Hershey is shaking up the candy aisle with the launch of Reese’s Big Cup with Caramel.
The innovation, which is coming to market exclusively in a king sized, 79-gram format, will be available at major grocery retailers shortly. It’s backed by a fulsome shopper marketing campaign.
“Innovation is so important to the confectionery category, consumers always want to see something new and try something new,” says Ola Machnowski, Hershey’s VP of marketing, adding that innovation is key to the company’s growth strategy, with Reese’s being ripe for innovation right now.
“If you actually go back into Reese’s history, Reese’s Caramel is a product that used to exist,” she explains, telling strategy that according to brand insights, caramel is the third most appealing flavour to consumers, adding that the product performs “exceptionally well.”
The packaging design is an iteration of parent pack architecture, matched with U.S. packaging for the North American November rollout of the new product.
The design calls out caramel both with prominent font but also a caramel swirl, amplified on in-store creative as well (pictured below). “Big cup” has a slightly different lock-up on the front of the packaging to convey the product’s size.
Merchandising vehicles are being shipped out this week, predominantly display assets, part of Hershey’s robust shopper marketing efforts.
The Reese’s Big Cup with Caramel innovation is meant to appeal to Reese’s fans, but also to “really anybody that has a sweeet tooth who wants a different textural experience,” Machnowski says.
The confectionery is also working on a national campaign with agency partner FCB, which last year, explored the idea of the cult-like devotion to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The PR campaign for Reese’s Big Cup with Caramel, by Craft, is set to the market soon, along with an integrated media campaign by UM that includes OOH.