Ice cream experiences from branded products

It seems like the crisis does not affect ice cream sales – Nielsen reported improvement. If we look behind the trend, we can see that private labels are slowly expanding in modern retail channels, especially in discount stores. From Béla Hlavacsek, Unilever Magyarország Kft.’s junior brand manager we learn that in the family segment price plays an increasingly important role when picking a brand,
quality is only of secondary importance.

Consumers often buy classic flavours in private label version and only pick more exciting branded flavours to ‘decorate’ the dessert. Hyper- and supermarkets’ PL products are going strong in the multipack segment too. On the impulse market, the 410-2,500 m² channel seems to grow in significance; small shops and alternative channels are also doing well. Unilever uses ATL and BTL activities and POS tools to offset the expansion of private labels in the category. Ildikó Murányi, Nestlé Hungária Kft.’s business development manager told our magazine that their impulse brands were able to keep their positions. Her experience is that chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavours still dominate the market in Central Europe. Innovations: on the family ice cream market the adaptations of well-known desserts are still very popular. The reason for this is the fact that ice cream desserts are becoming part of everyday life.

Carte d’Or Dobos Cake ice cream was a huge success in 2009 and Unilever plans to come out with Carte d’Or Muffin – the launch is supported by a prize game, TV campaign and a renewed Internet page, www.jégkrémdesszert.hu In 2008, Nestlé Ice Cream Hungária Kft. sold its production plant at Törökbálint and outsourced its activity to Ice Cream Depó Hungária Kft. – now the ice cream segment operates more cost effectively. Last year they reintroduced Mövenpick to the market and from April this super premium brand will be available in most retail chains. In the impulse ice cream category, the way forward is to strengthen Value For Money products: this year Unilever puts cheap children’s products Lava and Buum on the market, under the name MAX, and they also will launch Fruttare and Big Fruit.

Their premium brand is Magnum, which will appear with a golden colour stick this year as Magnum Gold. Spectacular POS materials, a PR campaign and between 1 June and 31 July a promotional game for Sony presents at www.mymagnum.hu will all support the launch. Cornetto Mogyoró will hit the shops this year. Nestlé returns with good old favourites: Macao in three flavours and Bum-Bum with a bubblegum stick; Hello Kitty ice cream follows the current trends and Nestlé premium chocolate cake ice cream is available again.