“Pom-Bear has risen to new sales heights”
You may well be familiar with our product – Pom-Bear. A favourite with families, Pom-Bear is the ‘melt in the mouth’ teddy-shaped potato snack treat which is now entering its third decade in the UK market.
Initially launched in Germany in 1987, Pom-Bear was introduced to the UK in 1990. After a couple of years the success of the imported product led to investment in a dedicated UK factory for Pom-Bear in Northamptonshire. The product is still manufactured here today, although with a production facility that has evolved considerably over the past 20 years.
Over the past twelve months, Pom-Bear has risen to new sales heights and is currently one of the UK’s fastest growing snack brands. So, just how does one go about making sure that such a long established product remains brand fresh and relevant?
Get the balance right
In today’s increasingly health conscious times, all food brands have to be clear about their dietary impact. Snacks are of course treats, this is understood by consumers, but any responsible manufacturer still needs to strike a balance which guarantees enjoyment whilst optimising the nutritional declaration. With changes to labelling regulations in the pipeline and the likelihood of even more new targets under the Government’s Responsibility Deal, it is vital to keep an active eye on your nutritional profiles. In this way you can continue to produce successful products which consumers enjoy, but without the risk of a PR disaster if the health lobby or media embark on a forensic review of your labelling.
Since Pom-Bear is a product primarily enjoyed by families and children, we have been particularly careful to manage and improve its nutritional profile in recent years. We started cooking with high oleic sunflower oil in 2007, resulting in an immediate saturated fat reduction of around 50 per cent. Total saturated fat is now just 0.6g per pack. Around the same time we also reduced pack size to meet the trend for smaller portion sizes for children, so a 19g pack of Pom-Bear now has fewer than 100 calories (although it still contains a good quantity of bears!)
We were way ahead of the salt lobby and reduced salt by 25 per cent back in 2006 so that Pom-Bear already met the FSA’s 2012 salt reduction target. Gluten, artificial colours, flavours and preservatives have been eliminated from the range and we also recently removed a dairy ingredient from the product base which has taken a further allergen out of our original (ready salted) version. The whole range is also certified by the Vegetarian Society – an extra positive which lends added reassurance to our consumers.
Don’t stand still
Of course, even the healthiest product will fail if it loses consumer appeal and starts to look tired. Despite its many years in the market, Pom-Bear has rarely stood still and the past year has been a particularly busy one. We’ve refreshed the core product line (to reflect the UK’s top five favourite flavours) and continue to run an active programme of seasonal specials for Halloween and Christmas. In 2012 this took Pom-Bear into entirely new territory, with the brand’s very first product in a shape other than bears, Pom-Bear Snowmen.
Our marketing programme in 2012 featured a lively campaign with a number of carefully targeted product placements, including a project with the Camping & Caravanning Club around the Queen’s Jubilee. This involved our famous crown wearing bear himself helping to set a new Guinness World Record for the most crowns worn in one place at one time!
The combined result of all this was to set a new PB (personal best) for Pom-Bear in 2012, with sales up a massive 35 per cent on the previous year, a tremendous result of which we are particularly proud since the snack market as a whole only increased by seven per cent. It also means that Pom-Bear is now the UK’s 11th biggest snack brand (excluding potato chips).
Where next?
The fast pace for Pom-Bear continues in 2013, with more new SKUs and packaging developments in the pipeline as well as a focus on building the brand in some relatively undeveloped segments of the market. In the factory, we’re also scheduling some exciting capital investments that will help us to make further technical improvements well into the future.
And to complement all this, the marketing team is busy with a number of new Pom-Bear projects for the next 12 months, combining both traditional marketing techniques and some savvy use of social media opportunities which will allow us to precisely and cost effectively target the product’s core audiences.
So, brand evolution not revolution is our mantra for Pom-Bear. We believe we can continue to grow the brand by building on its core strengths – with careful ongoing adaptation to make sure it stays relevant to its key consumers. As it moves into its third decade, we certainly prefer to think of Pom-Bear not as thirty years old but thirty years young!
By Sam Thain, factory general manager for Pom-Bear
