Nestlé is launching a full scale rescue package for its Double Cream brand.
Sales of the luxury chocolate bar, one of confectionery’s most high profile launches in recent years, have failed to impress buyers. And in a recent interview, new Nestlé Rowntree MD Chris White even took the unusual step of claiming the bar’s 2002 launch had been “poorly executed”.
Now Nestlé is pitching the brand into a new era by giving it a complete redesign, a £3m media campaign and two new variants. The first, Double Chocolate, features pieces of roasted cocoa in the brand’s trademark creamy milk chocolate. The second, Double Berry, aims to tap into the growing trend for white chocolate, and features pure fruit berries.
Meanwhile, the parent Double Cream line has been given a packaging makeover and all three variants will be promoted with a price slashing introductory offer of 29p, 13p less than usual.
However, buyers remain unconvinced. One said: “I would imagine consumers will wonder why they’ve revamped the main line less than two years after launch.” Another said she thought the new blue packaging for Double Cream had also taken the brand “downmarket”, although Graham Walker, Nestlé’s sales communications manager, insisted the revamp helped it stand out on shelf.

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