Within Ferrara’s Keebler cookies makeover
Chicago The Keebler company is relaunching its cookie brands with revised recipes and packaging under the new ownership, along with a makeover for Ernie the elf.
In a deal worth $1.3 billion, the Ferrero Group purchased the chosen cookie, pie crust, and ice cream cone businesses from Kellogg Co. a year ago. The portfolio features sweets from Keebler, Famous Amos, Mother’s, Murray, and Little Brownie Bakers, the company that supplies Girl Scout cookies. Since then, in collaboration with Ferrero, the research and development team at related company Ferrara Candy Co. has been hard at work revitalising the decades-old brands with fresh formulas, packaging, and marketing approaches — much like it did with Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, and other confections that were once owned by Nestle USA.
To date, the Keebler company has experimented with new recipes for its Chips Deluxe, Fudge Stripes, and Sandies cookies. The substitution of natural vanilla for high-fructose corn syrup is one of the main formulation alterations.
Natalie Hagstrom, general manager of cookies at Ferrara, told Food firm News, “We really started the minute we closed on the sale of the business, taking this beloved, iconic 150-year-old master brand Keebler and really reinvigorating and bringing it to life.” “We’re adding more “made with real” to our ingredient list. We are aware that shorter ingredient lists and more actual substances are highly important to US consumers. You’ll see that Chips Deluxe Original is “made with more real chocolate.” You’ll see “made with real Keebler fudge” on Fudge Stripes you can notice that real Madagascar vanilla has been added to the ingredients list on our Sandies brand.
To improve quality and freshness, new packaging was created, and all Keebler cookie brands now have modern, unified designs. The goods will be offered in variety packs and an on-the-go format to accommodate customer snacking habits.
According to Ms. Hagstrom, “the cookie category is impulsive; half of the purchases are not planned, so it had to stand out on shelf to be a purchase driver.” “The packing needed to be significant. We had to make sure that every exhibit and point of sale we had was incredibly eye-catching, vibrant, pertinent, and spoke to the customer in a meaningful way.
Through digital and social media platforms, in-store displays, and a complete marketing campaign, the brand story and ingredient adjustments will be highlighted starting in August.
“TV constituted the majority of people’s media consumption during the last significant period for many of these brands in the consumer activation space,” stated Ms. Hagstrom. “Bringing them to activation on channels beyond traditional television, whether it be digital or social in any way, shape, or form, was an interesting discovery, as the landscape has obviously evolved fairly radically. We needed to be certain that we were communicating with them in the manner in which they were receiving messages.
In order to help the business after the acquisition, Ferrara and Ferrero have upped their marketing and shopper programme spending. Sales of Keebler cookies have increased by 55% since the beginning of March as people continue to stockpile their favourite indulgences amid the pandemic.
“After the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to ensure that our messaging is relevant to the customer. To that end, we conducted extensive social listening to gauge consumer reaction. and it gave us comfort to know that the course we were taking was the right one, Ms. Hagstrom added. “If you look at our Perfectly Fudgy campaign’s current advertising, it’s primarily product centred, celebrating family unity and the excellence and craftsmanship of the enchanted realm where Ernie and the elves live. Because the aspects were pertinent before COVID, remain relevant during COVID, and we know they will be relevant beyond COVID, we are making sure to bring them all forward.
In 2012, Ferrara Pan Candy Co., Inc. and Farley’s & Sathers Candy Co., Inc. merged to establish Ferrara Candy Co. Trolli, Black Forest, Brach’s, Sathers, RedHots, Lemonheads, Jujyfruits, Atomic FireBall, Boston Baked Beans, and a few more brands are part of its core portfolio.
The Nutella, Tic Tac, and Kinder trademarks are produced by the Luxembourg-based Ferrero Group, which purchased Ferrara Candy Co. in 2017. A few months later, Nestle USA’s confectionery division was purchased by the Ferrero Group for an estimated $2.8 billion. Through the deal, Ferrara Candy Co.’s portfolio now included non-chocolate brands like SweeTarts, Laffy Taffy, Nerds, FunDip, PixyStix, Gobstopper, BottleCaps, Spree and Runts.
The Ferrara team worked in collaboration with Nestle USA to modernise its former chocolate brands, which are currently maintained by Ferrero North America, situated in Parsippany, NJ. with Ferrero after the purchase. To maintain flavour and freshness, the Butterfinger and Baby Ruth brands underwent improvements such as the elimination of a preservative, better peanut roasting techniques, and double-layer packaging.
“It’s really just bringing them back to their iconic status, starting with storied, iconic brands that have really high household awareness,” Ms. Hagstrom stated. They have suffered from a lack of funding and resources for their products, packaging, and consumer messaging.
“When we spoke with customers after we acquired the businesses, they were all able to discuss happy memories and connections, but it wasn’t something that had happened recently. How can you make it more relevant and integrate it into their fundamental way of thinking, making decisions, and setting priorities? It’s simple to make sure you invest in everything that can get you back to that when you begin from a place of great awareness and love status.
Much with the Nestle portfolio, we wanted to make sure we retained our current customer base. We also managed to attract new customers, whether they were members of entirely new generations or merely those who hadn’t given us much thought before. For us to keep going in this direction, those two things had to be true.
Ferrara, in collaboration with Ferrero, is developing co-branded product innovation that might combine its traditional candy brands with the former Nestle and Keebler products. Ferrara currently has 33 brands in the cookie and candy sectors. An upcoming holiday product is a decorating kit that combines Ferrara candy and Keebler cookies.
“That’s when it elevates brand equity and increases consumer desire for that brand.” We’ll keep using these strong brands’ stocks throughout the portfolio, according to Ms. Hagstrom.