Kellogg’s introduces Crunchy Nut with chocolate

Kellogg’s has expanded its Crunchy Nut brand with a new chocolate variant.

Rolling out to retailers now, the cereal contains Crunchy Nut flakes and chocolate curls (rsp: £2.69/340g). The company said the launch was targeted at the 42% of UK households that bought chocolate cereals.

This new cereal is the fifth brand addition in the past year and follows the introduction of Red Bites, Cranberry & Almonds, Glorious Oat Granola Chocolate & Hazelnut, and Glorious Oat Granola Fruit & Nut. There are now 11 Crunchy Nut products on the market.

“Chocolate-flavoured cereals have a 13% share of the market, so we are confident that having a Crunchy Nut offering will ultimately drive category value,” said brand manager Jenny Powell.

The launch, which will be backed by a £2m marketing push including TV advertising, comes as Kellogg’s reports 10% year-on-year growth in the Crunchy Nut brand to £88m [IRI 52 w/e 25 May 2013]. Last year, sales fell 9.8% year-on-year to £97.5m [IRI 52 w/e 28 October 2012].

The company said key to the success was a £6m media campaign focusing on taste, which saw Crunchy Nut return to its ‘the trouble is they taste too good’ tag that featured in its 1980s advertising. The brand has also benefitted from sampling and experiential activity including pop-up restaurants serving Crunchy Nut in shopping centres around the country.

“The re-launch of Crunchy Nut last year helped us to change the way people think about the brand by simply reminding them how delicious it is,” said Powell.  “Crunchy Nut seemed to have lost its way for a while but now it’s now at the forefront of people’s minds.”