Here we've got a whole product line up for review! Let's say thanks for Merci!
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Merci (product line) - 4 / 5
Merci Milk Chocolate - 4 / 5
Merci Almond - 4 / 5
Merci Praline - 4 / 5
Merci Marzipan - 2 / 5
Merci Coffee - 4 / 5
For more on Merci you can check them out online at - http://www.storck.us/en/brand/merci/
Showing posts with label Almond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Almond. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
M&Ms Ads - Becoming Superstars
When last we talked about the M&Ms the little candy coated super-stars we're headed full tilt into the new Millennium. While other companies we're floundering to maintain clean cut mascots in a world full of cynical and way too smart kids the M&Ms managed to ride a tide of good will bolstered by smart mature humor and a constantly evolving sensibility that kept them fresh. Maybe what worked so well for them was that they stopped being aimed specifically at kids. The M&M characters left their pure cartoon roots with the introduction of the mixed media CG versions of the characters, and Mars stopped even making commercials without them. They reached a mass awareness that few mascots have ever achieved and kept on pushing, to become, and stay, the biggest of mega-stars in the candy world.
To be honest, figuring out how this all went down is pretty confusing so |I'm going to assume I will be getting some of this wrong. Lets be clear: I am not a historian. This is a light fun pop survey of the modern M&M characters as seen through their advertizing. There are other places on the web, or in print if you're looking for cold hard facts. Like Yellow, we're just here to have a good time :)
So as we got into the early 00s foreign markets expanded, the brand grew, and ads specifically targeted at non-western markets began to hit. This change alone makes sifting the chaff on the internet pretty complicated especially since some of the campaigns and ads were used in different countries at different times, or under different circumstances. Anyhow, suffice it to say the opening of foreign markets and ad campaigns, makes it extremely messy.
Lets take a step back though and have a look at some ads. As the century ended, the M&Ms were interacting with celebs in new mixed media adverts, and establishing the core dynamic of the Red Yellow relationship that we all know and love.
The candies declaring themselves the Spokescandies of the new Millennium at end of '97, and I missed one ad they featured in one that I had to share. I love this one, and wanted to make sure I posted it.
Its great to see Dick Clark still young (youngish) and its nice that he was comfortable making fun of his age.
With the launch of Crispy M&Ms in '99 there were more than a few ads featuring the new character and flavor.
Oh Puddy. You always entertain me :D
And Red, you're always pulling fast ones...
As I said Red and Yellow especially we're developing the classic Laurel and Hardy playing off each other riffs, and the public loved it. Here are a few other turn of the century ads that feature the M&Ms just being their own funny selves.
That is a little disturbing. funny but disturbing. This next one just features Red, but its pretty cute.
And finally here's an ad from '99 that I think shows where all the ads were headed in the early '00s.
This is a really great one. The airport ad is awesome because it showcases Red and Yellow doing their thing. It's got them bickering lovingly, being funny interacting with our world. They even break the fourth wall directly, they acknowledge that they are in fact candy, and it all wraps up with a solid tag at the end. This is the shape of the ads to come.
Getting into the 2000s for real-sies now they launched a fun campaign at the start of the year.
This is great on a number of levels, but I think the most important thing to note is the solo color offering. This is one of the first time solo colors were offered for a promotion. AND this wasn't a promotion tied into a holiday like Easter or Xmas where they gave us specially colored (or flavored) editions of the candy. This was just for the heck of it.
Another fun thing came up in the year 2000. And the next very serious ad addresses it perfectly.
That's right. Plain has changed, and in 2000 M&Ms re-branded their classic candy as Milk Chocolate. Such an obvious thing, but remember back when M&Ms started it was really a different world.
One more cute one on this, because I as I've mentioned before I smile for Patrick Warburton and always want him to succeed.
2000 also saw the release of two new M&M video games: The Lost Formula and Mini Madness.
In 2001 M&Ms started a long and strange journey trying out a lot of weird and sometimes very interesting flavors. For this outing they tried their hand at Dulce de Leche in some 5 Hispanic countries. Although it was a valiant attempt and actually sounds pretty good there wasn't much interest apparently and the product line was discontinued by '03.
In 2002 the ads continued, only got a bit more sophisticated. The Laurel and Hardy routine that Red and Yellow we're perfecting still had to be tempered. As much as I like the Airport commercial above its also VERY 90s. Here's the kind of standard ad that typified the early 2000s. Even though it only has Red you can see that it shows a literal and quirky take on the candy. More importantly it's just plain funny.
Love that Bradley Whitford (and this ad is during the height of his run on The West Wing).
2002 also saw the return and update of a previous successful ad campaign. The Global Color Vote was essentially the same trick they'd pulled in '95 but this time it was between Pink, Purple, or Aqua as the new color.
Here's a French ad featuring some cheerleaders?!
After Purple won the contest, it became an M&M color for a limited time. I'm not sure why they didn't keep it around or give us a new mascot like they did when Blue made the scene but they did feature a nifty contest looking for the bag full of Purple M&Ms to win a prize.
In 2004 the M&Ms launched another cool color campaign, only this one was all about the missing color! The hunt was on to find Grey M&Ms this time and it all started with this funny ad.
Here's one that maybe explains it a bit better.
And I always loved this bloodhound one though. Great stuff.
One of the interesting things about M&Ms getting so popular in the 2000s is that they started doing huge tie in marketing promotions. M&Ms had a number of movie tie ins over the years 2004 saw the start of the cross media tie ins, And not just with The Wizard of Oz. No instead I mean this beauty below inspired by the Addams Family to promote another limited run on Dark Chocolate M&Ms.
That's not all from '04 though. M&Ms also got big, and I don't mean regular big, I mean OGRE sized!
I actually think this tie in with Shrek 2 is a great one. M&Ms and Shrek are a really perfectly paired brand. But since M&Ms were in the midst of experiments in size and shape 2004 saw the first appearance of the most radical change yet, the M-Azing chocolate bar!
It sounds like the M-Azing bar was only moderately successful. The bar apparently stuck around in some form or another straight through until today and was finally re-branded and re-launched in 2013 as the new M&M chocolate bar. A bit more on that in the next post.
Aside from featuring in the new M-Azing bar, the M&M Minis we're also going strong in '04. I posted a few ads from this era of the Minis in my last blog post on this subject but here is another one to show you where the Mini advertizing was at the time.
At first I thought it seemed like a very 90s ad but then I realized that the M&M minis were being targeted at kids, while regular M&Ms were targeted at everyone.
Speaking of mass marketing the following year M&Ms teamed up with another film franchise that had probably the biggest mass market appeal possible. Watch the ad below to see the M&Ms join the Dark Side...
