Product: Potato Heads Launched: January 2005 Sales: £30.7m MAT to 11 March 2006



Potato Heads is the Brazil of the bagged snacking world. The product takes a new, interesting approach to an established category, is a crowd pleaser among parents and children alike, and other companies want to copy its style. In just a year-and-a-half since launch, it has become a major player in the category. With sales of more than £30m, it is poised to overtake Kettle Chips as the tenth biggest bagged snack brand this year. So successful has the product been that the company has since launched biscuit offshoot Cheese Heads. It will, however, be interesting to see how the brand continues to perform, following Walkers' healthy makeover of its main crisps brand earlier in the year.

Product: Aero Bubbles Launched: April 2005 Sales: £13m MAT to 31 December 2005



Nestlé Rowntree hit the back of the net with the extension to its Aero line that gave it more bitesize appeal. The product helped Aero become the fastest-growing confectionery brand of last year, up 37% in sales, according to ACNielsen.









Product: Branston Baked Beans Launched: October 2005 Sales: £7.6m MAT to 6 May 2006



Premier Foods' entry into the beans category kicked off a war of words with Heinz. Premier claims that it has taken market share away from the brand leader, which insists its share has been unaffected. Either way, the sales figures don't lie.



Product: Tango Clear Launched: April 2005 Sales: £9.9m 60 w/e 3 June 2006



Britvic struck a belter with Tango Clear and has kept the momentum going since its launch with a number of product extensions, including raspberry & cranberry and orange. Now accounting for a 20% share of the Tango brand, it was clearly a good move.



Product: Hovis Invisible Crust Launched: August 2005 Sales: £8.8m MAT to 27 May 2006



New product development is pretty tricky in the bread category, yet Hovis hit a real net buster with what it claimed was the world's first truly crustless bread. Approaching the £10m mark, the brand has added true value to the category.

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