Mondelez hails ‘pretty good’ marketing activity for sales boost

The snacks business revealed revenue across Europe for 2013 jumped 1.8 per cent buoyed by single to double-digit volume growth from its chocolate and biscuit products.

Revenue from Mondelez’s ’power brands’ grew 3.6 per cent in the period including double-digit rises for Oreo and Cadbury Dairy Milk. The business said innovation platforms such as its new Marvellous Creations and Bubbles brands had also made a “strong contribution” to the region’s performance.

Lower coffee revenues offset these gains in the period. The business, however, is focusing on marketing a more premium experiences for brands such as Kenco and Carte Noire to encourage consumers to trade up.

Organic sales grew 1 per cent in Europe in the three months to December but were down 6.1 per cent in its Asia Pacific region due to lower pricing and a decline in China. The snacks maker says it is planning to invest an additional $100m (£60m) in marketing in emerging markets to spark demand.

Campaigns for brands including Cadbury and Trident that use “micro-content and “marketing in the moment” will launch this quarter to “aggressively” drive sales, the company told Marketing Week last October.

Irene Rosenfeld, chief executive at Mondelez, says the business is “disappointed” its performance across developing markets had dragged results below expectations. It puts the business under pressure to grow more quickly at a time when rival FMCGs are restructuring to slash global costs.

Rosenfeld adds: “We’re committed to improving results in 2014 and beyond. we remain focused on increasing efficiency and aggressively reducing costs in both our supply chain and overheads to deliver strong margin gains throughout the year.  Although we anticipate near-term economic conditions will remain challenging, the plans we are executing give us great confidence in our potential to significantly expand margins and deliver strong top-line growth in 2014 and the years ahead.”