Watching this I have to wonder why Mars never just out and out put out a Dark Chocolate M&M on a permanent basis. I know they've got a few specialties at all times these days, but its weird that they kept bringing it back as a limited run.
2005 also saw the launch of Mega M&Ms. I'm guessing that the Ogre sized M&Ms went over so well that they decided to continue the line.
I know that ad didn't have the M&M characters in it but its pretty funny..
If the Chocolate M-Pire tie in wasn't the breaking point then it had to be the M&M tie ins for '06. These guys weren't just well known spokes-candies, they were true celebrities unto themselves. In 2006 Red and Yellow made a mark adjacent to Joan Rivers at the Academy Awards pre-show. To me this is huge.
Think about the number of eyeballs on that broadcast. Think about the fact that there are people who care about this from really all over the world. Its pretty serious stuff. I mean as serious as you can get for entertainers who aren't actually stars on the big screen.
They may be super-commercialized.... but can you blame them? I mean they are commercial characters. 2006 also saw ties ins for Pirates 3, and Shrek 3.
Pirates 3 in saw the launch of limited time white chocolate M&Ms, and Shrek the Third saw the return of Ogre sized M&Ms again, as well as this vacation contest.
I'm going to jump ahead a bit now, in 2008 M&Ms finally hit on a weird urban myth for their gain. At Valentines they launched a limited run of all green M&Ms. Green you ask? yes. I'm not sure how well known the rumor is now, but I totally remember as a kid hearing that green M&Ms we're for sexy time...
These also came at Christmas time that year. As good a time as any for an aphrodisiac (weather its true or not).
The summer of 2008 saw another side product launched from M&Ms. The M&M ice cream bar.
Its true...
That's pretty funny :)
New limited time flavors also emerged in 2008. Wild Cherry hit the scene alongside Mint Crisp M&Ms as a promotion tied into Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.
The biggest promotion of 2008 though came with the launch of mymms.com. Now there was finally a chance to change things up, and get your face, or whatever you wanted printed onto your M&Ms. Very exciting stuff.
After this commercial Mars took a different tack making a bunch of pretty funny commercials letting regular people become an M&M.
That ones probably my favorite, but there are some other great ones.
ha, contacts...
Gross but funny.
ha, earholes...
Good stuff all around.
Before I finally wrap this very long blog post up I'll mention one more 2008 M&Ms item. The launch of Premiums. Ms Green finally got something all her own here and it turned out quite well.
5 flavors of premiums were launched. I know I ate a few of them. They had a 'high end' vibe to them and I suppose they were pretty decadent.
Of course we know that Mint has been around since this time in on again off again limited runs, but this is where I first had it. A few more of the flavors were Rasberry Almond, which is actually a current limited run flavor, and Triple Chocolate. Both sound great to me.
I've had these and they do taste great.
mmm... so delicious sounding.
When we come back to this topic, I'll pick up from 2008 and we can watch some more ads together. These crazy M&Ms just became superstars right under your noses... pretty impressive. Thanks all, later :)
To be honest, figuring out how this all went down is pretty confusing so |I'm going to assume I will be getting some of this wrong. Lets be clear: I am not a historian. This is a light fun pop survey of the modern M&M characters as seen through their advertizing. There are other places on the web, or in print if you're looking for cold hard facts. Like Yellow, we're just here to have a good time :)
So as we got into the early 00s foreign markets expanded, the brand grew, and ads specifically targeted at non-western markets began to hit. This change alone makes sifting the chaff on the internet pretty complicated especially since some of the campaigns and ads were used in different countries at different times, or under different circumstances. Anyhow, suffice it to say the opening of foreign markets and ad campaigns, makes it extremely messy.
Lets take a step back though and have a look at some ads. As the century ended, the M&Ms were interacting with celebs in new mixed media adverts, and establishing the core dynamic of the Red Yellow relationship that we all know and love.
The candies declaring themselves the Spokescandies of the new Millennium at end of '97, and I missed one ad they featured in one that I had to share. I love this one, and wanted to make sure I posted it.
Its great to see Dick Clark still young (youngish) and its nice that he was comfortable making fun of his age.
With the launch of Crispy M&Ms in '99 there were more than a few ads featuring the new character and flavor.
Oh Puddy. You always entertain me :D
And Red, you're always pulling fast ones...
As I said Red and Yellow especially we're developing the classic Laurel and Hardy playing off each other riffs, and the public loved it. Here are a few other turn of the century ads that feature the M&Ms just being their own funny selves.
That is a little disturbing. funny but disturbing. This next one just features Red, but its pretty cute.
And finally here's an ad from '99 that I think shows where all the ads were headed in the early '00s.
This is a really great one. The airport ad is awesome because it showcases Red and Yellow doing their thing. It's got them bickering lovingly, being funny interacting with our world. They even break the fourth wall directly, they acknowledge that they are in fact candy, and it all wraps up with a solid tag at the end. This is the shape of the ads to come.
Getting into the 2000s for real-sies now they launched a fun campaign at the start of the year.
This is great on a number of levels, but I think the most important thing to note is the solo color offering. This is one of the first time solo colors were offered for a promotion. AND this wasn't a promotion tied into a holiday like Easter or Xmas where they gave us specially colored (or flavored) editions of the candy. This was just for the heck of it.
Another fun thing came up in the year 2000. And the next very serious ad addresses it perfectly.
That's right. Plain has changed, and in 2000 M&Ms re-branded their classic candy as Milk Chocolate. Such an obvious thing, but remember back when M&Ms started it was really a different world.
One more cute one on this, because I as I've mentioned before I smile for Patrick Warburton and always want him to succeed.
2000 also saw the release of two new M&M video games: The Lost Formula and Mini Madness.
In 2001 M&Ms started a long and strange journey trying out a lot of weird and sometimes very interesting flavors. For this outing they tried their hand at Dulce de Leche in some 5 Hispanic countries. Although it was a valiant attempt and actually sounds pretty good there wasn't much interest apparently and the product line was discontinued by '03.
In 2002 the ads continued, only got a bit more sophisticated. The Laurel and Hardy routine that Red and Yellow we're perfecting still had to be tempered. As much as I like the Airport commercial above its also VERY 90s. Here's the kind of standard ad that typified the early 2000s. Even though it only has Red you can see that it shows a literal and quirky take on the candy. More importantly it's just plain funny.
Love that Bradley Whitford (and this ad is during the height of his run on The West Wing).
2002 also saw the return and update of a previous successful ad campaign. The Global Color Vote was essentially the same trick they'd pulled in '95 but this time it was between Pink, Purple, or Aqua as the new color.
Here's a French ad featuring some cheerleaders?!
