Tuesday, May 25, 2021

When you think of tenderness, you think of Milka! Since spring 2020, Milka has been treating consumers to morning tenderness with the brand's new chocolate spread, made from aromatic cocoa, full-bodied hazelnuts, and with sunflower oil. With its incredibly smooth taste, it's something everyone can enjoy on breakfast breads and rolls, thin crepes or as an indulgent bite straight from the jar (we won't tell!).

Milka Hazelnut Spread is our first Milka product in the breakfast segment, but also allows us to reach our consumers during other moments in the day: it can be enjoyed as part of a snack, or even as a dessert!

The spread launched last year in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, and more recently in the Czech Republic and Belgium. Due to Covid, we couldn't launch this product as we normally would, so we got creative and adapted quickly to adjuste our launch:

• Our sales teams found ways to virtually connect with our clients, successfully listing the product. The field force created impressive displays and in-store awareness when and where safely possible.
• We wanted to let consumers taste how great the product was, in order to convince them to buy it! However, sampling activities had to be halted or changed to remain safe. In the Netherlands, for example, we quickly developed a tool to hand out samples while keeping a safe distance.

The results of these extra efforts to support the launch have been very rewarding, making us extremely proud to be able to capture the hearts of consumers and provide extra moments of joy together while enjoying our spread.

"The way the local team has approached spread has been truly inspirational, especially during the past year – fast, agile and consumer-centric – leveraging the power of the MILKA brand, great taste and a relevant, on-trend unique selling point (palm oil-free). This launch has been a beautiful demonstration of how a strong idea combined with a powerful and committed team can deliver an incredible product and outstanding growth in record time!"

- Iva Bennefeld, Sr Category Director Confectionery Central EU