly and more

By Douglas Yu

- Last updated on GMT

Mintel projects the total dollar sales of the US chocolate confectionery industry will reach $20m by 2020.  Photo: ©iStock/TracieMichelle
Mintel projects the total dollar sales of the US chocolate confectionery industry will reach $20m by 2020. Photo: ©iStock/TracieMichelle

Related tags Chocolate Confectionery Cadbury

ConfectioneryNews tracks new candy products that are hitting the shelves monthly. Here are some of the recent launches: 

Mondelēz

Mondelēz has launched soft mints in a pot format under the UK brand, Trebor, this summer. The 100g pots, which retail for £1.70 ($2.22) each, will come in peppermint and spearmint soft mint variants. The format was designed for consumers to grab mints on-the-go, according to the company.

Trebor 1

The latest IRI data ending June 21, 2017 showed that the pot format is now worth £4.5m ($5.9m) in the mints category and growing at 230% CAGR. The launch of these popular mints in a convenient format aims to help retailers drive further mint sales.

Oliver Wilcox, brand manager of Trebor, said, “The pot format is in double-digit growth which offers a huge opportunity for both the category and retailers. Both variants are highly incremental to one another, with only 11% overlap between peppermint and spearmint, so retailers should stock up on both to ensure they can offer choice for their customers.”

Mondelēz also partnered with experiential agency HeyHuman for Oreo’s “Discover Your Flavor”​ campaign, promoting the new Choc’o Brownie flavor, as well as the existing strawberry cheesecake, peanut butter and cool mint cookies.

Oreo Flavours

HeyHuman designed the Oreo Truck that is currently traveling around the UK for six weeks, beginning on August 8, 2017. Customers get to answer five personality-trait questions on tablets provided by staff at the Oreo truck, and they will see which of the Oreo flavors they prefer.

The Oreo cookie maker also launched two sharing bags under its Cadbury brand: Curly Wurly Squirlies and Cadbury Picnic Bites. They are both available in 100g bags priced at £1.99 ($2.60) in the UK.

Cadbury 1

Mondelēz said Cadbury Curly Wurly Squirlies is the third largest brand in its portfolio. Melissa Stuart, brand manager for Cadbury Bitesize, said, “The new launches aim to drive growth within the fastest growing chocolate segment, bagged confectionery (according to the latest Neilsen data).”

“Mondelēz International is consistently driving category growth through innovation, and we hope by introducing more well-loved brands into the category, retailers will be able to drive sales further,”​ she added.

Mars

In response to the return of the NFL season on September 7, 2017, Mars-owned Snickers will unveil its football-themed hunger bars. The bars, which will be available throughout the football season, replace “Snickers”​ on packaging with “What can happen on the football field when you’re hungry,”​ the company said.

Snickers 1

Some of the packaging includes Defeated, Flagged, Fumbled, Guarded, Sidelined, and Tackled, according to Mars.

The bars will be supported by a TV commercial that will air during the first game of the season between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots.

Cobden and Brown

Artisan chocolatier Cobden and Brown in Northern Ireland has expanded its portfolio of chocolate bars to include a dark variety: a 60% cocoa dark chocolate with tangerine bar. The 100g bar is produced from Forastero cocoa beans. The product is free from gluten, egg and wheat, and suitable for those with celiacs and vegetarians.

Cobden Brown Dark Choc & Tangerine

One of the company’s original founders, Caroline McArdle, rebranded her business in 2012 with premium packaging and a focus on the development of a range of luxury bars. She said another key feature of the chocolate is that they are produced without any processed ingredients.

Cobden and Brown’s dark chocolate range also includes a 70% cocoa variety using original beans from Ecuador and an 85% house blend.

Jelly Belly

Jelly Belly launched a jelly bean collection, called mixed emotions. Instead of the Jelly Belly logo, each jelly bean is paired with a corresponding face to represent those feelings. For example, happy tastes like refreshing lemon on a sunny day, while angry corresponds with hot cinnamon.

Mixed Emotions

“We’ve toyed with connecting feelings and flavors in various ways in the past,”​ Rob Swaigen, VP of global marketing at Jelly Belly, said. “Emojis are a big part of how we communicate with each other through text, social media and in email, and their popularity gave new life to this idea.”

The mixed emotions collection comes with a 28g bag size for snacking and a 60g grab-and-go bag for sharing.

Hammond’s Brands

Hammond’s Brands, the parent company of Hammond’s Candies, Old Dominion Peanut Company, McCraw’s Candies and Mellow Fluffs, announced a line of pumpkin spice and apple-infused confectionery snacks for the fall season.

Hammond's Brands

Some of the products include handcrafted, small batch pumpkin spice caramels that come in an 80-count display tub of 0.75-ounce candies with a suggested retail price of $0.99 per caramel, and a dark chocolate pumpkin spice bar that is available in 12-count boxes of 2.25-ounce bars with a suggested retail price of $2.99 per bar.

The brand said this is the first time that Hammond’s dark chocolate bars are undergoing a seasonal makeover.

“Pumpkin-flavored products accounted for $361m sales last year alone and that number keeps growing,”​ Andrew Schuman, president and CEO of Hammond’s, said. “Snackers love the nostalgic, warm flavors that they associate with fall.”

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