After Purple won the contest, it became an M&M color for a limited time. I'm not sure why they didn't keep it around or give us a new mascot like they did when Blue made the scene but they did feature a nifty contest looking for the bag full of Purple M&Ms to win a prize.
In 2004 the M&Ms launched another cool color campaign, only this one was all about the missing color! The hunt was on to find Grey M&Ms this time and it all started with this funny ad.
Here's one that maybe explains it a bit better.
And I always loved this bloodhound one though. Great stuff.
One of the interesting things about M&Ms getting so popular in the 2000s is that they started doing huge tie in marketing promotions. M&Ms had a number of movie tie ins over the years 2004 saw the start of the cross media tie ins, And not just with The Wizard of Oz. No instead I mean this beauty below inspired by the Addams Family to promote another limited run on Dark Chocolate M&Ms.
That's not all from '04 though. M&Ms also got big, and I don't mean regular big, I mean OGRE sized!
I actually think this tie in with Shrek 2 is a great one. M&Ms and Shrek are a really perfectly paired brand. But since M&Ms were in the midst of experiments in size and shape 2004 saw the first appearance of the most radical change yet, the M-Azing chocolate bar!
It sounds like the M-Azing bar was only moderately successful. The bar apparently stuck around in some form or another straight through until today and was finally re-branded and re-launched in 2013 as the new M&M chocolate bar. A bit more on that in the next post.
Aside from featuring in the new M-Azing bar, the M&M Minis we're also going strong in '04. I posted a few ads from this era of the Minis in my last blog post on this subject but here is another one to show you where the Mini advertizing was at the time.
At first I thought it seemed like a very 90s ad but then I realized that the M&M minis were being targeted at kids, while regular M&Ms were targeted at everyone.
Speaking of mass marketing the following year M&Ms teamed up with another film franchise that had probably the biggest mass market appeal possible. Watch the ad below to see the M&Ms join the Dark Side...
Watching this I have to wonder why Mars never just out and out put out a Dark Chocolate M&M on a permanent basis. I know they've got a few specialties at all times these days, but its weird that they kept bringing it back as a limited run.
2005 also saw the launch of Mega M&Ms. I'm guessing that the Ogre sized M&Ms went over so well that they decided to continue the line.
I know that ad didn't have the M&M characters in it but its pretty funny..
If the Chocolate M-Pire tie in wasn't the breaking point then it had to be the M&M tie ins for '06. These guys weren't just well known spokes-candies, they were true celebrities unto themselves. In 2006 Red and Yellow made a mark adjacent to Joan Rivers at the Academy Awards pre-show. To me this is huge.
Think about the number of eyeballs on that broadcast. Think about the fact that there are people who care about this from really all over the world. Its pretty serious stuff. I mean as serious as you can get for entertainers who aren't actually stars on the big screen.
They may be super-commercialized.... but can you blame them? I mean they are commercial characters. 2006 also saw ties ins for Pirates 3, and Shrek 3.
Pirates 3 in saw the launch of limited time white chocolate M&Ms, and Shrek the Third saw the return of Ogre sized M&Ms again, as well as this vacation contest.
I'm going to jump ahead a bit now, in 2008 M&Ms finally hit on a weird urban myth for their gain. At Valentines they launched a limited run of all green M&Ms. Green you ask? yes. I'm not sure how well known the rumor is now, but I totally remember as a kid hearing that green M&Ms we're for sexy time...
These also came at Christmas time that year. As good a time as any for an aphrodisiac (weather its true or not).
The summer of 2008 saw another side product launched from M&Ms. The M&M ice cream bar.
Its true...
That's pretty funny :)
New limited time flavors also emerged in 2008. Wild Cherry hit the scene alongside Mint Crisp M&Ms as a promotion tied into Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.
The biggest promotion of 2008 though came with the launch of mymms.com. Now there was finally a chance to change things up, and get your face, or whatever you wanted printed onto your M&Ms. Very exciting stuff.
After this commercial Mars took a different tack making a bunch of pretty funny commercials letting regular people become an M&M.
That ones probably my favorite, but there are some other great ones.
ha, contacts...
Gross but funny.
ha, earholes...
Good stuff all around.
Before I finally wrap this very long blog post up I'll mention one more 2008 M&Ms item. The launch of Premiums. Ms Green finally got something all her own here and it turned out quite well.
5 flavors of premiums were launched. I know I ate a few of them. They had a 'high end' vibe to them and I suppose they were pretty decadent.
Of course we know that Mint has been around since this time in on again off again limited runs, but this is where I first had it. A few more of the flavors were Rasberry Almond, which is actually a current limited run flavor, and Triple Chocolate. Both sound great to me.
I've had these and they do taste great.
mmm... so delicious sounding.
When we come back to this topic, I'll pick up from 2008 and we can watch some more ads together. These crazy M&Ms just became superstars right under your noses... pretty impressive. Thanks all, later :)
Friday, July 26, 2013
Almond Joy review
Its Friday and that means regular domestic review time. Well more or less domestic... In fact lets all just imagine that todays review bar has whisked us away to your favorite sandy shore. Lets eat some Almond Joy!
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Almond Joy - 3 / 5
For more on AJ, check out their website - Very Nice :)
Walking the Candy Aisle rates Almond Joy - 3 / 5
For more on AJ, check out their website - Very Nice :)
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Almost Perfect Candy
I was out in Whitby, Ontario last week and my brother in law clued me into the Almost Perfect store.
This is the kind of store a lot of you may have seen if you live in or near an urban center. This is essentially an irregular food store. It's full of food that's been rejected, not over any health concerns but most likely because the food was discontinued, or possibly seasonal and the major retailers don't want it on the shelves anymore.
You can also find some of these items if you are the kind of person who goes on factory tours. I remember when I was a kid going with my parents to both the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont (or maybe it was headquarters), and most significantly when I went to Hershey Pennsylvania. These factory tours of course ended at the gift shop, and both of these companies offered "irregular" food products there. As a kid this just fascinated me to no end. The products may be slightly off, but they're crazy cheap and just awesome.
Almost Perfect seems to offer more of the straightforward food items focusing on seasonal stuff, maybe with misprinted packaging, or remainders of limited editions. They specifically have a pretty decent candy section too, which was of course my main reason for wanting to go.
Some of the items like this entire stand of Allan candy was a bit weird. I'm not sure why any of it wouldn't be on the market. These are the guys who make "Big Foot" and I'm sure I'll get to their products sooner or later in reviews. These are weird flavors, so maybe they were just limited time or discontinued. Hard to tell since I'm not that familiar with their product lineup.
