Mondelēz delivers a feast of festive fun with new and expanded Christmas confectionery lines
pic: Toblerone's brand new selection box. Pic: Mondelez
Global snacks and confectionery group Mondelēz International has unveiled a major series of a brand new and enhanced and products across its core Cadbury, Oreo, Maynards Bassetts, as well as Green & Black’s lines this Christmas, reports Neill Barston.
According to the manufacturer, total seasonal sales growth is up 6% compared against last year, despite challenges impacting on the sector in terms of logistics, ingredients shortages and inflation pressures affecting the sector.
As the business explained, it has also enjoyed improved fortunes for its biscuit revenues, which are also up 3% over 2021 within its key Oreo and Cadbury brands.
Its latest offerings include a new Cadbury Chunk series of individually-wrapped chunks of various flavours, including Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel and Cadbury Dairy Milk Wholenut. Featuring premium packaging, the 243g selection has been designed to fit into its existing range of gifting options for this year’s Christmas portfolio.
There’s also a brand new luxury chocolate offering in the form of a new Toblerone selection box filled with four 100g bars and a mix of treat-sized tinies in its trademark milk, white, as well as gingery orange flavours in a 480g box.
Also Brand new for 2022, the Cadbury Mini Snowballs Bar sees the combination of the number one Christmas sharing novelty product, Mini Snowballs, with its flagship Cadbury chocolate bars in classic tablet form. The brand also gains an extension to its range in the form of Jingly Bells, featuring a new White addition for this winter.
Naturally, the festive season just wouldn’t be the same without Father Christmas, with Cadbury set to claim its share of the market with its latest chocolate santas adding something a little different in unveiling its latest white variety. Finally, the brand wraps-up its series with a special Dairy Milk Chocolate will be sectioned into 25 individually-numbered chunks that can be broken off and enjoyed each day in the lead up to the big day.
Oreo development
Furthermore, Oreo will be bringing a playful twist to Christmas with the launch of its latest Festive Colours series. For the first time across Europe, there will be red, green and white coloured cremes whilst also keeping their iconic Original Vanilla flavour. The product includes three 114g roll packs.
As we move into December, there is anticipated to be particularly strong retail focus on other Cadbury’s series, including its classic Heroes tin – which made headlines this week as the business acknowledged that supply chain issues had meant it had replaced some of its Twirl Mini Bites with full size single bars instead.
Its seasonal sharing range is rounded-out with Cadbury Favourites selection box designed as a true indulgent sharing treat, consisting of Dairy Milk-based favourites including Buttons, a box of Fingers, a Twirl bar and 100g tablet.
For the company’s Green & Black’s premium brand, there is a notable focus on its organic chocolate hampers as a gifting treat, with the series stocked in a wide range of retailers across the UK.
Mondelēz economic and social impact report
Amid its major activity across its core brands, this month, Mondelēz International also launched its latest economic and social report for the UK, detailing its performance in the region, delivering £933 million in overall gross value added to the British economy.
Notably, this includes supporting a total of 10,372 jobs across the region, with 4,231 directly employed and 6,141 indirectly supported. These include more than 422 direct employees, and 1,842 for its office site in Uxbridge, 372 directly and 359 at its R&D locations in Reading and Workingham, as well as additional sites in the South West, West Midlands, Wales and Yorkshire.
Despite not having any sites in the North West of England, the business added that it contributes nearly £86 million and 1,314 indirect jobs to the local economy through supply chain procurement and positive effects on regional income.
The company’s iconic Bournville factory has stood for 110 years, and 2021 saw a further commitment of £15 million to upgrade the Dairy Milk tablet production and to expand chocolate making capacity. Cadbury Dairy Milk is the number one chocolate brand in the UK, made in Bournville – the heart and home of the business, which produces 5.5 million blocks of chocolate, 400 million chocolate buttons and 1 million Wispa bars in a single day. In 2014, production costs at Bournville were three times more than those of similar factories in Germany and other European markets. As a result of significant investment in the site, production efficiency has increased by more than 30%.