Leading Italian sauce brand Loyd Grossman has launched new Pesto Alla Genovese and Pesto Sun Dried Tomato sauces, aiming to elevate midweek meals.
The brand said the opportunity is ripe within pesto and there is a real space for a tried and trusted brand, that is already known for its taste and quality, to help retailers tap into the subcategory’s full potential and to bring new shoppers into the aisle.
The total market value of Italian sauces is £356m and within this pesto holds £67m [Circana, 52w/e 20.01.24], showing a strong potential for pesto.
The pesto subcategory demonstrates a lot of headroom for growth with only 26.7 per cent penetration, compared to 71.2 per cent penetration in total pasta sauces [Kantar 52w/e 09.06.24].
“With 25 years of experience in pasta sauces, Loyd Grossman is ready to attract new and affluent shoppers into pesto to help grow the subcategory. The sauces are made from simple and high-quality ingredients such as pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, Italian basil, pecorino and parmesan – allowing consumers to recreate an authentic Italian experience at home,” Premier Foods said.
Loyd Grossman also recently added a Tomato & Mascarpone sauce to its line up of products, as it targets new, younger shoppers looking for more indulgent taste profiles.
The annual Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour is back, bringing the magic of the season to towns and cities across Great Britain
This year, the Coca-Cola Truck Tour focuses on the ambition to make kindness travel. Echoing the wider Coca-Cola Christmas campaign message, “The World Needs More Santas”, the tour will encourage visitors to embrace their inner Santa and share an act of kindness with others during the festive season.
Promising to be bigger and better than ever before, for every person that attends the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour, the equivalent of a meal will be donated on their behalf. Coca-Cola aims to donate the equivalent of up to a total of one million meals via FareShare this festive season.
“We are so grateful to Coca-Cola for their continued support for FareShare," said Kirsty Ford, Head of Fundraising at FareShare. "These invaluable donations help us get good-to-eat food to the people who need it rather than going to waste. Every day, the food we redistribute to a network of over 8,000 charities in every region helps to strengthen communities. Coca-Cola’s generous support for FareShare is instrumental in helping people affected by the cost-of-living crisis. This support means charities can unite more people through food to form connections and access essential support services. Thank you for helping FareShare make the food go further.”
This year’s Coca-Cola Christmas campaign will also see the Coca‑Cola Christmas Truck make its familiar festive appearance on TV screens in November. This year’s advert will launch with a new twist. For the first time, Coca-Cola will introduce an AI-generated interpretation of the classic advert, with a fusion of human creativity and advanced technology ushering in the start of the Christmas season.
Coca-Cola will also unveil a new festive digital AI experience, enabling people to engage in magical conversations with Santa or a snow globe avatar to create a personalised, shareable snow globe animation, based on a personal memory by scanning the QR code on a Christmas bottle or can of Coca-Cola.
Festive on-pack graphics and promotion Between 7th November and 2nd January, shoppers can enter a free prize draw via the Coca-Cola App by scanning QR codes on festive-themed cans and bottles of Coca-Cola Original Taste and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. They will find out instantly if they’ve won one of thousands of £50 shopping vouchers*.
The limited-edition packs feature eye-catching festive designs with Santa graphics and decorations to help create a sense of Christmas magic in stores.
Convenience retailers can maximise the occasion by accessing festive Coca-Cola branded point of sale materials from My.CCEP.com now.
"Last year, soft drinks delivered its biggest ever year, with Coca-Cola the soft drink of choice for more than 10m households," said Rob Yeomans, vice-president, commercial development at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) GB.
“Coca-Cola is synonymous with Christmas thanks to the iconic campaigns and Truck Tour that consumers look forward to every year. Our new limited-edition packs and shopping voucher giveaway will help retailers build on that excitement and offer their customers a chance to win something to support with the cost of Christmas.
“Our aim is to spread Christmas spirit, and bring people together to create special Christmas celebrations at home. We’d encourage retailers to make the most of the opportunities that Christmas brings, such as by creating cross-category displays in store and using occasion led messaging at fixture, which can help double shopper engagement and increase sales.”