More likely is seeing something like this Imported Continental European Dark Chocolate. Seems fine and all, but nothing I would imagine anyone would buy, especially if its not an in house brand or some kind of off-shoot loss leader to get people into the store. Without a good brand name behind it why on earth is anyone buying it? My guess is they are not. And that's why it's at Almost Perfect.
Here is a very interesting one, and something I wish I could've reviewed. But I wouldn't feel right reviewing something from Almost Perfect when I really don't know why its there. Most likely this unique variation on the classic Hershey bar didn't sell and was discontinued, but I don't know.... maybe it was awful, or maybe its still in development. Whenever the reason its not sticking around I don't think Hershey wants it representing them.
Do you suppose these Reese Eggs were sitting around in a warehouse since Easter? My guess is yes. The sure tasted great though, I bought a bunch of these!
Here are some great looking Red White and Blue M&Ms. I suppose these are from this past 4th of July. We'll see if they turn up again next year.
I love the idea of Fierce Cinnamon Hot Tamales. Do you think maybe they were too fierce for the public? Are these still available in real life?
Here's another one that I'm not sure of. Don't these exist on the market now? Why is this one here? Could it be because it has the "New" label on it?
Finally a simple question. Whats wrong with all these Jolly Ranchers???
This is totally a store that's good and bad at the same time. I mean how cool is it going to a store to get something no one else has? BUT then the truth sinks in, maybe other people don't want this stuff. for a reason...
I'll have to keep my eye out for more 'irregular' candy, or off the beaten path kind of stuff. Let me know in the comments if you've ever been to a store like this and what your impression has been.
Thanks for joining me, later all.
This is the kind of store a lot of you may have seen if you live in or near an urban center. This is essentially an irregular food store. It's full of food that's been rejected, not over any health concerns but most likely because the food was discontinued, or possibly seasonal and the major retailers don't want it on the shelves anymore.
You can also find some of these items if you are the kind of person who goes on factory tours. I remember when I was a kid going with my parents to both the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont (or maybe it was headquarters), and most significantly when I went to Hershey Pennsylvania. These factory tours of course ended at the gift shop, and both of these companies offered "irregular" food products there. As a kid this just fascinated me to no end. The products may be slightly off, but they're crazy cheap and just awesome.
Almost Perfect seems to offer more of the straightforward food items focusing on seasonal stuff, maybe with misprinted packaging, or remainders of limited editions. They specifically have a pretty decent candy section too, which was of course my main reason for wanting to go.
Some of the items like this entire stand of Allan candy was a bit weird. I'm not sure why any of it wouldn't be on the market. These are the guys who make "Big Foot" and I'm sure I'll get to their products sooner or later in reviews. These are weird flavors, so maybe they were just limited time or discontinued. Hard to tell since I'm not that familiar with their product lineup.
More likely is seeing something like this Imported Continental European Dark Chocolate. Seems fine and all, but nothing I would imagine anyone would buy, especially if its not an in house brand or some kind of off-shoot loss leader to get people into the store. Without a good brand name behind it why on earth is anyone buying it? My guess is they are not. And that's why it's at Almost Perfect.
Here is a very interesting one, and something I wish I could've reviewed. But I wouldn't feel right reviewing something from Almost Perfect when I really don't know why its there. Most likely this unique variation on the classic Hershey bar didn't sell and was discontinued, but I don't know.... maybe it was awful, or maybe its still in development. Whenever the reason its not sticking around I don't think Hershey wants it representing them.
Do you suppose these Reese Eggs were sitting around in a warehouse since Easter? My guess is yes. The sure tasted great though, I bought a bunch of these!
I love the idea of Fierce Cinnamon Hot Tamales. Do you think maybe they were too fierce for the public? Are these still available in real life?
Here's another one that I'm not sure of. Don't these exist on the market now? Why is this one here? Could it be because it has the "New" label on it?
Finally a simple question. Whats wrong with all these Jolly Ranchers???
This is totally a store that's good and bad at the same time. I mean how cool is it going to a store to get something no one else has? BUT then the truth sinks in, maybe other people don't want this stuff. for a reason...
I'll have to keep my eye out for more 'irregular' candy, or off the beaten path kind of stuff. Let me know in the comments if you've ever been to a store like this and what your impression has been.
Thanks for joining me, later all.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
The Big Bar Line Up - Dove and Godiva
Today we're back with the Big Bars, and we're starting to run through them now. I think probably one more post'll do it. For now though we're looking at the small entry into the big bar market by Godiva and Dove.
Starting with Dove, I should say I have a weird thing about them. I think the only time I've ever eaten a dove bar was for a review here on the site. No you didn't miss it. Although I shot the review it is one of the handful of 'lost' Candy Aisle episodes. And since I never got to officially review it, I feel kind of mixed about it. Maybe these big bars are the way to go though. Lets have a look at their offerings.
Yup. That's nothing to write home about. I mean I'm sure its all fine, but they could add some variety to the mix couldn't they? Are these the bars that will sell the most? Seems like these are the most generic ideas they could find. Maybe I'm cynical though.... I guess I just don't see why someone is buying this over a Lindt or something else right beside it.
At least Godiva has a very specific type of chocolate eater in mind. They are playing directly into the dark chocolate and gourmet chocolate connoisseur world. Something I admittedly know very little about... (I'm an everyman here people). Anyhow, lets have a look at what they've got.
One Milk variety, and then its right into the Dark.
Frankly I'm a little surprised that they don't have anything higher than 85%. Those are already serious bars and I certainly don't think I could handle anyting stronger... but those dark chocolate aficionados can be very demanding. This is at least in part probably a good alternative to the Lindt offerings though.
Anyhow, next time we'll pick up the remainder big bars for a final post on this topic. Until then I'll see you in the aisle.
Starting with Dove, I should say I have a weird thing about them. I think the only time I've ever eaten a dove bar was for a review here on the site. No you didn't miss it. Although I shot the review it is one of the handful of 'lost' Candy Aisle episodes. And since I never got to officially review it, I feel kind of mixed about it. Maybe these big bars are the way to go though. Lets have a look at their offerings.
Yup. That's nothing to write home about. I mean I'm sure its all fine, but they could add some variety to the mix couldn't they? Are these the bars that will sell the most? Seems like these are the most generic ideas they could find. Maybe I'm cynical though.... I guess I just don't see why someone is buying this over a Lindt or something else right beside it.
At least Godiva has a very specific type of chocolate eater in mind. They are playing directly into the dark chocolate and gourmet chocolate connoisseur world. Something I admittedly know very little about... (I'm an everyman here people). Anyhow, lets have a look at what they've got.
One Milk variety, and then its right into the Dark.
