Halloween Skittles Starburst

Wrigley is looking to scare up business with spooky-themed limited-edition Starburst and Skittles for Halloween.

Starburst Trick Or Treat? contains apple, orange and raspberry flavour chews in both sweet and sour versions – consumers have to chew the sweet to find out which they have. It is available now in a 165g sharing bag (rsp: £1.29).

Skittles Darkside, meanwhile, comes in an indigo bag and contains darkly-coloured sweets in Dark Berry, Midnight Lime, Blood Orange, Wicked Pomegranate and Sweet Strawberry flavours. It is available in 174g sharing bags (rsp: £1.29) and single packs (rsp: 51p).

Wrigley is also adding a new permanent addition to its range with Skittles Fruit Funsize, in multipacks of 11 x 18g bags (rsp: £1.39).

“Halloween is the biggest season for sugar confectionery in the UK and represents a huge sales opportunity for retailers, who should be thinking about stocking up on special packs and how to generate in-store theatre,” said Wrigley confections marketing manager Dan Newell.

“These two limited-edition launches are designed to help retailers capitalise on this opportunity, with Starburst offering a truly engaging chewing experience, and Skittles presenting consumers with something dark and previously unknown in the UK.”

Wrigley will be hoping the launches help revive the fortunes of the brands, with Skittles sales down 6.2% to £43.6m and Starburst down 4.5% to £25.7m [IRI 52 w/e 15 August 2015].