FDBusiness.com

Yoplait, part of the General Mills group, is investing £3 million in the Liberte brand above the line over the next six months and is now launching yogurt pouches under the Liberté brand in a category first for adult chilled yogurt formats. Liberte Pouches will be supported with a massive consumer sampling campaign targeting more than 250,000 samples across the next few months through high street, event and offices to reach consumers in the on-the-go occasion.

Currently available in Tesco and Sainsbury’s and soon to be available in Spar and Nisa, the creamy thick yogurt comes in 130g portions in Blueberry and Raspberry fruit flavours in the new pouch design. Liberté yogurt is made from 100% naturally sourced ingredients, rich in protein with a thick, rich texture and contains 0% fat. The product is similar in taste and texture to Greek yogurt, which is the strongest growth segment in the category, enjoying an increase of 15% in value sales versus last year^[1].

The pouches are aimed at health conscious, active consumers between 20-40 years who are looking for a healthy, convenient, portable snack while on the go.

This is a packaging style that has proven success in other international markets such as Australia where it represents 25% of leading brands’ sales and opens up the on-the-go yogurt market. According to Yoplait category research, this on-the-go occasion presents a £30 million category opportunity for yogurt through driving incremental usage. (GM estimate over 3 years, based on Kantar Usage Panel).

Jo Abram, Marketing Manager at General Mills, says: “We are excited to launch this market-first product into the UK market. The Liberté pouches are the perfect solution for the busy on-the-go consumers of today, offering a convenient, portable, healthy and protein-rich snack. We look forward to initial consumer feedback on this innovative new packaging design.”

General Mills UK is part of General Mills, one of the world’s leading food companies, which operates in more than 100 countries and markets more than 100 consumer brands. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills had fiscal 2016 global net sales of US $17.6 billion. In the UK General Mills markets and distributes much-loved consumer brands including Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Nature Valley, Green Giant sweetcorn and Jus-Rol pastry.

^[1] IRI data 52 w/e 5^th Nov 2016