Frankly I'm a little surprised that they don't have anything higher than 85%. Those are already serious bars and I certainly don't think I could handle anyting stronger... but those dark chocolate aficionados can be very demanding. This is at least in part probably a good alternative to the Lindt offerings though.
Anyhow, next time we'll pick up the remainder big bars for a final post on this topic. Until then I'll see you in the aisle.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The Big Bar Line Up - Ritter Sport
Today we continue looking at the so called Big Bars in the candy aisle with a step into the interesting world of Ritter Sport.
This is a bit of a weird one. Firstly, Ritter Sport is a German, in fact it may be the most widely spread commercially available pure German chocolate. Despite their reputation alongside the Swiss and French for some of the best chocolate in the world the Germans don't export too much prepackaged chocolate, and other than Kinder (which is actually the German arm of Italian chocolatier Fererro) I believe Ritter is the German chocolate seen here in Canada most often.
The word "Ritter" mean nobility in German, and the "Sport" comes from the fact that the creator apparently wanted a bar that could fit easily into the breast pocket of a sports coat. So all of the Ritter Sports feature the same form factor, small and square. In fact they've really run with the 'square' angle in their marketing. Small is a bit of a misnomer too because despite being square Ritters are thick and on a whole s good, so rich, and so creamy that a bar is more than enough. Really I couldn't imagine eating a whole bar of Ritter at once anyhow, they are just such a delicacy.
While Ritter Sport bars are found in Canada the States and lots of other countries they are often not found precisely in the Big Bar section of the store. They are more commonly seen in their own display pop up.
This may seem excessive, and I'm sure it costs an arm and a leg to send these out to the stores, but what great marketing. You may see pop ups for other chocolates at certain seasonal times of year but Ritter Sports are in these all the time, and it makes them stand out like no other. That said, maybe because of the investment in floor space, you might not find a Ritter pop up in your local 7-11. If you can find them, you should find a lot of them, and a lot of different varieties, but sometimes finding that pop up at all can be tricky.
I've only reviewed one Ritter Sport before here on the Candy Aisle, the Ritter Sport Espresso, which now that I look for it I can't seem to find in real life again. Please check out my review of that right here. But now lets have a look at the line up for Ritter Sport, here in the Great White North.
Starting with a few simple flavors Ritter is known for rich and creamy chocolate.
And then they've got the specialty Dark Chocolate.
And the specialty Milk Chocolate.
They've got a few nut mixes too. It seems like Ritter specializes in really good basic mixes, and I think that serves them well.
They all seem like sort of simple ideas, but these next ones are unique, especially on any mass scale.
Definitely interesting stuff here. Finally here are two flavors I think might be unique to Ritter. Not that they're so revolutionary, in fact I think they're great ideas that maybe should be obvious, but I can't think of anyone else to really feature these flavors in this kind fo form factor. Like I said, its very interesting.
Although I know there are more out there. In fact the Ritter Sport website lists something like 30 different flavors available, these are all the ones I see commonly here in Canada. Let me know if you've got a favorite Ritter Sport flavor or have anything totally off the wall from them in your neck of the woods. I'm hoping to review a few more of these soon on the Candy Aisle.
Thanks for joining me, and I hope you'll stay tuned for another look at the candy aisle big bars soon.
This is a bit of a weird one. Firstly, Ritter Sport is a German, in fact it may be the most widely spread commercially available pure German chocolate. Despite their reputation alongside the Swiss and French for some of the best chocolate in the world the Germans don't export too much prepackaged chocolate, and other than Kinder (which is actually the German arm of Italian chocolatier Fererro) I believe Ritter is the German chocolate seen here in Canada most often.
The word "Ritter" mean nobility in German, and the "Sport" comes from the fact that the creator apparently wanted a bar that could fit easily into the breast pocket of a sports coat. So all of the Ritter Sports feature the same form factor, small and square. In fact they've really run with the 'square' angle in their marketing. Small is a bit of a misnomer too because despite being square Ritters are thick and on a whole s good, so rich, and so creamy that a bar is more than enough. Really I couldn't imagine eating a whole bar of Ritter at once anyhow, they are just such a delicacy.
While Ritter Sport bars are found in Canada the States and lots of other countries they are often not found precisely in the Big Bar section of the store. They are more commonly seen in their own display pop up.
This may seem excessive, and I'm sure it costs an arm and a leg to send these out to the stores, but what great marketing. You may see pop ups for other chocolates at certain seasonal times of year but Ritter Sports are in these all the time, and it makes them stand out like no other. That said, maybe because of the investment in floor space, you might not find a Ritter pop up in your local 7-11. If you can find them, you should find a lot of them, and a lot of different varieties, but sometimes finding that pop up at all can be tricky.
I've only reviewed one Ritter Sport before here on the Candy Aisle, the Ritter Sport Espresso, which now that I look for it I can't seem to find in real life again. Please check out my review of that right here. But now lets have a look at the line up for Ritter Sport, here in the Great White North.
Starting with a few simple flavors Ritter is known for rich and creamy chocolate.
And then they've got the specialty Dark Chocolate.
And the specialty Milk Chocolate.
They've got a few nut mixes too. It seems like Ritter specializes in really good basic mixes, and I think that serves them well.
They all seem like sort of simple ideas, but these next ones are unique, especially on any mass scale.
Definitely interesting stuff here. Finally here are two flavors I think might be unique to Ritter. Not that they're so revolutionary, in fact I think they're great ideas that maybe should be obvious, but I can't think of anyone else to really feature these flavors in this kind fo form factor. Like I said, its very interesting.
Although I know there are more out there. In fact the Ritter Sport website lists something like 30 different flavors available, these are all the ones I see commonly here in Canada. Let me know if you've got a favorite Ritter Sport flavor or have anything totally off the wall from them in your neck of the woods. I'm hoping to review a few more of these soon on the Candy Aisle.
Thanks for joining me, and I hope you'll stay tuned for another look at the candy aisle big bars soon.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
M&Ms ads - the 90s
A few weeks ago I posted a long and involved post talking about some of the evolution of M&M advertising on television. I encourage you to go read that post first. It was really fun writing the post since I got to parse through a ton of my favorite old M&M ads. Today I thought I'd follow up with the next part of the story and have a look at the more modern M&M ads of the 90s.
M&Ms themselves are really fascinating, and the ads have gone through a lot of changes over the years. But the 90s are characterized by some really dense advertizing. The M&Ms were becoming legitimate stars in their own right, and the advertizing and products went in a number of interesting directions. When last we left off the year was 1992 and M&M had just celebrated their 50th anniversary, and introduced both Peanut Butter and Almond varieties. And just to note the ads I'm really talking about here are all centered around the M&Ms characters, not the commercials with just humans :)
As I said, M&Ms were so popular now that they really seem to have had multiple ad campaigns running concurrently. In some cases you could still find old 80s style M&M commercials featuring M&Ms in pure cartoon settings.
