Triggering memories: nostalgia booming in bakery

Evoking memories through packaging and marketing is snowballing in bakery and it’s a perfect fit with consumer sentiment, an analyst says.

Nostalgic packaging and marketing is a booming trend in cakes, home-baking and biscuits, according to global research from Datamonitor.

"Nostalgia falls under the broader comfort and certainty trend. That mega trend is all about consumers looking to times which were simpler,"said Tanvi Savara, associate analyst at Datamonitor.

"It’s about inducing a positive emotional response as consumers anchor their emotions to another time or place where things were simpler and happier. We see a lot of brands trying to capitalize on this trend. There are a lot of products going retro, usually in a limited edition format,"Savara told BakeryandSnacks.com.

Betty Crocker’s revamp is a great example of this, she said. The baking brand relaunched its entire portfolio with a new vintage look that included retro packaging, handwritten font and a 1920s housewife on pack.


Particularly relevant with an aging population

This trend towards provoking nostalgia is even more relevant with an aging population, Savara said.

"It’s even more pronounced when you’re trying to capture the older generations and reconnect them to the brands today."

The Girl Scout cookies sold in the US are a good example of this, she said. Girl Scout cookies dominate the sector in the first quarter of each year, she said, which highlights the importance of heritage and tradition.

"Girl Scout cookies are deeply embedded in culture – they evoke memories of the past. Perhaps someone was a Girl Scout years before, or a member of their family was,"she said.


Home-baking is the perfect fit

While the nostalgia trend can be seen in cakes and biscuits, Savara said home-baking is "the perfect fit".

"The act of baking itself is about nostalgia through olfactory-evoked recall – where a sense of smell can alter the emotional state," she said. This is a phenomenon that occurs particularly during times of economic downturn, she added.

She also said home-baking has soared because of the comfort it brings during this recessionary climate.


Ensuring long-term success over a one-hit wonder

While many brands opt for a limited edition nostalgic packaging redesign or marketing campaign, this is not the best choice for long-term success, Savara said.

"Generally, packaging design is probably a safer bet for manufacturers rather than relaunching an older product… But limited editions can only work for short-term success."

If manufacturers want long-term success, the product needs to deliver on other levels like value for money and convenience that enhance its core nostalgic positioning, she said.

"You can’t simply rely on nostalgia… You can’t bank on relaunching or rehashing a product or advert."


Bigger, older brands in for a slice

Tapping into the nostalgia trend is also better suited to established brands that have a rich history and heritage, Savara said.

"You need to have a history and heritage that consumers can have an association with to evoke the love of things in the past."


Source: Bakeryandsnacks.com, Kacey Culliney, 30 July 2013

Tetley instant-win promotion

Tetley is set to kick off a new £1.7m promotion, which will be available to all retail channels and out-of-home sales for the first time. The three-month promotion will go live in August, and offer consumers a £1,000 instant-win prize in return for finding a “Find Sydney” token in-pack. The promo will be featured on 10 million “Find Sydney” packs, and 50 tokens will be in circulation. The packs feature a second opportunity to win using the unique code printed on-pack, which when entered online gives shoppers the chance to win a range of prizes ranging from £1 money-off tokens to a £1,000 cash prize. The promotion will be carried on Tetley Original 240s, 160s, 80s, and price marked-pack 80s, as well as Tetley decaf 160s and 80s and Extra Strong 160s and 80s. In convenience, more than 500,000 packs of price-marked Tetley original 80s will be available to wholesale and cash and carry. In out-of-home sales, purchasers of a branded Tetley drink will be given a “Find Sydney” scratch card for their chance to win. A total of 750,000 scratch cards will be distributed in promotional cases of Tetley “On The Go”. Each promotional case holds 300 Tetley branded double-walled cups and sip lids, 300 non drip drawstring tea bags and 300 scratch cards, plus promotional point of sale material. Support for the promotion includes TV and radio ads, as well as poster advertising at key retail sites. In-store POS and secondary siting units will be positioned in key retail locations to carry the promotional packs. NamNews - Tuesday 30th July 2013

Home baking trend impacting on sales of prepared cakes

According to a recent article in the British Baker, the consumer trend in home baking as a low-cost leisure activity has had an impact on the market for prepared cakes in the UK market, which has seen relatively flat sales in the last few years. 
 
