Nestlé has overhauled its Nesquik milkshake brand with a healthier recipe, new pack design and a return to TV, after a 10-year absence, in an attempt to boost ­faltering value sales.

The recipes of Nesquik's existing three-strong range will contain more natural ingredients to appeal to mums who viewed artificial colours, flavours, sweeteners and preservatives as deterrents. The new recipes of the strawberry and chocolate milkshake powders launched this week and a new banana flavour will hit shelves in early autumn.

The packs have a simpler design carrying a no artifical ingredients message. Nestlé has invested a record £3m to advertise the changes.

After an absence of 10 years, Nesquik's rabbit mascot Quicky returns to TV this week as part of the push, which will target "a new generation of mums" with the new strapline 'They only grow up once.'

Although switching to natural ingredients meant a more expensive production process, neither the flavour or the shelf price of the milkshake powders would change, said Nesquik brand manager Egle Augustinaviciute.

Value sales of Nesquik rose 1.2% to £13.2m over the past year while heavy promotional activity prompted volume sales to jump 15.5% [IRI 52w/e 22 May 2010]. However Augustinaviciute said the brand would not be promoted as intensively in the second half of 2010 to boost value growth. Volume sales of the milkshake category are up 6.6% [Nielsen 52 w/e 20 March 2010] driven by milkshake drinks such as Frijj and Yazoo, but she claimed not enough companies "were investing in championing the health credentials of milk for children".

Compared with milkshake drinks, Nesquik was a healthier option, she ­added. "Powder formats give parents the guarantee that the milk in the milkshake is fresh," she said. "It's also more fun for kids to make themselves."

"The push, which connects with a new generation of families, promotes Nesquik's health benefits, both as a source of vitamins and as an imaginative way of making milk an ­appealing drink choice for kids... and grown-up kids."

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