But M&Ms also in the late 80s into the early 90s created a lot of commercials without their mascots entirely. I'm not sure if these were meant to appeal more to adults since they obviously at some point realized the true value of the mascots and basically stopped doing commercials without them, but its interesting nonetheless.
Additionally they made the big transition around this era. It was becoming more and more common to see the M&Ms interacting with real humans. And often not just any humans but celebrities.
That's Daisy Fuentes, model and MTV VJ.
And the incomparable Robert Pastorelli of Murphy Brown fame.
Also since I forgot to mention it earlier M&Ms started featuring Christmas and Easter seasonal bags in 1986. They had pastel colored seasonal M&Ms for Easter-time, and red and green for Xmas.
And...
Here's my absolute favorite Christmas one :)
Probably the next big innovation to M&Ms came in 1995 when they ran a campaign to vote on the next new color of M&M to be introduced.
The vote was actually to replace the tan colored M&Ms which were being discontinued. As you can see from the funny ads below featuring Wings star Steven Weber and the M&Ms the winner was a new favorite of mine, Blue.
And here's another funny one.
Interesting as far as I can tell Blue was not as of yet associated with a specific flavor, unless it was Almond. Its hard to determine exactly when that happened.Currently all of the different M&M colors are associated with certain flavors, but I don't think that was always the case.
Moving on though, in 1996 M&Ms decided to branch out again, this time with M&M minis.
These little guys have been giving Red and yellow a hard time ever since.Its funny, the Minis are kind of like a cross between a swarm of kiler bees and a crazed Looney Tunes character.
Here's a great example of the kind of pranks the Minis pull.
And I know this is skipping ahead a bit but I love these Mini commercials from the early 2000s as well and they fit into this same category :)
Yeah, of course Red rides the bus.
I LOVE this one. Talk about Looney Tunes!
And of course this is a great example of Red and Yellow just getting tossed around. Pretty typical stuff for the era.
Now it gets a bit tricky around this part but by the late 90s both Ms Green and Orange had also been established as M&M personalities. Unlike Blue these were soft and ongoing changes to character since both colors had been around for quite a while.
Starting with Green, lets have a look at some of her early appearances. She is of course the first woman M&M and they really played up the sexy angle. I mean A LOT.
She's also always had a real air of celebrity to her.
Was that inappropriate? I'm honestly not sure how to take it. Now I know this one is from much more recently, but how about this...
And then of course there's this one final one, my personal favorite.
Now that's pretty funny.
When Green was introduced she was associated loosely with Dark Chocolate, but now she reps for Peanut Butter, Mint, and Coconut. Although with that I have to wonder why Orange isn't on Peanut Butter anymore?
Orange on the other hand is the neurotic part of the M&M gang. He got a personality pretty early on but it wasn't until the introduction of Crispy M&Ms in 1999 that he found a calling and got his own full ad campaign. Here's a great ad with Orange and Halle Berry.
Love it. This guys always cracked me up and I wish they would've found more for him to do in those early days. While I liked Crispy M&Ms (they were discontinued Stateside in 2005) after the initial burst there wasn't much advertizing support for them. And so it wasn't until Pretzel M&Ms came along much later that Orange got a chance to shine again. For now though lets look at a few more ads featuring Orange from the late 90s.
Talk about neurotic.
That's another really fun one. And finally lets have one with your friend and mine Patrick Warburton.
Oh Puddy...
As the M&Ms launched into the 2000s they were of course the official spokescandy of the Millenium. And yes they may have been a bit early on it...
And what do the M&Ms get paid anyhow?
Oh Red and Yellow... you really can't help but love these guys. By this point they've fully developed the Laurel and Hardy routine and are just riffing some great jokes.
And once the M&Ms got into the new Millennium properly things got even bigger for them. While other companies like MacDonalds the cereal companies had tougher and tougher times selling the public on their cutesy characters, M&Ms simply didn't. Their focus on fun, and funny irreverant evolving humor made them stand out and become even bigger stars that any reasonable person would've thought possible. These guys are up there with the biggest spokespeople in the world, and its great to see how they continue to work in a modern setting.
Next time we'll delve into the M&Ms megastardom of the 2000s. Until then, lets not forget how great the candy actually is. Great candy and some stellar advertizing. Its certainly a winning combination.
M&Ms themselves are really fascinating, and the ads have gone through a lot of changes over the years. But the 90s are characterized by some really dense advertizing. The M&Ms were becoming legitimate stars in their own right, and the advertizing and products went in a number of interesting directions. When last we left off the year was 1992 and M&M had just celebrated their 50th anniversary, and introduced both Peanut Butter and Almond varieties. And just to note the ads I'm really talking about here are all centered around the M&Ms characters, not the commercials with just humans :)
As I said, M&Ms were so popular now that they really seem to have had multiple ad campaigns running concurrently. In some cases you could still find old 80s style M&M commercials featuring M&Ms in pure cartoon settings.
But M&Ms also in the late 80s into the early 90s created a lot of commercials without their mascots entirely. I'm not sure if these were meant to appeal more to adults since they obviously at some point realized the true value of the mascots and basically stopped doing commercials without them, but its interesting nonetheless.
Additionally they made the big transition around this era. It was becoming more and more common to see the M&Ms interacting with real humans. And often not just any humans but celebrities.
That's Daisy Fuentes, model and MTV VJ.
And the incomparable Robert Pastorelli of Murphy Brown fame.
Also since I forgot to mention it earlier M&Ms started featuring Christmas and Easter seasonal bags in 1986. They had pastel colored seasonal M&Ms for Easter-time, and red and green for Xmas.
And...
Here's my absolute favorite Christmas one :)
Probably the next big innovation to M&Ms came in 1995 when they ran a campaign to vote on the next new color of M&M to be introduced.
The vote was actually to replace the tan colored M&Ms which were being discontinued. As you can see from the funny ads below featuring Wings star Steven Weber and the M&Ms the winner was a new favorite of mine, Blue.
And here's another funny one.
Interesting as far as I can tell Blue was not as of yet associated with a specific flavor, unless it was Almond. Its hard to determine exactly when that happened.Currently all of the different M&M colors are associated with certain flavors, but I don't think that was always the case.
Moving on though, in 1996 M&Ms decided to branch out again, this time with M&M minis.
These little guys have been giving Red and yellow a hard time ever since.Its funny, the Minis are kind of like a cross between a swarm of kiler bees and a crazed Looney Tunes character.