The outlook is improving however as cake manufacturers have worked hard to win back customers – particularly the younger demographic – into the category with innovation, on-trend affordable offerings and special-event seasonality. Price is key in this category with intense competition among brands and a particular focus on promotions to drive consumption. Kantar reported a return to growth in the cakes category with a small increase of 1.4% in the segment’s value to y/e February 17th 2013 to reach £1.3bn with volume up by 0.5% for the same period.
   
In Mintel’s Category Insight report Bread, Bakery and Cakes 2012, the importance of flavour and taste as a strong consumer consideration during purchase was highlighted, often ahead of nutritional considerations. In the UK, 66% of consumers stated that “flavour is more important to me than calorie content”.

In terms of future trends, manufacturers will need to look beyond the confectionery and biscuit markets for flavour inspiration in order to add excitement and value to the category. For example, vegetable cakes – with ingredients such as courgette, carrots and pumpkins – highlight how the use of interesting flavour combinations has the potential to tap into the 5-a-day concept and enhance the health connotations of cake products. Opportunities also lie in co-branding with chocolate confectionery brands such as Mars, Cadbury and Milka continuing to expand into the cake, pastry and sweet goods category, a logical step given the dominant flavour of chocolate in many cake variants.

Source: Orla Donohoe, Food and Beverage Division, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board - 26/07/2013

New Patisserie in Sainsburys

Sainsbury’s has  added patisserie style desserts to its Taste the Difference range, inspired by the growing demand for home entertaining. The new additions include a Passion fruit & Belgian Chocolate Torte, a Mango & Coconut Panna Cotta, and a Raspberry Panna Cotta Terrine.

Source: Nielsen Essential Retail, 22.06.2013

Kantar update: Big Four remain under pressure; Morrisons and Co-Op showing signs of improvement

Latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 7 July 2013, show the big four supermarkets under pressure as a result of continued market polarisation. . Lidl grew its market share to 3.1%, an all-time high for the discounter, while Aldi retained its record 3.6% which it established during the last period. The growth rate at Waitrose remained strong at 10.9%, nearly three times the market average, and means the retailer now accounts for 4.8% of the market. Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl have all been hugely successful in recent years, growing well ahead of the market average. Together, these retailers now account for 11.5% of the grocery market, 3.2 percentage points more than they did this time four years ago. This trend has cut deeply into the available market share for the bigger retailers who are now having to compete for a contracting middle ground.” Among the big four supermarkets, Tesco and Asda saw their share dip with only Sainsbury’s managing to not lose share in the past year with year-on-year growth of 3.8%. Morrisons continued to lose market share, although the retailer’s sales growth has shown progressive improvement during 2013 – rising from the low of -1.7% in January to the current figure of 1.8%. The embattled Co-operative Group shrugged off the woes in its banking arm as its food business saw sales growth for the first time since February. It sales edged 0.2% higher, although its market share remained under pressure, dropping from 6.6% to 6.4%. Meanwhile, the Kantar Worldpanel data showed that recent price matching campaigns at the larger retailers have served to shine a spotlight on private label quality. Garner said: “The latest price matching promotions from retailers have reduced the amount consumers are shopping around, with many people feeling that they can get the same prices at different retailers. “As a result we are seeing an increased focus on quality. Both Tesco Finest and Sainsbury’s ‘Taste the Difference’ ranges are now growing strongly and Aldi’s ‘Like Brands only Cheaper’ campaign and Lidl’s ‘Taste Test’ are positioning their private products as direct competitors to major brands.” The Kantar Worldpanel data also showed that grocery inflation remained at 3.9% in the 12 week period. This was only slightly higher than the market growth of 3.7% which means that the pressure on households to trade down has decreased compared with last period. These findings are based on Kantar Worldpanel data for the 12 weeks to 7 July 2013. Kantar Worldpanel monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 30,000 demographically representative households in Great Britain. All data discussed in the above announcement is based on the value of items being bought by these consumers. NamNews - Wednesday 17th July 2013

Ten innovative promotions from around the world

 

Ten examples of inspiring promotional campaigns from around the world. From beer cans used as train tickets to social media sharing to lower prices, manufacturers and retailers are working together on promotions that create a buzz, attract shoppers and encourage them to engage with brands in increasingly innovative ways – here’s how...

Driving brand engagement

In Brazil, Antarctica Beer turned typical train turnstiles into beer-can reading machines, essentially turning any Antarctica Beer into a free train ticket during the 2013 Rio Carnival. As well as encouraging sales, the stunt saw a volume increase of 86% through the subway turnstiles, along with a 43% drop in drink driving. There was also an added benefit to sustainability – the company was able to recycle all the cans it collected.

