United Biscuits revamps its bagged snacks range to drive category growth in 2011

United Biscuits (UBUK), is announcing its first wave of new products, promotions and reformulations to drive sales for retailers in 2011.

With a partnership between Hula Hoops and the nation’s favourite variety show, Britain’s Got Talent, new variants for the relaunched Phileas Fogg, best ever McCoy’s flavours and new KP Nut variants, UB’s range of snacks will provide retailers with the right products in the right formats to grow sales in 2011.

Britain’s Got a w-hole lot of Talent!

Launching in February, Hula Hoops is partnering with the popular talent TV show Britain’s Got Talent to build awareness of the £78m brand. The on-pack promotion will be supported by a strong marketing campaign to encourage consumers to take part, including TV advertising, digital marketing, as well as consumer interaction on Twitter and Facebook, all of which will help grow sales for retailers.

Running across the entire Hula Hoops range, the promotion will offer consumers the opportunity to win a free talent lesson with every purchase by simply entering the last four digits of the code featured on the pack at www.hulahoops.com.

Additionally, Hula Hoops is also giving consumers the chance to win a £10,000 ticket to stardom, encouraging them to show off their talent by creating a Hula Hoops-themed video and uploading it to the brand’s website. Consumers will then be invited to vote for their favourite video, with the best winning the main prize. All voters will be entered into a prize draw to win tickets to see a Britain’s Got Talent live show.

A meaty addition to the ultimate man’s crisps

United Biscuit’s popular ‘man crisps’, McCoy’s, with retail sales of £96m and growing by 13% year on year, will be getting a fresh new look for the New Year, as well as a further saturated fat reduction across the range and a new Chargrilled Chicken variant to drive incremental sales for retailers.

The more contemporary packaging and stronger logo will feature across the entire McCoy’s range and will be available from February.

The latest 30% saturated fat reduction will be communicated with an on-pack flash, the redesign will increase on shelf stand out and raise awareness of the reformulation for health-conscious consumers.

As well as the new packaging and logo, the 50g Chargrilled Chicken Handypack will be available at an MRRP of 63p. To capitalise on the ‘Bought In, Carried Out’ trend, a new Spicy 6 Pack Multipack will include 2 x Thai Sweet Chicken, 2 x Mexican Chilli and 2 x Sizzling King Prawn, and will be available at an MRRP of £1.99.

Additionally, UB is also refreshing its Meaty 6 Pack Multipack to include the new Chargrilled Chicken variant, also available to buy at an MRRP of £1.99.

Fresh look for Phileas Fogg

To generate further sales in the growing sharing segment, UB has also introduced a packaging design across its Phileas Fogg range. The brand is also launching two new variants to appeal to consumers that are looking for authentic tastes from quality ingredients sourced from around the world.

The redesigned packaging for the £10m brand will communicate the strength of the range and its use of quality ingredients by featuring images of the product and ingredients on pack.

UB is also introducing a new range of Phileas Fogg flavours in the range’s sharing format. The new flavours include 140g Spicy Beef &Mexican Chilli Tortillas, available at an MRRP of £1.98 and 140g Tandoori Chicken with Indian Spices Crisps, available at an MRRP of £1.98 and will appeal to adventurous consumers looking for a premium snack.

Jumbo sales with KP

January will see UB launching its new Jumbo Flavoured Cashew Nuts. To two new flavoured cashew variants will join the every popular range of Jumbo Nuts from KP, the number one branded nut worth £42m and growing by 9%, offering retailers a great opportunity to grow sales in the New Year.

The new range of Jumbo Cashew Nuts will include two flavour variants, Sweet Chilli and Honey Roast, which will be available to buy in 90g packs at an MRRP of £2.09

Driving bagged snacks sales in the New Year

George Johnston, Marketing Director of Bagged Snacks at UBUK, commented: “Sales of bagged snacks have remained strong over the last year in a market that’s now worth £2.4bn and showing healthy growth of 6%. UB’s activity planned for next year will help to continue to drive category growth throughout 2011 and generate extra sales for retailers.

“The new partnership for Hula Hoops with Britain’s Got Talent will continue to build mass awareness of this popular snack brand and, coupled with the on pack promotion, will help to boost sales for retailers.

“By refreshing the packaging across both the Phileas Fogg and McCoy’s ranges, as well as adding new variants, the ranges will have greater stand out on shelf and encourage impulse purchases. The new variants from Phileas Fogg will also allow retailers to capitalise on consumer desire for sharing packs, which are now worth £603m and growing by 13%.

“UB’s new Jumbo Cashews from KP will provide retailers with the perfect product range to capitalise on the growing nuts segment which is now worth over £228m and showing growth of 4%, demonstrating its importance to retailers looking to increase sales in the New Year.

“The 30% saturated fat reduction across the McCoy’s range also demonstrates UB’s sustained commitment to producing snacks that meet continuing consumer demand for healthier snacks.”