Here's a great example of the kind of pranks the Minis pull.
And I know this is skipping ahead a bit but I love these Mini commercials from the early 2000s as well and they fit into this same category :)
Yeah, of course Red rides the bus.
I LOVE this one. Talk about Looney Tunes!
And of course this is a great example of Red and Yellow just getting tossed around. Pretty typical stuff for the era.
Now it gets a bit tricky around this part but by the late 90s both Ms Green and Orange had also been established as M&M personalities. Unlike Blue these were soft and ongoing changes to character since both colors had been around for quite a while.
Starting with Green, lets have a look at some of her early appearances. She is of course the first woman M&M and they really played up the sexy angle. I mean A LOT.
She's also always had a real air of celebrity to her.
Was that inappropriate? I'm honestly not sure how to take it. Now I know this one is from much more recently, but how about this...
And then of course there's this one final one, my personal favorite.
Now that's pretty funny.
When Green was introduced she was associated loosely with Dark Chocolate, but now she reps for Peanut Butter, Mint, and Coconut. Although with that I have to wonder why Orange isn't on Peanut Butter anymore?
Orange on the other hand is the neurotic part of the M&M gang. He got a personality pretty early on but it wasn't until the introduction of Crispy M&Ms in 1999 that he found a calling and got his own full ad campaign. Here's a great ad with Orange and Halle Berry.
Love it. This guys always cracked me up and I wish they would've found more for him to do in those early days. While I liked Crispy M&Ms (they were discontinued Stateside in 2005) after the initial burst there wasn't much advertizing support for them. And so it wasn't until Pretzel M&Ms came along much later that Orange got a chance to shine again. For now though lets look at a few more ads featuring Orange from the late 90s.
Talk about neurotic.
That's another really fun one. And finally lets have one with your friend and mine Patrick Warburton.
Oh Puddy...
As the M&Ms launched into the 2000s they were of course the official spokescandy of the Millenium. And yes they may have been a bit early on it...
And what do the M&Ms get paid anyhow?
Oh Red and Yellow... you really can't help but love these guys. By this point they've fully developed the Laurel and Hardy routine and are just riffing some great jokes.
And once the M&Ms got into the new Millennium properly things got even bigger for them. While other companies like MacDonalds the cereal companies had tougher and tougher times selling the public on their cutesy characters, M&Ms simply didn't. Their focus on fun, and funny irreverant evolving humor made them stand out and become even bigger stars that any reasonable person would've thought possible. These guys are up there with the biggest spokespeople in the world, and its great to see how they continue to work in a modern setting.
Next time we'll delve into the M&Ms megastardom of the 2000s. Until then, lets not forget how great the candy actually is. Great candy and some stellar advertizing. Its certainly a winning combination.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The Big Bar Line Up - Lindt
Today we're continuing our look at some of the Big Bars you'll find in your local supermarket. These are the "premium" chocolate bars that you'll see beside the everyday chocolate bars. Here in Canada Lindt is undoubtedly the best represented company in the Big Bar section. There are A LOT of Lindt chocolates here, and that is probably because they really don't have any standard size chocolate bars. Besides their copious entries into the seasonal chocolate realm if you want to eat some Lindt chocolate going into the Big Bar area of your store will be the only way to do it.
So with that said let's have a look at what Lindt has to offer. And we'l start with the standard straightforward Swiss Classic line.
These three bars under the Classic branding form what I'd say is the core for Lindt's line up. Milk chocolate, milk chocolate with hazelnuts, and white chocolate. Its simple direct packaging and I like it, but there is one fun alternative available as well.
Here we have the Lindt standard dark chocolate packaging, and this is my absolute favorite package in their line. It looks like something I might find a golden ticket inside. Just elegant, and sophisticated. Almost like a bank note, or some prestigious certificate. Nice job on this al around.
The milk chocolate, and milk chocolate with hazelnuts also both come in a 300 gram size. Another good idea. I like the fact that this also makes no bones about the nuts. These are whole roasted hazelnuts; this is serious business.
Next we'll move onto the Lindt main flavor line. These bard fall under the Excellence brand and will certainly have some of most people favorites. I'll say there are so many here that at the least you can't look at them and not be fascinated to try some of them. I mean we've probably all tried Mint chocolate, but how many of us have delved into chili chocolates?
So here we start with the simplest of bars. Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate, as well as Milk and Dark Almond, and Crunchy Caramel. Note the packaging, including color and font differences between the Milk and Dark Roasted Almond varieties. And I have to say I love the way the splash the crunchy caramel behind the bar on the label. Very appealing. Very eye-catching.
Now we've got the "Intense" flavors...
Now here's a case where I should have read the back of the packaging. I haven't confirmed it but I have to assume that these chocolate are actually from Ecuador and Madagascar. What that means specifically to the taste.. well I don't know. They both have rich soil and are known for Coffee and other delicious treats Although I didn't think there was too much industry on Madagascar I would suppose they've got good crops of cocoa. I'm not sure... do you think people out there, I mean the connoisseurs would have a particular favorite country? I'm certainly not educated enough on this stuf to know.
Moving down the Excellence line we finally come to the selection of Dark Chocolate. Well the stand alone dark chocolate at least.
Doesn't 90% seem like overkill on the Dark Chocolate? I know my mom eats a square of dark chocolate everyday for her... is it heart or blood pressure... anyhow there are people out there who must want this or they wouldn't make 4 different skus for it. Still, I feel so out of the loop on the Dark Chocolate train that I'll have to just say this seems like an awful lot, but I suppose they wouldn't keep it around if it didn't sell.
Lindt's next biggest line up is their Creation brand.
Everyone loves Chocolate Mousse right? I have actually had the milk chocolate version of this bar, and I have to say, it is absolutely fantastic! Interestingly the Milk Chocolate Mousse also comes in an alternate packaging under the Petit Desserts brand. My guess is that this was an old brand name since it was the only iteration in the line up.
Two more entries into the Creation line round out the selection.
I like that these two exist. Creme Brule is a great dessert that doesn't get enough press. People even know Flan more than Creme Brule and I'd put it up against that garbage anyday. Even most Dulce Leche or Tiramisu cakes really.
Moving on to the last few imprints from Lindt we come to the 150 gram Les Grandes line.
Here we find Almond as well has Hazelnut Milk, and Hazelnut Dark. These are Grandes not only because of their size, but also the amount of nuts. So this is where you go if you find your Swiss Classic is a little too light on the nuts for your tastes. These bars seem like they're for serious chocolate and nut fanatics.
Onto the Passion line up.