Image source: Almap BBDO

Meanwhile in Belgium, Maes ran a free promotion to try and become the top selling beer brand in its domestic market. It called upon the ‘Maes family’ to support the brand by giving away a barrel of beer to everyone with a last name of Maes – which just so happens to be the third most common surname in Belgium. By using social media this campaign attracted huge publicity; over 7,000 Facebook users changed their name to Maes and the brand attracted 75,000 new Facebook fans in just one day.

Image source: TBWA group

Australian retailer Coles chose a different approach to drive engagement by teaming up with British boy band One Direction, offering shoppers the chance to win one of 10,000 concert tickets for their Australian tour. By purchasing one of more than 600 products in-store, customers could then log onto the Coles website, receiving one competition entry for every promotional product they purchase. This is a great example of the retailer collaborating with celebrities to deliver memorable promotions that consumers associate with the Coles brand.

Image source: Coles

Putting shoppers in control

With social media continuing to grow in popularity, retailers and manufacturers are harnessing its potential for driving sales. By putting shoppers in control of promotions through social media sites, they will actively share deals to try and drive prices down, quickly and easily generating promotional awareness.

In the UK, Tesco Wine is trialling an innovative buying model which allows its shoppers to not only select the products they want featured but to also bring down the final price. By successfully harnessing shopper and social media potential, it could quickly generated awareness with limited need for expensive marketing schemes – whoever brings in the most co-buyers, through social media shares, wins their wine for free.

Image source: Tesco

Similarly, Swiss retailer Denner has launched a ‘social discount’ which allows customers to determine the prices of various products via an online voting system. Customers are offered three products at a time, which they can vote for. Each vote lowers the final price with customers able to see the RRP, the current price and the remaining votes needed to reach the lowest possible price. At the end of the week the three products will be available in-store at the closing vote price.

Image source: Denner

Helping shoppers navigate the promotional blizzard

With shoppers feeling overwhelmed by all the promotions available, it can be a tricky task to make sure your promotions generate excitement among shoppers. And that’s not the only challenge - connected shoppers are able to hunt down the best deals at the push of a button, so retailers and manufacturers need to ensure they make the shopping experience quick and simple to navigate.
Korean supermarket chain Emart has introduced a new ‘sale navigation’ app that helps guide shoppers around the store whilst also alerting them to discount locations. By using LED lights on the ceiling and modified trolleys, shoppers are able to see both their location in-store and directions to coupons using real-time navigation.

Image source: Emart Sale Navigation

On the other side of the world, Carrefour Market customers in Belgium have been able to choose their own promotions rather than having to navigate through pre-determined offers. Customers are given a sheet of stickers, with a range of savings from 15-35%, which can be applied to the products they want across certain fresh produce categories. This promotional mechanic can be easily tailored to shoppers’ regular buying habits, so it has a broad appeal to customers.

Image source: Carrefour Market (Fetezlefrais.be)

Driving time-specific sales

We have seen retailers and manufacturers use some creative new ways of ‘time marketing’ to drive increases in sales for limited periods.
Seven and I supermarket Ito Yokado is running a ‘rainy day’ discount during the Japanese rainy season. Shoppers can collect coupons offering 5% off on a variety of products, from clothing to daily essentials, which can only be redeemed in-store on rainy days.

Image source: Ito Yokado

Over in Hong Kong, Jasons Food and Drink installed a ‘Secret Garden’ interactive wall with animations that change with the time of day. Using Microsoft Kinect technology, customers can interact with the wall to ‘catch’ QR code discounts with their smartphones. The offers are adjusted, along with the animations, throughout the day to keep them fresh and relevant, boosting sales. The totally unique concept saw over 20,000 coupons downloaded within the first two weeks.

Image source: Designercity

And finally in Germany, McDonalds launched a promotion that literally melted away if customers didn’t rush to redeem the offer. In an effort to increase the number of visits to its restaurants during hot days, McDonalds offered the ‘McSundae Melt’ promotion, which used giant QR codes on billboards to offer free ice cream. Once the advert was scanned with a Smartphone users were given directions to the nearest McDonalds and a countdown timer begun, if they made it to the restaurant within the time limit they were rewarded with a free McSundae ice cream.

