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the perfect treat for all occasions from picnics to parties, promising to have everyone reaching into the bag for more, and proving everything tastes better with chocolate.” The launch also marks Allen’s first move into the chocolate segment. More recently, Allen’s Sour Randoms 170g launched nationally in March. “Allen’s Sour Tangy Randoms is made up of a random mix of delightfully sour, fruity-flavoured shapes, which extends the offering to the whole family,” Ms Tan said. “They’re supported by a strong social campaign to drive awareness, a PR plan to engage key influencers, and in-store marketing to drive visibility and activate core.” 2020 KitKat flavour rotations KitKat Double Cookies & Cream and KitKat Honeycomb have been in-store from January this year, she adds, and will be activated in all key convenience customers over the next few months. Specifically, KitKat Double Cookies & Cream 45g and 170g comprise “crisp chocolatey wafer fingers covered in creamy white chocolate, topped with dark cookie and vanilla cookie pieces, all on a milk chocolate base”, while KitKat Honeycomb Smash Block 170g and 65g comprise “crisp wafer fingers covered in creamy milk chocolate with shards of crunchy honeycomb pieces”. “The launches are supported with out-of-home advertising to announce flavours, a social campaign to dial up product crave, and in-store and online marketing to drive penetration and visibility,” Ms Tan said. Overriding trend towards innovation The trend towards innovation is strong and necessary in the confectionery category. According to Mr Edward, the only growth Ferndale Confectionery is attracting is through innovation, which he says must be “true innovation”. “It can’t just be a packaging change or a flavour update. It has to be something that consumers haven’t seen before. There needs to be growth in that space. Yes, standard confectionery is very challenging.” Mr Edward cites a noticeable trend towards flavour and format innovations, with customers looking for “better” confectionery options and being prepared to pay more for them. He says So Soft Marshmallows, as a manufacturer, is putting on its innovation hat and expanding its current line of marshmallows into different usage occasions such as gifting, catering and indulgence as opposed to it just being a commodity confectionery product. “Retailers are demanding innovative products as they’ve noticed it’s a growing trend and want to fill that space,” he said. “So, again we’re trading up the market in terms of ‘premiumisation’ and gifting. We’re doing our best to enter these categories and turn a stock standard marshmallow into a highly indulgent premium product.” Mr Edward points out that although So Soft Marshmallows is only 18 months old, it already has about 25 per cent market share in grocery. “We’re incredibly happy with the growth of the So Soft Marshmallows brand and clearly consumers have warmed to innovation in that space,” he said. Menz backs flavour and format advances Robern Menz Marketing Manager Polly Love tells Retail World flavour and format innovations represent a great way to introduce new people to the brand, helping consumers to consider different TO PAGE 40 APR, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 39 CONFECTIONERY