NEO WTR, Europe’s first ethical spring water brand to use a 100 per cent Prevented Ocean Plastic bottle, has won Best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative at the Zenith Global Ltd Global Water Drinks Awards 2024. The industry's only Global Water Drinks Awards took place on Wednesday 29th October 2024 during Zenith Global's 21st Global Water Drinks Congress in Frankfurt, Germany. These prestigious awards celebrate excellence and innovation across every category of the water drinks industry worldwide.
NEO WTR was born out of a simple but powerful idea - to create a bottled water brand that doesn’t contribute to the plastic crisis but actively fights against it. In a world drowning in plastic waste, particularly from the soft drinks industry, NEO WTR’s mission is to transform the way we think about bottled water and packaging.
NEO WTR doesn’t just meet the minimum requirements; it exceeds them. While UK regulations mandate that plastic bottles contain only 30 per cent recycled plastic, NEO WTR uses 100 per cent Prevented Ocean Plastic, a ground-breaking material that supports people and the planet. Each 500ml NEO WTR bottle stops 1.7 plastic bottles from entering the ocean. Each sip helps reduce the harmful effects of ocean-bound plastic, turning discarded waste into a powerful tool for environmental change.
But the brand’s impact goes beyond recycling. NEO WTR’s mission is deeply rooted in a commitment to protect our planet’s most vulnerable coastlines while supporting communities in developing countries. Plastic pollution disproportionately affects these regions, with 80-90 per of ocean plastics originating from developing countries where recycling infrastructure is limited or non-existent. NEO WTR’s partnership with Prevented Ocean Plastic ensures that plastic waste is collected responsibly while providing economic opportunities and better working conditions for local waste collectors.
For Brookfield Drinks’ Managing Director, Nigel McNally, NEO WTR isn’t just about offering an alternative - it’s about leading a transformation. “We knew we couldn’t contribute to the plastic crisis, but we wanted to do more than that. We wanted to create a product that actively works to solve the problem,” says Nigel. “Consumers deserve a sustainable option when they need bottled water on the go, and NEO WTR gives them that option - without compromising on their values or the planet.”
At NEO WTR, we’re proud to say that every 500ml bottle makes a difference. We’ve taken the first step in creating a circular economy, and we’re excited to continue leading the charge for meaningful change in the bottled drinks industry. Together, we can protect what’s irreplaceable - our oceans, our environment, and the communities most affected by plastic pollution.
Nomadic has launched "Power Pots", its latest foray into protein-rich products and the company’s fourth launch of 2024. The duo of flavours - Chocolate Brownie and Smooth Caramel – feature a combination of vanilla yogurt with granola, plus chocolate brownie or caramel pieces.
Each pot features 20g of protein, plus 100 per cent of daily vitamin D and gut-friendly cultures, which all support immunity. This ‘trifecta’ of ingredients ticks an important box for Nomadic’s core consumers, which it describes as ‘hard-working busy people on the go’ – and who want satisfying, filling, foods which don’t compromise on taste.
And it’s a focus on taste that has driven the company’s choice of flavours with Smooth Caramel and Chocolate Brownie – effectively layering indulgence on top of the functional benefits of these products.
Power Pots appear in a similar format as the company’s best-selling Yogurt and Oat Clusters – which have helped Nomadic maintain its position as the No.1 Chilled Yogurt & Desserts brand in Convenience (Circana, 12 w/e 4/8/24, Chilled Yogurts and Protein Desserts, Total Convenience). As per usual, each pot also features a convenient wooden spoon.
“These are another part of our line-up that neatly combines ‘power’ – protein, gut health and vitamin D - with great taste," said Michelle Bloom, Nomadic’s marketing manager. "We’re sure these will be a big hit with hard-working consumers looking for both function and flavour.”
KTC Edibles Ltd (KTC), the UK’s largest supplier of edible oils, has launched Super High-Oleic Frying Oil, a traceable high-performance and long-life frying oil.
