Consumers are spoilt for choice. Manufacturers have satisfied their tastebuds with an innovative menu offering healthy, indulgent, organic, children's offerings and even a resurgence of classic desserts like sticky toffee pudding and layered products. Brand leader Müller has maintained its stranglehold on the market through a vast array of products across 18 different ranges, strategic partnerships such as the link with Kellogg, and an aggressive marketing package that ranges from money-off promotions to its successful Müllerlove ad campaign. It now claims a 38.3% share of the yogurt sector, up 14%, and an 11.8% share of chilled desserts, up a whopping 38% [ACNielsen]. MD Ken Wood says 2001 saw a notable polarisation of the short-life dairy product sector, with growth at two opposite ends of the market. "Sales of inner health' probiotic and organic products continued to boom, as did those of the low fat and virtually fat- free brands that promote outer' health. Yet indulgent puddings proved similarly popular and the chilled desserts sector emerged, paradoxically, as another key driver of growth." An unknown quantity in the market will be the effects of Nestlé's acquisition of the Ski and Munch Bunch brands from Northern Foods subsidiary Eden Vale, plus its yogurt factory at Cuddington, Cheshire. Nestlé, however, is keeping its cards close to its chest about the future but says the acquisition, combined with Nestlé UK's existing chilled dairy operation, creates a business worth £125m with 12% of the market. This makes it a very challenging proposition. Nestlé already has highly successful confectionery branded desserts and now Ski and Munch Bunch. Recently Ski's Best Ever recipes were reformulated, and Ski Deep Fill Fruit yogurt launched, while Munch Bunch moved into the freezer with fromage frais ice lollies. Meanwhile Müller has always backed its range to the hilt and 2002 will be no exception with its marketing spend upped by £1.5m to £12m. "What we have done is look for new ways of supporting both brand and marketplace," says Wood. "The three-for-99p was our initiative which revolutionised the market, and there will be variations around that theme. There will also be activity around our core brands ­ Müller corner, rice and light. We also have a huge npd programme." Yoplait Dairy Crest is putting £6m behind its brands this year and marketing director Gerry Roads admits the increased competitive environment has sparked its strong brand support for 2002. "We've doubled our investment on Petits Filous and, for the first time, we're putting investment behind Yop, Best There Is! and WeightWatchers," he says. "Nestlé aren't buying particularly healthy brands and we will be interested to see what they do with them. Neither has been invested in for quite a while. Ski has been caught between Müller and retailer brands, and Munch Bunch we've seen off with Petits Filous and Frubes." Pricing and promotion play a key role in the chiller but Roads doesn't believe bogofs are as strong as they used to be: "You used to get massive sales uplifts but you don't now." Sampling has been more successful for Yoplait and was instrumental in making its Best There Is! yogurt a £5m brand. Two four-pack variants launched last year will be joined by a third, tropical, which will initially be exclusive to Tesco. Meantime Shape low fat yogurt is undergoing another relaunch by St Ivel in a bid to regain share lost to rivals. Sales of Shape fell 10% [TNS] and new products, pack redesigns and a £6m TV ad campaign are aimed at wooing consumers back to the brand. New lines include fat free yogurts with 60% more fruit, low fat chocolate and toffee yogurts and low fat fruit juice mousses in lemon, orange and strawberry flavours. However, plans to launch a luxury mousse have been put on hold, says a spokeswoman. St Ivel has found success though in the children's sector through its Cadbury range of desserts. These and its character licences ­ Tweenies, Teletubbies, and Bill and Ben ­ have enabled the company to push up its share of the kids' sector by 11%, according to Müller's short-life dairy product report which says the children's category grew 7% in 2001 to £204m [ACNielsen]. Specifically targeted advertising, character licensing, squidgy tubes and tempting but nutritious recipes are among the tools used by manufacturers to target both parents and kids. Munch Bunch Squeezy Pot Shots is aimed at food to go and lunchbox occasions, and its one-year deal with Channel 5 to sponsor three programmes within its Milkshake early morning show for pre-school children will help promote these. Yoplait says portability will be a significant area of growth during 2002, and a project just completed by the company on the portable sector shows that merchandising lunchbox items together in children's zones helps maximise sales. "It's a fixture where people get colour-blinded by the packs and the formats and clear signposting helps," says Roads. It also hopes to capitalise on the children's lunchbox boom with new cool looking Frubes packs for playground cred and the relaunch of its chocolate and toffee variant. However the latter has a wider brief. Yoplait's Roads says the company wanted to launch a product that didn't just go into the lunchbox. "Chocolate and toffee is a bit of a grown-up flavour so we hope to extend into tea time snacking." Although Yoplait continues to support its on-pack Wildlife characters, it made its first move into character licensing last year with Pokémon and Butt-Ugly Martians yogurt and fromage frais. And this year, Roads says, Yoplait is planning to introduce another character from children's TV: "Wildlife was good, but there was always an element who wanted the latest craze and bought into character licensing." The Hoobs and Bob the Builder proved winners for Arla's children's range of yogurt and fromage frais. Marketing manager Isla McGuckin says this is because children love to interact with their favourite characters. The success of Bob the Builder with toddlers has led to Arla renewing the licence for the next two years. Its latest licence, however, is for grown ups as it has won the licensing rights to produce limited edition FIFA World Cup yogurts. Four-packs containing two strawberry and two raspberry yogurts and offering free Panini FIFA World Cup stickers will be available in time for the kick off on May 31. Health conscious consumers have so taken to the light sector that Yoplait says it is the second most frequently purchased sector in the market. And,in a bid to boost the flagging adult fromage frais sector, it launched a WeightWatchers From Heinz toffee flavoured fromage frais this year. Light mousse and organic yogurts are part of Onken's healthy repertoire. But while there's much interest in low fat and virtually fat free lines, thick and creamy desserts still prove an irresistible draw for people looking for indulgent treats, and this year Onken launched chocolate and hazelnut mousse in a 370g pot. General manager Julie Plant says: "We felt there was a gap in the chilled chocolate dessert sector for a large pot of unadulterated pleasure. It's also aimed at hungry blokes who will probably be able to finish it in one go." Campina, which makes ambient desserts under the Campina and Yazoo brands, claims the ambient sector was static last year, but hopes this will change as the fixture moves away from cans and more into pots which offer convenience, portion control and microwaveability. Marketing manager Shirna Ferrers says ambient is useful yet consumers have been persuaded that chilled is best even though long life is more convenient. "It is difficult for people to find their way around the fixture but we are currently working on how to make it easier to shop," says Ferrers. Campina also produces chilled desserts under the Delice brand and in June this brand is getting a packaging makeover. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}