Ice cream is coming in from the cold to challenge savoury snacks, confectionery, cakes and biscuits for a chunk of the snacking market. Manufacturers, equipped with significant advertising budgets, seem to be warming to the tasks of developing new eating occasions, attracting new consumers and extending seasonal boundaries. Retailers ­ particularly the major multiples ­ are licking their lips. The market is a difficult one to measure accurately as ice cream is sold in cinemas, video rental stores and with pizza deliveries, as well as in more traditional food retail stores. Figures vary. Taylor Nelson Sofres Impulse Division and Superpanel ice cream figures together total £775m, while Birds Eye Wall's values the total market at £917m and Mars at £990m. The various sources do agree, however, that the retail market (which excludes the scooping sector) divides roughly into one third impulse outlets and two thirds grocery. Most growth has been in the grocery or take home sector, with multipacks of hand held, wrapped ice creams the star performers. Growth in multipacks has affected both tubs and desserts and impulse singles. Mars' wrapped hand held brands grew 44% in grocery but fell 18% in impulse. Mars multipack promotions have been a factor here but BEW general marketing manager Simon Stephens says changing eating habits have also had an effect. "Multipacks are absolutely spot on for satisfying in home needs," he says. "Fewer formal mealtimes and more grazing mean higher demand for convenience and versatility." The thriving sectors are chocolate snacks, most of which are based on key confectionery brands, and adult refreshment products. Wall's Magnum and Mars ice cream are the big names, and three of the top four bestselling products are Magnum variants. Cones are also popular. The children's sector has been stagnant according to Stephens, partly because adult products offer higher margins, but also because there's been little innovation. Character licensing has variable success here with Nestlé's Bug Pops doing well and Wall's Star Wars lollies disappointing. Tesco leads retailers, with 22.5% share and 21% growth. Ice cream is one of its strongest performing areas. The raft of new products acknowledges the grocery market's importance, particularly the family sector, but the impulse market has not been neglected. The recent Competition Commission ruling against freezer exclusivity should develop opportunities here. BEW, which accounts for around half of the brands' market share, claims 18 out of the top 20 bestsellers. It is introducing Magnum double chocolate, Solero ice and Calippos in strawberry and tropical flavours, and enlisting the appeal of Bart Simpson and Tom and Jerry in new lollies for the children's market, alongside Popsicles. In multipacks, BEW is adding three-packs of Magnum double chocolate, and Magnum after dinner and snack size packs. The importance of the family sector is shown by Feast, Calippo, Twister mini packs, the snack pack ­ two cones, three choc sticks and three Twisters ­ and a family fun multipack of the character licensed products. There are also two new Carte d'Or flavours, Wall's 5s in fruit and chocolate variants, and Viennettas in strawberry biscuit cheesecake and lemon flavours. Mars trade relations manager Philippa Leon agrees that the take home ice cream category is becoming more family orientated. "It has a wider appeal than most categories," she says, "from kids to adults of 50 plus." Mars, which has around 27% of the market, has launched a king size Mars ice cream bar as a competitor to Nestlé's Maxibon and BEW's Winner Taco. "It satisfies a more male biased, bigger hunger," says Leon. Also new are M&M's chocolate cone and Galaxy triple chocolate swirl. Bounty and M&M's vanilla cones are new in multipacks. Mars ice cream is now available in a pack of 12, along with funsize mini Mars, aimed at the family market. Mars is also repeating limited editions of chocolate Twix and Mars dark and gold. Nestlé's impulse range debutantes are confectionery superstar Kit Kat Chunky in ice cream format, Smarties lolly, chocolate or vanilla Pooh Sticks lollies, and a Traffic Cone lolly based on Toy Story 2. Quality Street individual strawberry crème joins the ice cream desserts range. Frederick's Dairies aims to double its share of the market to 5%, with new Cadbury branded products, including Dairy Milk ice cream on a stick ­ a pretender to the throne of Magnum. Picnic and Fruit 'n' Nut cones also join the range, along with Cadburyland Milk and Mini lollies, Flake desserts and Highlights ice cream. Richmond Foods owned Treats brand ­ number four in the impulse market ­ is adding Ribena tropical and Chewits lollies to its portfolio, and has relaunched Postman Pat lollies. It is aiming Rage ­ ice cream with a caramel centre and chocolate coating ­ at the adult indulgence market. Much of the market's dynamism is down to advertising. "Ice cream is very, very advertising sensitive," says BEW's Stephens. "It boosts the high success rate of new products." As the market becomes increasingly competitive, products without a brand heritage or effective advertising will find it hard to survive. BEW is increasing its advertising budget by 50% to £20m, with £7.5m behind Magnum. This is double last year's spend and highlights the company's intention to increase sales by 50%. BEW will also be putting £2.8m behind its character licensed family multipack. Mars is aiming to increase market share from 15% to 35% in the next three years. It's putting £77m behind its confectionery range as a whole this year, with an extra £6m for core ice cream brands ­ Twix, Mars and Starburst. There is no advertising specifically behind Cadbury ice creams but Frederick's Dairies marketing director Peter Elvin says they will benefit from advertising for the confectionery range. Around 60% of the market is branded. This has shown growth of 18% but there has also been plenty of movement in own label. Richmond Frozen Confectionery, which claims 35% of the own label market, launched a total of 52 products in several multiples last year. It's still a seasonal market for refreshment (water based) products in any outlet, and all ice cream products in impulse outlets. Climate has a big effect on sales, while celebrations such as Bonfire Night and Christmas mean reduced space in freezers. The grocery sector is less seasonal and a combination of advertising, price promotion and creamier, indulgent products is extending the traditional ice cream season back to March and forward to October. Adult indulgence specialists Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's have played a big part in positioning ice cream as a multi-seasonal product. Both target young urban adults at a grown up price point. Ben & Jerry's expanded UK distribution in 1999 and claims 152% growth. In this sector, consumers are seeking more variety ­ one reason why tubs of more than one litre are declining. Chocolate, fudge and caramel are the key indulgence flavours. Häagen-Dazs brand manager Kirstie Cunningham says there are distinctive demands depending on use. "Consumers want unidimensional flavours for dessert," she says, "but something more complex and indulgent like cookies 'n' cream when eating straight from the tub." {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}