HOPO is blended using 100% traceable, organic, carbon-neutral RSPO Certified Sustainable Identity Preserved (IP) high oleic palm oil sourced directly from Daabon, a global leader in sustainable agriculture. KTC Super Hi Oleic can be offered with full traceability back to Daabon’s CI Tequendama SAS mill in Northern Colombia, providing complete visibility and zero deforestation guarantees - all the data customers need to comply with their obligations under the new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EU DR).
DAABON’s carbon-neutral organic palm oil has a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculated CO2eq of -977kg per tonne, cradle to gate. The LCA was conducted using Ecopalma’s carbon footprint estimation tool, harmonised with the ISO 14067 standard.
This traceability offers other sustainability benefits, allowing customers to calculate their Scope 3 emissions - and because it’s sourced from Daabon, a global leader in sustainable agriculture, it can be an effective way for companies to reduce the carbon footprint of their frying operations.
Gary Lewis, Sales Director at KTC Edibles, explains, "Super Hi Oleic offers the gold standard in sustainable, high-performance, long-life frying oils. We believe in offering consumers innovative new products that not only meet their culinary needs but also align with their values and sustainability goals. This is a giant leap forward in the industry, and we're proud to be at the forefront of positive change."
The high oleic palm oil used in the product also offers some unique performance advantages. It has higher oxidative stability and smoke point, lower PUFAs (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids) and saturated fats than standard oils. The non-GMO, non-additive formula also provides a long shelf life, a well-balanced fatty acid profile and neutral taste attributes, ensuring it can be blended with other vegetable oils for premium performance at competitive prices.
Created using a natural, non-GMO hybrid of a standard African palm tree and a native Latin American palm tree, high oleic palm oil offers significantly higher crop yields than standard palm. It also requires manual pollination leading to additional employment, helping boost the local economy - the costs of which are offset by the higher yields.
Super Hi Oleic Frying Oil is the latest addition to KTC's range of certified sustainable, traceable and responsibly sourced palm oil products for bakery, food manufacturers and fryers in the UK.
TRIP, the UK’s fastest-growing soft drinks brand for the past two years, is excited to announce the launch of its new Magnesium Gummies.
After taking the market by storm with its award-winning range of functional Mindful Blend drinks, which were its most successful launches ever on Amazon, TRIP is continuing its mission to help people find calm and enjoy the benefits of magnesium in a new and convenient way. The gummies are available for purchase on the TRIP website for £19.60 and soon on Amazon, with plans for wider retail distribution in the coming months.
Boasting a remarkable +389 per cent CAGR over the past two financial years, the brand continues to disrupt the wellness space with innovative products that meet the needs of the modern consumer. In line with TRIP's commitment to quality and taste, these gummies are vegan-friendly, contain no added sugar, and deliver a delicious, juicy Wild Berry flavour experience worthy of their Great Taste award-winning heritage.
Magnesium is fast becoming one of the most talked-about wellness ingredients, with over 1 billion views of the #magnesium tag on Tiktok3 as people seek natural ways to manage fatigue and improve their overall well-being. This surge in popularity is partly fueled by recent trends like the “sleepy girl mocktail,” which combines magnesium and tart cherry juice as a pre-bedtime ritual, and wider recognition of its numerous health benefits, including:
Supporting the normal functioning of the nervous system
Promoting normal energy-yielding metabolism
Helping to reduce tiredness and fatigue
TRIP's Magnesium Gummies are designed to seamlessly integrate into consumers' daily wellness routines, whether as a standalone supplement or in combination with the brand's popular Mindful Blend drinks.
Olivia Ferdi, TRIP Founder, says, “I launched TRIP to help people find their calm in the everyday chaos - with a focus on authentically functional and uniquely delicious products that people love. Building on our mission & Following the overwhelming success of our Mindful Blend drinks, we recognised a growing demand from our community asking us for ways to incorporate new and powerful ingredients into their daily routines.
"We pride ourselves on innovation and expertise crafting the highest quality functional ingredients into award winning delicious formats. We wanted to offer our customers even more ways to find calm in their busy lifestyles, and our new gummies provide just that - a tasty and convenient option for those wanting the health benefits of magnesium without compromising on flavour or quality.”