Fresh food specialist New Covent Garden is introducing a major new profit opportunity to the £140 million fresh soup category with the launch of its first ever range of chunky soups, Big & Bold – a new concept in branded chilled soups.
Group Marketing Director Nigel Parrott says the ‘Big & Bold’ sub-brand, which comprises five chunky soups, “will be the most significant new product development initiative seen in the category for years”.
The new sub-brand already looks set to be New Covent Garden’s most successful winter launch ever with listings expected across the top 6 grocery retailers.
“Big & Bold brings an entirely new eating experience to chilled soups, namely chunky ingredients that are really filling, providing a hearty, healthy meal for one. In addition to New Covent Garden loyalists, we expect Big & Bold to appeal to younger, more urban consumers.”
The Big & Bold sub-brand comprises the following soups: Chunky Beef & Vegetable, Chunky Chicken & Vegetable, Chunky Vegetable & Pearl Barley, Chunky Chicken Curry and Italian Meatball and Pasta.
“Twenty per cent of ambient soup sales come from chunky soups and we’re confident that the same level can be achieved in chilled. We expect significant demand from ambient consumers trading up to chilled,” adds Parrott.
Stand-out
To create maximum stand-out on the fixture, and to attract new consumers to the category, New Covent Garden is breaking with tradition by launching the Big & Bold range in 450g single-serve pots (rrp £1.89), not the usual cartons.
“This is a deliberate move on our part to provide a strong, differentiated design generating maximum shelf stand-out in a very crowded fixture,” adds Parrott.
Big & Bold, which can be eaten straight from the pot, is being positioned as a meal in its own right, without the need for accompaniments, targeted at both genders.
Big & Bold will benefit from New Covent Garden’s biggest ever winter marketing programme which will include the brand’s first national TV advertising campaign, the timing of which has yet to be confirmed.
New Covent Garden continues to maintain its dominance of the UK’s £140 million fresh soup market. The brand has a 40% value share of the market, five times more than the combined share of all other branded fresh soups.*
* Source: A C Nielsen 52 w/e May 15 2010
New Covent Garden Food Co.
Tel: 0800 389 4415
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