Chocolate brands After Eight, Black Magic, Quality Street and Rolo are getting seasonal twists as part of Nestlé Rowntree's push during the key Christmas and Easter periods.

The company is showing the lighter side of its After Eight brand for Christmas with a milk chocolate variant, which it reckons will attract new consumers. It is also moving the brand out of its traditional wafer-thin format for the first time, with 150g bags of both milk and dark chocolate-coated mints in thicker, teardrop-sized bites, targeting more informal sharing.

For next Easter, Nestlé is also revamping its Quality Street boxed chocolate line, with two new 245g selections in flavours that echo its Pizazz range, which has been axed after a lacklustre debut last Christmas.

A Caramels, Toffees & Fudge selection box will feature toffee apple, treacle toffee, creme caramel and banoffee flavours alongside favourites such as toffee finger and toffee penny, while a Chocolate & Nut box will include new chocolate chunk, truffle and hazelnut cream varieties.

Nestlé is also extending its Black Magic brand into mini eggs to capitalise on what it claims is growing demand for both dark chocolate and impulse lines. The dark chocolate eggs have a truffle centre and will come in cartons or as part of a premium Easter egg.

Graham Walker, sales communications manager, said: "Black Magic has the highest consumer awareness of any dark chocolate brand. For retailers wanting to capitalise on both the growth of dark chocolate and the spring occasion, the new mini eggs present a fantastic solution."

Also new for next Easter is a Rolo-filled egg, which will sit alongside existing Smarties and Milkybar-filled eggs, and a two-tone Aero Bubbles Easter egg, with a half-mint and half-milk chocolate shell.

Matchmakers is being given a new Golden Honeycomb stablemate, which Nestlé said met growing demand for honeycomb confectionery.

The Easter products will be backed by £10m marketing support.