Wall’s Ice Cream seems to have bounced back from its problems with the Competition Commission last year. just-food.com content partner Stephen Blake asked the group about its plans for 2001 and reported on a technical breakthrough in soft ice cream.
Wall’s, the UK’s leading ice-cream maker, is planning to consolidate its number one position with a support package of £33m for the 2001 season.
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A subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, the group is strengthening its portfolio with developments across its ‘power brands’ Magnum, Carte d’Or, Solero, and Cornetto, with other innovative developments across the whole range. New wrapped impulse products are Cornetto Whippy (a technological breakthrough in soft ice cream), Solero Tribe, Solero Shots Tropical, Fruit 5s, Bart Simpson, and Carte d’Or Spagnola and Stracciatella in single cups.
In multipacks, Wall’s is building on the huge success in 2000 of the Minis format. The new range includes Magnum Double Snack Pack, Solero Ice Minis, and Solero Minis; there will also be new multipacks of full size products, Cornetto Whippy and Solero Shots.
In addition, Wall’s is introducing multipacks of Sundaes in chocolate and caramel flavours. For take home, there are two new flavours of Carte d’Or – triple chocolate and Danubienne with yoghurt – and a new modern packaging design for Viennetta.
UK ice cream market worth £961m; Walls owns £346.6m
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By GlobalDataWall’s revealed that the total UK ice-cream market grew to a massive £961m in 2000 (AC Nielsen). This latest growth came despite the poor summer weather dampening sales.
Wall’s Ice Cream remains the number one ice-cream brand with £346.6m of the total. In the wrapped impulse market, worth £208.8m, Wall’s still holds 66.9 per cent in value share and 67.3 per cent in volume terms, and owns 16 of the top 20 wrapped impulse ice-creams in volume sale, rising to 17 out of 20 on cash weighted rate of sale. And this despite the ruling last year by the Competition Commission that Wall’s had to end its exclusivity contract with retailers over its branded freezer cabinets.
The multipacks sector was worth £261.8m in 2000 and Wall’s regained the number one spot overall in value with 32.9 per cent and was the top branded manufacturer in volume terms with 23.4 per cent. Take home ice-cream, which includes tubs and desserts, accounted for £248.8m and Wall’s continued to hold the number one branded manufacturer spot with 32.7 per cent value share and 24.5 per cent volume share.
2001 sees Wall’s exploring new trade opportunities in many areas. Major projects driven by shopper research in key areas include innovative approaches to promoting sales in-store with imaginative freezer features and point of purchase material. In addition, this year Wall’s aims to grow vending and scooping and also trial emerging product formats.
Sharon Gardner, Birds Eye Wall’s business director, says of 2001: “These are exciting times, and we are adding to the excitement with our most powerful brand plans yet, backed by an unbeatable support package for all ice cream sectors. Our continued success in the wrapped impulse market, in the face of restructuring and cabinets clogged with slow moving products, is a testimony to our brands’ enduring strength.
“Wherever they are stocked, they are still the fastest sellers, based on the clear yardstick of cash weighted rate of sale data. We are supporting our customers with a massive marketing spend, and working with them to achieve maximum visibility for our brands in their businesses. It adds up to a very powerful proposition, and I look forward to reporting next year that our brands are even more successful than ever.”
Advertising spend boosted
As an example of Wall’s plans, the Magnum brand’s advertising spend will be a massive £7.7m in 2001, 30 per cent higher than last year even though Magnum is the top selling ice-cream brand in the wrapped impulse and multipack markets.
Carte d’Or, the UK’s leading premium take home ice-cream, is expanding its presence in the wrapped impulse market in 2001 and there will be a huge £4.7m media spend on the brand this year, 60 per cent more than 2000. As well as new flavours, two new Carte d’Or cups for impulse, Spagnola and Stracciatella are being launched following the success of these innovative flavours in the take home sector.
Wall’s adult refreshment brand leader, Solero, will be boosted in 2001 by a £3.3m multimedia campaign, an increase of 50 per cent over 2000, as well as new products expanding on the brand’s potential. The UK’s number one branded cone, Cornetto will be backed by £4m in 2001, double last year’s spend.
Soft ice cream from the freezer cabinet
The star innovation in the Wall’s portfolio for 2001 is Cornetto Whippy, a ‘Mr Whippy’ soft style ice cream with a milk chocolate stick, the UK’s first soft ice cream available from the freezer cabinet. Technically, this was not an easy product to develop but the company claims large scale sampling has indicated it will have a runaway success on its hands – or rather in the freezer cabinet.
Wall’s is also developing a comprehensive and sophisticated in-store promotional campaign with a wide range of signage to steer consumers towards their products with everything from swing signs to flags and new picture boards for freezer cabinets.
Sharon Gardner concluded: “Wall’s power brand status combined with a huge £33m campaign, more than five times the spend of our competitors put together last year, demonstrates our total commitment to the ice-cream business and our customers.”
By Stephen Blake, Editor, Food Industry News
Editor’s note: Last year’s Competition Commission ruling on freezer cabinet exclusivity was intended to ensure a level playing field for Wall’s and its fellow ice cream manufacturers. Has this been achieved? Check out the thread on this subject in the just-food.com forum by clicking on the link below – it would be great if those of you active in the ice cream sector could give us your insight.
