To put a positive spin on mornings, BelVita is continuing to encourage consumers to have what it calls a “#MorningWin,” with its latest round of sampling initiatives to support its newest SKUs – Breakfast Bites and a new flavour of its Crunchy line, Cinnamon Brown Sugar. This time around, the Mondelez brand’s morning sampling stations include a piano player singing real-time #MorningWins.

The sampling program’s main focus is to incite trial, given the product has a strong repeat rate, says Vanessa Mosakos, marketing director for the brand. Although the brand couldn’t share specific figures, its breakfast biscuits have experienced double-digit growth year-to-date and the brand continues to gain market penetration.

This current extension of BelVita’s sampling program (two days in downtown Toronto last month, two upcoming in Montreal and a four-day period in August at the Squamish Music Festival), is the latest in the brand’s activity since its entrance into the Canadian market in 2012. It forayed into branded content last year with a partnership with Quebec morning show Ça Commence Bien! and has run continuous sampling initiatives. This year, social and digital have supported the new Bites, as well as a North American TV spot, created by Droga5 and Union (the latter handles the brand’s creative and social in Canada), which launched in late February. MediaVest handles the brand’s media, while Momentum is leading the sampling.

Having a biscuit for breakfast instead of cereal or even a bar was a fairly new behaviour for Canuck consumers when it first launched, says Mosakos.

Biscuits traditionally made more frequent appearances at European breakfasts (where the brand first launched), says Stephanie Minna Cass, corporate and government affairs for Mondelez, which presented an opportunity to bring that mindset over the pond, given the conflation of snacking and meals.

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BelVita was first to market with its soft-baked biscuit in Canada (situated in the cookie aisle), she adds, and tapped into the insight that consumers here preferred soft-baked in the morning.

BelVita’s latest Bites iteration – launched in North America – are a smaller format, designed to be more convenient and portable, and conducive to be eaten directly out of the pouch or added to yogurt.