Pladis adds brownies to McVitie's cake bar range

Global snacking company pladis has expanded its market-leading McVitie’s Cake Bar range with the launch of McVitie’s Moments Brownies.

Available in Double Choc Fudge and Creamy White Choc flavour variants, this is the brand’s most indulgent launch yet and the category’s first fully chocolate-enrobed brownies.

“Historically, cake has under-indexed against the evening consumption occasion, where consumers often want a little reward or indulgence at the end of the day,” said Claire Hooper, head of cake marketing at pladis UK&I.

“However, indulgence is a key trend in the category and growing numbers of shoppers now tuck into cake during typically indulgent moments – whether that’s as an evening treat or a during moment of ‘me-time’ (2).

“As Britain’s biggest Cake Bar brand (3), we’re well-positioned to respond quickly to shopper trends. That’s why we’ve gone beyond typical Cake Bars with this latest round of NPD, offering consumers an indulgent treat which ticks the box when they want to treat themselves.”

Pladis said that cake bars continue to drive growth for the prepacked cake category with an increase of 24% over the past two years (4).

Bought by one in three British households (5), they are currently worth £48million (6).

Ms Hooper added: “Our individually packaged Cake Bars are already a winning proposition, but we’ve spotted an opportunity to help retailers drive incremental sales by upping the indulgence factor and adding a touch of chocolate-smothered luxury to our bestselling portfolio with this unique new proposition.

“Providing an opportunity to access currently untapped consumption moments, McVitie’s Moments Brownies is a market-first, which we see as retailers’ ticket to maximising sales in the cake category.”

McVitie’s Moments Brownies will be available in a pack of five individually wrapped bars at an RRP of £1.85 across major retailers and wholesalers throughout August.

Notes:

2 Kantar Consumption Moment Analysis, Dec 18 - Cake consumption during ‘My Time Out’, ‘My Evening Treat’ and ‘Relaxed Evening Sharing’ occasions is growing 32%, 9% and 2% respectively

3 Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 14th June - McVitie’s remains the number one brand in cake bars, holding a 33% share

4 Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 14th June

5 Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 14th June

6 Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 14th June