Mondelez is bringing its $800m US cookie brand Chips Ahoy! to the UK, which it believes will be bigger than Oreo in five years and worth £50m 10 years from now.
It is launching two cookies from 2 September – Popcorn Candy Chip, with choc chips, sugar-coated candy shells and caramelised, lightly salted popcorn; and Crispy Choco Caramel, with corn flake crispies and crunchy caramel inclusions (rsp: £1.99/ resealable pack of 12).
Both have been developed for the UK and are inspired by CDM Marvellous Creations. The brand made its UK debut in July when it partnered Cadbury Dairy Milk for a 120g tablet.
There was a big opportunity to grow the sweet biscuit category, said UK head of biscuits Rick Lawrence. “Consumers want new tastes, a mixture of flavours, textures, colours and surprises.”
Mondelez is supporting the launch with an £8m push from October, with an 18-month campaign including TV and digital, focusing on Chips Ahoy!’s “rebellious” character, Cookie Guy.
The UK launch comes as Mondelez makes significant investments in biscuits and confectionery. Last May it invested £6m in its Sheffield site to bring biscuit manufacturing to the UK for the manufacture of Oreo and Belvita. Oreo is worth £29.1m [Nielsen MAT 12 July 2014].
Lawrence said Cadbury’s innovation through brand partnerships and Marvellous Creations had changed chocolate tablets into an impulse buy, making them relevant to more consumers – and Chips Ahoy! would do something similar for biscuits.
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