Mars Wrigley showcased some of its innovations for a number of its iconic brands at the recent 2019 NACS Show in Atlanta.
Shaf Lalani, VP of strategic demand leadership, said 2020 will be a big year for Mars Wrigley, with M&M’s Fudge Brownie being its largest launch.
“You’re probably familiar with the caramel launch we did a couple of years ago, which was probably the biggest launch in the category in some time. We’re following that up with our new technology that allows us to have a soft center within the M&M, and this leverages that as well,” Lalani said.
Brownie is a big flavor profile that’s growing, he added.
“We’re taking that flavor profile and being the first to bring it into the category. That excites us,” Lalani said. “You’ve got consumers who want to find those taste profiles, and we’re able to bring that into the category. This is going to be one of the biggest launches we have (in 2020) and one of the biggest launches in the category. I think it will do extremely well.”
M&M’s Fudge Brownie will be available nationwide beginning in April in single, share size and sharing size standup pouch.
Twix Cookies & Créme
Lalani said Mars Wrigley is putting a huge focus on Twix for the first time in probably a decade.
While the Twix brand has continued to grow over the years, the company is bringing a new flavor, Cookies & Créme, that overindexes with Millennials, Gen Z and Hispanics, Lalani said. The new Twix will have a chocolate cookie instead of the traditional blonde cookie. It also features an all-new soft-crème center filled with crunchy cookie bits. The cookie itself will be covered in milk chocolate. It is available in a 1.41-oz. single, 2.87-oz. share size and 8.7-oz. sharing size standup pouch.
“In our testing, overall consumer liking was high,” Lalani said. “We’re super excited about this launch.”
Skittles Dips
Lalani said traditional Skittles are getting a new spin with a yogurt coating.
“Think of a creamsicle but in the fruity confection aisle,” he said of Skittles Dips. “In a world where people are expecting kind of a mashup of different types of flavors and different profiles and textures, this delivers on it.”
Lalani said the feedback has been very good.
“It’s a unique way of bringing a different feel to a category that’s growing rapidly,” he said.
Each pack contains the original flavors of strawberry, orange, grape, green apple and lemon, with a yogurt coating. Skittles Dips will be available nationwide in February in several sizes.
Snickers White
Snickers is a top brand in the category, especially in c-stores. Lalani said Mars Wrigley had brought Snickers White to the market about a year ago as a limited edition offering, and it did extremely well.
“For the limited time it was in the market, it was a top 20 item in the share size and a No. 5 item in seasonal,” he said. “White chocolate is on-trend and growing.”
Snickers White launched in January in 1.4-oz. single and 2.8-oz. share size.
Milky Way Salted Caramel Bar
Milky Way is a brand that’s been around for a number of years, but it’s getting some new press with the salted caramel variety.
“What we’re excited about is bringing that savory and sweet into the category in a powerful way. It is fantastic,” Lalani said. “There is the coarser salt in it, so you get a little bit of the crunch while you get the bar—the traditional sweetness.”
The new flavor is available in various sizes. Fun-size six-packs with share size were released in Walmart in October.
Starburst Gum
Starburst is now the No. 1 brand and Skittles is No. 2 in the fruity confection category. Lalani said Mars Wrigley is bringing Starburst in gum format to the market.
“We’re playing with more of the fruity flavors beyond mint,” he said, finding different ways to participate in the category. “Fun gum” is an area of growth and is attracting new users, he said.
Starburst Gum will be available in the original flavors of cherry, orange, strawberry and lemon. It will be available nationwide in 2020 in 15-ct. and 40-ct. bottles and 120-ct. standup bags.
Starburst Swirlers
Starburst Swirlers will debut in April, with a combination of two different flavors within every stick. They’re individually wrapped and contain 40 calories per stick.
“It’s got anywhere between three to five bites, which I think people like because it allows them to stretch out the experience and get a much bigger delivery on taste,” Lalani said.
The rope stick format is especially popular among young consumers, he said.
Starburst Swirlers will be available in three flavors: strawberry-cherry, orange-strawberry and cherry-lemon.
Starburst All Pink
Starburst launched All Pink back in 2017 as a limited edition.
“The amount of social buzz and consumer pull on this item is absolutely incredible. They keep asking us to bring it back, so we did for a couple of years. Now we’re making it a regular item,” Lalani said. “Every time we’ve brought it to market, it’s sold through extremely well, grown the category, and our retailers are excited by it because there is demand for it.”
Kind
Mars Wrigley has a partnership with Kind, and they are launching three new flavors under the Kind brand, in stores now.
“What makes this unique is it’s in that space between treating and snacking,” Lalani said. “It’s very permissible. It has very nutrient-dense ingredients and a clean label, with the first ingredient being either almonds or peanuts.”
Combos Spicy Honey Mustard Pretzel
Combos is a big brand, particularly in c-stores. In 2020, Mars Wrigley is bringing a different variant into the category—honey mustard.
“That flavor profile is growing like crazy. Everyone who’s tried it has said it’s fantastic,” Lalani said. “We’re excited about it.”
Combos Spicy Honey Mustard Pretzel will launch nationally.
M&M’s Minis
M&M’s Minis has been growing for a number of years, but Lalani said they found they didn’t have as much of a presence within the convenience store channel.
“So being at a convenience show, we are highlighting it because it has been growing really, really well. There is tons of demand for it. It overindexes with Millennials and with gatekeepers,” he said.
People like the portion control that’s built in, and the resealable container allows consumers to manage personal consumption, he said.
Extra Refreshers: Mint Mix and Berry Mix
Extra, the No. 1 selling gum brand in the U.S., in 2019 launched new flavors of its Extra Refreshers gum in the soft chew space within the gum category.
“It’s doing really, really well, and (in 2020) we’re following it up with a launch of a mixed mint and mixed berry. What we’ve found is, particularly with new gum chewers, people like variety,” Lalani said. “What we’ve tried to do is bring that variety into the gum category because the gum category doesn’t have that today. We do believe it is an insight; we believe it can help drive consumption and bring new users into the category.”
He also mentioned the popularity of megapacks, which were introduced a few years ago as a slightly bigger size than two regular packs of gum.
“We’ve had trouble keeping up with demand,” Lalani said. “We’ve been slowly migrating our portfolio to there, so from a retailer’s standpoint, it drives a bigger basket…It’s been doing extremely well for us. In c-store, it’s probably one of the biggest things that has driven the category this year.”
Growing the category
Lalani said Mars Wrigley believes the best way to grow the category is from within the category. He said the company has done a lot of work to try and understand how people participate in their category, how they use it and on what occasions.
“We’ve come up with a nice framework to help retailers understand where the demand exists, what insights are available and how we can work with them to drive category growth. At the heart of it, confection in general is a simple category—it’s highly penetrated, people participate all year,” he said. “Our challenge is how do we get people to continue to buy and participate.”
Lalani said giving people options in terms of portion control and being able to manage their calories are major points of differentiation, as Mars Wrigley thinks about responsible consumption while driving category growth.
“From a c-store perspective, one of the things we have been helping retailers with is making sure they can organize their category in a way that drives growth. The unique thing about the confectionary category, one, is it’s very emotionally charged, and two, because it’s got so many different shapes and sizes and colors, it is difficult to shop,” he said. “We work with retailers on what’s the best way to organize their set…I’d say 50 percent of your sales are done in this area, so what ends up happening is by simplifying this, people can orient themselves within the category and find what they want.”
Lalani said there are different views on how the category should be organized, with different plans available.
“I believe what ours does is drive more category growth and better retailers’ profitability. We’re excited to share that,” he said.
