By Debbie Cassell, Editor
Confection & Snack Retailing
In the words of the very wise (ahem) Britney Spears, “Gimme gimme more. I want more.” The former Mrs. Federline, crazy though she might be, is actually onto something here. Much like the lyrics to her Top 40 selection “Hit Me Baby One More Time” (which actually made sense once Travis slowed down the song and rerecorded it acoustically), Spears’ recent chart topper is right on. And it speaks to an issue facing every industry, including our very own confectionery business. Consumers want more. They want more from the stores they shop, more from the products they purchase … more for themselves.
I was reminded of this fact just recently by Tim O’Connor, President & CEO of Brightspot Brands, Buffalo Grove, Ill., who visited my office last week to discuss with me a new line of products his company is creating in response to consumer demand for more, more, more.
Brightspot Brands’ aptly named chocolate candy collection’s initial product launch: Gimme Calcium, which describes itself as “crispy rice puffs dipped in real milk chocolate and sealed in a candy shell.” Sounds tasty, right? But wait. There’s more. Each single-serve, 1-oz. (12-piece) bag of Gimme Calcium contains 500 mg. of calcium (that’s 50% of your daily value) from TruCal, a form of real calcium that’s made from milk.
As O’Connor notes, TruCal is not the same thing as calcium carbonate, which often is used to fortify cereal and has been known to cause consumer health problems, including kidney stones in children. According to its Web site, TruCal is “a naturally-derived dairy ingredient, available in powder form. It contains a balanced mineral profile including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper and iron. These minerals are required for optimal bone health.”
Everyone knows that milk does a body good. But not everyone drinks it. Some people don’t “do” dairy at all. But hopefully, they’re getting their calcium intake from somewhere, right? O’Connor’s point exactly. Although he admits that, at first glance, you might at first liken Gimme Calcium to those chocolate calcium chews you find in health food aisles, he adds that you’d be completely mistaken. The calling card of the Gimme collection is that it’s candy … with benefits … from “the world’s first nutritionally enhanced candy company.” Chocolate is simply the carrier of the nutrient, O’Connor notes.
The target audience for Gimme Calcium? O’Connor describes them as 20- and 30-somethings who grew up with fruit snacks and sit in front of a computer all day (hey –that’s me!) and haven’t had a candy marketed toward them in a long time. Why this group? “Because kids already get all the good stuff,” O’Connor says.
“One consumer at a time, we want to change the way people view the candy aisle,” he explains. To that end, Brightspot Brands has created a catchy product name that people can relate to; they’ve packaged their innovation in a bag that’s hard to miss; and they’ve made sure that there are no words on the ingredients statement that you can’t pronounce — a smart move, given consumers’ growing penchant for reading labels.
According to Brightspot Brands, “Great ideas never tasted so good.” Maybe they’re onto something.
Next up for Brightspot Brands is Gimme Omega-3 — dark chocolate candies containing (you guessed it) unsaturated Omega-3 fatty acids from flax, not fish oil. Omega-3s offer many benefits. According to www.webmd.com, these include “reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke while helping to reduce symptoms of hypertension, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), joint pain and other rheumatoid problems, as well as certain skin ailments.”
Now, I never intended to dedicate an entire column to a single product or company (“Oops, I did it again”), but what excites me about Brightspot Brands is its ingenuity. Here is a company that’s thinking outside the box and taking both the consumer’s wants and needs into consideration. As the recipient of a number of new products from confectioners, chocolatiers and snack producers every day, I welcome submissions from those who are taking risks and presenting themselves in such a way that one cannot help but pick the product up off the shelf, whether for its eye-catching package, unique health claims … or simply because the item looks good enough to eat.“We’re trying to change consumer behavior here,” O’Connor asserts.
“We’re not selling ounces. We’re selling an experience.”
Gimme gimme more.
Click on Debbie’s picture above to read her blog and stay informed!
Administrator | 
08 6th, 2009| 
