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Nestlé Confectionery to bring the World of Wonder back to chocolate with Wonka

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Gatwick

Wonka bar

In what’s set to be its biggest news in recent years, Nestlé Confectionery is bringing the spirit of Willy Wonka to life with the launch of the deliciously imaginative Wonka chocolate brand.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of the nation’s best loved stories: With 70 per cent of Britons  having read the book; 83 per cent having seen the original film starring Gene Wilder, and 85 per cent having seen Tim Burton’s adaptation starring Johnny Depp. Now consumers can be part of the story with their own Wonka bars.

The iconic confectioner has dreamt up three wonderfully inventive, scrumdiddlyumptious new bars, that will launch on Thursday at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, home to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical which is currently wowing audiences. The bars will be on shelves in September:

  • Wonka’s Millionaires Shortbread: Just like the classic sweet treat it’s the tasty combination of delicious caramel and shortbread biscuit pieces covered in smooth milk chocolate.
  • Wonka’s Chocolate Nice Cream: A smooth vanilla crème topped with chocolate sauce and covered in delicious milk chocolate. It’s not cold like an ice cream but it certainly tastes like one!
  • Wonka’s Crème Brulee: A smooth vanilla crème topped with a caramel crunch surrounded by a milk chocolate shell.

The new bars have been developed in response to consumer feedback which showed that Britons wanted something exciting, genuinely new and different and the Wonka brand is aiming to provide just that. Consumer testing found that an impressive 80 per cent of people said they would definitely or probably buy the new Wonka chocolate bars compared to a product norm of 60 per cent. And, whilst the brand’s core target audience will be mums aged 30 to 45 years, testing has proven the bars are just as popular with 16 to 25 year olds as they are with 55 to 64 year olds, making them perfect for the whole family.

Commenting on the launch Mr Willy Wonka said: “I’m sure the public will love our scrumdiddlyumptious new chocolate bars as much as I do. My Oompah Loompas have been working on them for many months and I am absolutely convinced they are now the most perfect and delicious things in the world. Please do try them and see for yourselves!”

The stock of Millionaire’s Shortbread (36g) and Chocolate Nice Cream (37g) bars will be in stores from 16th September 2013. Both have an RRP of 60p. All three flavours will be available in 100g chocolate blocks from 7th October 2013, RRP £1.29. The bars contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and are made from 100 per cent sustainably sourced cocoa.

The brand will be supported by a major £3.6 million media campaign which looks to bring the spirit of Willy Wonka to life in a new and distinctive way, and will include new TV advertising, digital advertising and huge in-store investment.

Innovation in confectionery is key to growing the category, and has driven over £600m sales in the past four years. However, the majority of this is from flavour variants and format extensions of known brands.

1) Incite – Qualitative Product and Concept Validation, 2012
2) IRI Total Grocery Value Sales for new registered products July 2009 – July 2012

A Nestlé spokesperson said: “Willy Wonka is one of the nation’s best known characters and we wanted to do him proud. The time felt right to bring these ‘deliciously imaginative’ chocolate creations to the British public.”

Please contact: Nestlé Press Office on 020 8667 6005 or [email protected]