Image source: razorfish

Source: Holly Batchelor, Innovative Champion IGD - 15 July 2013

Economy beats Premium for the first time in UK food launches

 

Food and drink product launches emphasising value for money have outpaced those featuring premium claims for the first time in the UK, finds new research from Mintel. 
The market research organisation said that British consumers have remained cautious in their spending, seeking out bargains and items on promotion. The food and beverage industry has responded, with new products with economy-related claims accounting for 9% of product launches last year, compared to 7% making premium claims. In 2008, premium launches accounted for 9% of new food and drink products, compared to just 2% that carried economy claims.

However, economy products have evolved, moving from stark packaging to reassurances of value for money.

Director of innovation and insight at Mintel David Jago said that investment in new product development (NPD) for economy ranges has increased steadily since 2010, reflecting continued pressure on consumers’ disposable income levels.

"Much of the activity in the economy segment in 2012 was fuelled by UK supermarkets improving their value-for-money ranges in response to consumer challenges dictated by the ongoing economic turmoil," he said.

"The largest share of products with economy claims is driven primarily by significant private label investment in essential economy product ranges."


Middle class value

Branded manufacturers have also used larger, bulk value pack sizes to emphasise lower cost per unit, but Jago suggests that other strategies might be more successful if brands are looking to appeal to newly poor consumers.

"As budgets grow ever tighter, consumers are recalibrating their lifestyles and making new product choices, but they carry their middle and upper-class tastes and experiences with them. Economy product innovation, packaging and marketing needs to remain mindful that downsliding consumers don’t want to be made to feel poorer," he said.

The UK now has more new product launches featuring economy claims than any other global market, Mintel says, and the country accounted for a fifth of all economy launches worldwide in 2012.

Across Europe, consumers have reported switching from branded products to private labels (34% in Spain and Italy, 21% in France and 25% in Germany).

Senior global packaging analyst at Mintel Benjamin Punchard said: "Alongside clear economy statements on packs, which can be off putting for some, brands have recognised that packaging can give an economical edge through offering a reassurance of value. This might be packaging that protects the product better so that the consumer can rest assured that they will be able to use the product before it goes off. Similarly portioned or dosing packs tell the consumer that they will definitely get the stated portions out of a pack - both a value proposition and a helpful measure for those on a budget needing to know exactly how far a product will stretch."

Ban packed lunches, head teachers urged

Head teachers in England are being urged to ban packed lunches to increase the take-up of school dinners and promote healthy eating.

A government-commissioned school food review by two founders of the Leon restaurant chain says take-up is low at 43% despite huge quality improvements.

The authors of the School Food Plan say packed lunches are nearly always less nutritious than a cooked meal.

And heads are being urged to lower the price of lunches to boost take-up.

This might include providing subsidised meals for reception classes in primary schools and Year 7 classes in secondary schools, the report says.

The Department for Education ordered the review by restaurateurs Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent into the state of school meals in 2012 following strong criticism from Jamie Oliver.
'Turkey twizzler'
Seven years earlier, the chef had led a successful campaign to ban junk and processed food from school canteens. This resulted in tight nutritional guidelines and healthy eating policies for those bringing packed lunches.

But in 2011 he claimed that standards were being eroded because academies and free schools were exempt from national nutritional guidelines.

Mr Dimbleby told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that school food had improved since the "dark days of the turkey twizzler", but that the proportion of children eating school meals was not high enough.

  

 

Pupils at Bramley Sunnyside primary school in Rotherham are encouraged to grow their own food as part of their learning

"Packed lunches, and more than half of our children bring packed lunches into schools, two-thirds of those have crisps in them and two-thirds have confectionery in them," he said.

"The best schools, the schools with good food, find ways of making packed lunches the least exciting option."

He said if packed lunches were banned, schools would be able to provide better meals at a cheaper price and this would help boost children's performance.

"We did a survey of 400 head teachers - over 90% believe strongly that food has a direct effect on both academic achievement and behaviour."

The review suggests that items such as sugary drinks, crisps and confectionery be forbidden from lunch boxes. In reality many schools already have healthy packed lunch policies banning such items.

And heads are being warned to watch what is being served at mid-morning break, when some children are said to fill up on pizzas, panini or cake.

Packed lunches are understood to be banned in just a very small number of schools, but the DfE insists it is possible.

General secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers Russell Hobby said he felt it probably was not feasible for schools to ban packed lunches.
Obesity rates
He thought it was right, instead, to focus on making school meals more attractive in terms of cost and access as well as nutritional content, taste and presentation.

