M&M's Crispy Set for Rollout
M/Mars here will launch its new M&M's Crispy chocolate candies early next year with a $70 million campaign that is being billed as "unprecedented" in the confectionery category.
The newest member of the M&M's family, M&M's Crispy contains a toasted rice center, surrounded by milk chocolate and covered with a hard candy shell embossed with the signature "M" that is on all M&M's products. It is packaged in bright blue bags.
M&M's Crispy will begin shipping Dec. 14, and the year-long advertising campaign will break during the January 1999 Super Bowl.
"We will feature a variety of special prepack units, which are designed to help generate trial at the point of sale. We will have singles counter units, power wings and floorstand shippers. We will also offer a mixed pallet for the introductory period, which will feature Crispy, Plain and Peanut large packages," said Sue Benvenisie, M&M's Crispy brand manager.
Educational Program Offered
McLEAN, Va. -- The National Confectioners Association here has teamed with the Food Marketing Department of St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, to develop a Confectionery Executive Educational Program that will benefit candy buyers and other executives in the candy industry.
The program consists of a series of two-day seminars for sales and marketing managers, brokers and buyers in the confectionery industry, who have at least five years' experience. The seminars will be actual courses offered in the Food Marketing Master Degree program at St. Joseph's, but for confectionery industry professionals only.
In addition to the Confectionery Executive Education Program, the NCA and St. Joseph's have also developed a new Confectionery Buyer Packet, available in both booklet and CD forms, to help new buyers. There is also a sales-management training program and a Confectionery Industry Alliance, where manufacturers will team up with retailers and wholesalers to develop a program for solving critical issues in the confectionery category.
New Company Focuses on Kids
CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Two confection leaders here have formed a new kids' candy company, called "The Kidz Wow Factory Inc.," to be known throughout the industry by its d.b.a. of Kidzco. Thomas S. Warner, president and chief executive officer, and Cherie Lautenbach, executive vice president, have more than 45 years of combined industry experience.
According to Warner, Kidzco will focus on innovative children's confection products "with enlightening themes and positive imagery." The new company unveiled its line at the NCA All Candy Expo last month.
Goelitz Celebrates Centennial
FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- Herman Goelitz Candy Co. here celebrated its centennial anniversary this year. Best known for its Jelly Belly jelly beans, the company traces its roots back to German immigrants who began making candy in a storefront and selling it to nearby towns from a horse-drawn cart.
The company has announced that its jelly beans will now be available in large 9-ounce laydown bags, for lower-shelf displays in supermarkets. Suggested retail is $2.99.