Now these two have me a little baffled. They are complicated blends, especially the Nougat Latte Macchiato and to me at least the packaging suggests that this is for a different audience than the other bars, but why exactly? I mean did Lindt want something more... Starbucks friendly? more earthy? More refined? We all know they've got great chocolate, it seems to me this branding is all about marketing. That said, I wonder if the look might throw some people off. Actually seeing the bar is a bit weird for Lindt, and the colors are sure to rub the average supermarket consumer wrong. Maybe it really is designed for the coffee shop... that's all I can think of here.
Finally we come to the last entry into Lindt's extensive line up of big bars, and it is of course the bar form of Lindt's most popular confection the Lindor.
I'd be interested in seeing some of the other Lindors transformed into bars as well, but for now this will have to suffice.
So this is pretty good stuff.all around. As you can see Lindt is VERY busy in the aisle with their big bar line up. Looking on the Lindt USA website I see that there are a few selections listed there that I did not see in the aisle, including: Sweet Dark Chocolate, A Touch of Vanilla, Toffee Crunch, a Dark Coconut bar, a Dark Strawberry, an actual Cocoa Nut bar, a 99% Dark Chocolate bar and more...
Could this be a case of over-saturation? It seems like a lot to me, but hey I suppose they wouldn't keep it up if they didn't keep selling.
I'll be back soon with another look at the Big Bar Line Ups.
So with that said let's have a look at what Lindt has to offer. And we'l start with the standard straightforward Swiss Classic line.
These three bars under the Classic branding form what I'd say is the core for Lindt's line up. Milk chocolate, milk chocolate with hazelnuts, and white chocolate. Its simple direct packaging and I like it, but there is one fun alternative available as well.
Here we have the Lindt standard dark chocolate packaging, and this is my absolute favorite package in their line. It looks like something I might find a golden ticket inside. Just elegant, and sophisticated. Almost like a bank note, or some prestigious certificate. Nice job on this al around.
The milk chocolate, and milk chocolate with hazelnuts also both come in a 300 gram size. Another good idea. I like the fact that this also makes no bones about the nuts. These are whole roasted hazelnuts; this is serious business.
Next we'll move onto the Lindt main flavor line. These bard fall under the Excellence brand and will certainly have some of most people favorites. I'll say there are so many here that at the least you can't look at them and not be fascinated to try some of them. I mean we've probably all tried Mint chocolate, but how many of us have delved into chili chocolates?
So here we start with the simplest of bars. Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate, as well as Milk and Dark Almond, and Crunchy Caramel. Note the packaging, including color and font differences between the Milk and Dark Roasted Almond varieties. And I have to say I love the way the splash the crunchy caramel behind the bar on the label. Very appealing. Very eye-catching.
Now we've got the "Intense" flavors...
Other than the mint these flavors all heavily feature a sour or tart element. And Mint is intense in its own way.I'm interested that they don't have a Lemon or Lime in here, I bet they would do well among the Cranberry and Orange.
Here are a few other very interesting flavors. I'm definitely a fan of the Sea Salt. No I haven't tried it before, but its one of those things that I bet would be great. Like remember when there wasn't such a thing as Sea Salt (or Salt and Pepper) flavored chips? When they were first introduced I know I thought it was crazy... but then once I tried it, everything came crashing into focus. Of course its a great idea. And I suspect balancing the sweet chocolate with a salt would work too.White chocolate with Strawberry is also a great idea. Strawberry goes great with chocolate and is hardly ever featured in bars.
Now here's a case where I should have read the back of the packaging. I haven't confirmed it but I have to assume that these chocolate are actually from Ecuador and Madagascar. What that means specifically to the taste.. well I don't know. They both have rich soil and are known for Coffee and other delicious treats Although I didn't think there was too much industry on Madagascar I would suppose they've got good crops of cocoa. I'm not sure... do you think people out there, I mean the connoisseurs would have a particular favorite country? I'm certainly not educated enough on this stuf to know.
Moving down the Excellence line we finally come to the selection of Dark Chocolate. Well the stand alone dark chocolate at least.
Doesn't 90% seem like overkill on the Dark Chocolate? I know my mom eats a square of dark chocolate everyday for her... is it heart or blood pressure... anyhow there are people out there who must want this or they wouldn't make 4 different skus for it. Still, I feel so out of the loop on the Dark Chocolate train that I'll have to just say this seems like an awful lot, but I suppose they wouldn't keep it around if it didn't sell.
Lindt's next biggest line up is their Creation brand.
Everyone loves Chocolate Mousse right? I have actually had the milk chocolate version of this bar, and I have to say, it is absolutely fantastic! Interestingly the Milk Chocolate Mousse also comes in an alternate packaging under the Petit Desserts brand. My guess is that this was an old brand name since it was the only iteration in the line up.
Two more entries into the Creation line round out the selection.
I like that these two exist. Creme Brule is a great dessert that doesn't get enough press. People even know Flan more than Creme Brule and I'd put it up against that garbage anyday. Even most Dulce Leche or Tiramisu cakes really.
Moving on to the last few imprints from Lindt we come to the 150 gram Les Grandes line.
Here we find Almond as well has Hazelnut Milk, and Hazelnut Dark. These are Grandes not only because of their size, but also the amount of nuts. So this is where you go if you find your Swiss Classic is a little too light on the nuts for your tastes. These bars seem like they're for serious chocolate and nut fanatics.
Onto the Passion line up.
Now these two have me a little baffled. They are complicated blends, especially the Nougat Latte Macchiato and to me at least the packaging suggests that this is for a different audience than the other bars, but why exactly? I mean did Lindt want something more... Starbucks friendly? more earthy? More refined? We all know they've got great chocolate, it seems to me this branding is all about marketing. That said, I wonder if the look might throw some people off. Actually seeing the bar is a bit weird for Lindt, and the colors are sure to rub the average supermarket consumer wrong. Maybe it really is designed for the coffee shop... that's all I can think of here.
Finally we come to the last entry into Lindt's extensive line up of big bars, and it is of course the bar form of Lindt's most popular confection the Lindor.
I'd be interested in seeing some of the other Lindors transformed into bars as well, but for now this will have to suffice.
So this is pretty good stuff.all around. As you can see Lindt is VERY busy in the aisle with their big bar line up. Looking on the Lindt USA website I see that there are a few selections listed there that I did not see in the aisle, including: Sweet Dark Chocolate, A Touch of Vanilla, Toffee Crunch, a Dark Coconut bar, a Dark Strawberry, an actual Cocoa Nut bar, a 99% Dark Chocolate bar and more...
Could this be a case of over-saturation? It seems like a lot to me, but hey I suppose they wouldn't keep it up if they didn't keep selling.
I'll be back soon with another look at the Big Bar Line Ups.
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