He added: "It is hard for students to concentrate on learning when they haven't eaten enough or when they've eaten the wrong things. The benefits from investing in decent cooked meals are huge: better learning and better habits later in life; a calm and sociable lunch hall also sets a tone for the rest of the day.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Knowing I'm investing my money wisely and my child is happy is giving me peace of mind”

End Quote Rob Rees Children's Food Trust

"In addition, increasing numbers of schools are growing part of their own food, and this can have a big impact on the children."

The Association of School and College Leaders said it was important the plan related to academy schools as well as regular state schools.

Its general secretary Brian Lightman added: "While encouraging all students to eat a nutritious hot lunch is the right aim, it is not always feasible. Many hardworking families on relatively low incomes give their children packed lunches because they don't qualify for free school meals and the cost of a school dinner would be prohibitive."

Labour said exempting academies had allowed junk food "creep back" into schools and it urged the government to enforce food standards across the board.

Shadow children's minister Sharon Hodgson said when the country is in the middle of a childhood obesity crisis, it is important that schools are doing their part to improve diets.

"Labour vastly improved the quality of school food after Jamie Oliver's important campaign. David Cameron and Michael Gove have deliberately undermined that progress by exempting academies and free schools from Labour's rules, and junk food has crept back into canteens and vending machines.

"Parents deserve to have confidence in the quality of school meals. Labour's food standards should apply in all schools, and Michael Gove needs to perform another U-turn to ensure they do."
Wonderful pies
Other recommendations include: after-school cooking lessons for parents and children, more schools to have stay-on-site rules for break and lunch time, and for teachers to be encouraged to sit in the dining hall with children.

The report comes as the obesity rate among children at the end of primary school has risen to almost one in five.

It claims only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards that currently apply to school food.

Rob Rees, chairman of the Children's Food Trust, said his own children preferred school dinners, but added some parents feel they are expensive.

"They absolutely love it. It's not the school meals of the past. It's wonderful fish pies, bologneses, lasagnes.

"Knowing I'm investing my money wisely and my child is happy is giving me peace of mind, so absolutely it is a barrier, but there's not many things where you can get such good value for money."

Roberts Bakery Unveils Country’s Most Expensive Loaf

Roberts Bakery has created the UK’s most expensive loaf to celebrate the birth of the child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Just 50 of Roberts’ royal loaves are being made to commemorate the Royal birth, and will be given away to names drawn at random from entries made via the www.robertsbakery.co.uk/royaltoast  website.

The loaf, which costs £30 to produce, is a sweet-tasting brioche, with Welsh butter from Castle Welsh dairy and Welsh water from Brecon Carreg, in a nod to Prince William’s heritage. Glistening ‘crown jewels’ sparkle in each slice of the bread thanks to the inclusion of dried apricots, glace cherries and pineapple. And finally, the golden, crown-shaped top crust is coated in gold leaf.

Roberts Bakery noted: “We believe all our bread is fit for a king – or queen – but this loaf is extra special. This is our way of toasting the new arrival that the whole country has been waiting for. We hope everyone who gets to try it agrees.”

NamNews - Monday 8th July 2013

Private label grows share of RoI ambient bakery market

According to recent figures from Kantar, the RoI ambient bakery market (comprising bread, morning goods, cakes and pastries) was valued at €495m to 52 w/e 17th February 2013, recording a slight value decrease on the previous year. Private label and unbranded products have increased their share of the market to 40% in value terms. The small decline is accounted for by lower average prices which are taking value out of the category. Aldi and Lidl have recorded strong growth with both holding value shares of 5.6% each. Tesco has also outperformed the market at 26.4%.

 In the UK, by contrast, the market

increased by +0.6% over the same period to reach €5bn, with price being the main driver of growth. Overall volumes have increased by +0.8%. In the sector shares, bread has declined by almost 1% in value to 28.3%, while morning goods have increased by 1% to 43.2%. Cakes and ambient pastries are unchanged.

 

Looking at the global drivers within the category, Euromonitor reports that the pursuit of health and wellness remains key and has become a point of differentiation for manufacturers and a means of countering relatively flat volume sales. The diversity of bakery products including those addressing specific nutritional conditions such as gluten intolerance or diabetes reflects this. Convenience is also critical in maximising the value potential in bakery products with packaging types and formats continuously evolving to meet new snacking occasions. The trend of affordable self-treating in small indulgences continues to benefit this category. 

 

Source: Peter Duggan, Strategic Information Services, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board, 05/07/2013