Masterfoods unveils Cadbury’s Flake rival

Masterfoods is gearing up to take on Cadbury’s Flake with the launch of an indulgent chocolate bar range aimed at women. Galaxy Promise is due to launch this autumn.

The block chocolate range, the company’s major launch for this year, will have a number of variants, including one with a dark chocolate base topped with nuts. It aims to offer female consumers a luxurious but everyday treat. Galaxy Promise is the company’s first major launch since Mars Delight at the start of 2004.

It is understood that the advertising for Galaxy Promise will position the range in opposition to Cadbury’s Flake, which famously used women seductively eating the bar in its advertising. Masterfoods is understood to be investing well over &£5m in the launch of the product, which will include a major television campaign.

Masterfoods will hope that the new range helps it to win back shelf-space from its rival, which has been developing the Dairy Milk range as a masterbrand in an effort to create a “purple patch” on shelves (MW May 8, 2003). Cadbury is trying to repeat this strategy with Flake and is developing a number of variants under the brand (MW June 22, 2004).

One industry insider says it is essential that Masterfoods gets the position of Galaxy Promise right if it is planning to target Cadbury’s Flake.

The block chocolate market is extremely competitive, and Cadbury Dairy Milk is the market leader. Nestlé Rowntree tried to launch Nestlé Double Cream as a “premium mainstream” range, but the brand failed to make an impact and has now been repositioned as a premium product (MW March 3). Cadbury significantly increased its advertising spend to fight off the challenge.