The move marks part of the company’s tactic to re-ignite the product as a leader in the bursting popcorn category.
The UK’s popcorn market is estimated to be worth more than £50m (€63.36m) and according to insight firm IRI has witnessed a 17% year on year (YoY) growth.
Butterkist currently holds the lion’s share of the market, representing 55%.
Graham Hunter, CEO of Tangerine Confectionery, said that the rebrand is “an exciting time for the brand and for the popcorn market” in light of the growth figures.
“The Butterkist brand is one of the jewels in the Tangerine portfolio…The investment we have made in Butterkist is a testament to the belief we have that it will continue to be the number one popcorn choice for consumers,” Hunter said.
“The redesign and new formats will re-invigorate the brand for existing fans and will offer stand out for retailers looking to secure new customers,” he added.
Tasty, eye-catching changes
The new packaging design takes inspiration for old American cinema, with matte colours and the new strapline ‘Butterkist Productions presents…’.
“The new packaging aims to reaffirm the connection between popcorn and the cinema experience and this will be supported in a radical repositioning for Butterkist,” the firm said.
Pack formats have been developed to family sharing sizes and smaller bags “for the portion-conscious consumer”, it said, as well as price marked packaging “to provide greater flexibility for retailers”.
Its investment in flavour development has been a success so far, it said, with ‘cinema sweet’ and ‘sweet & salted’ both performing well.
Lee Bannerman, snack buyer at Tesco, said that while the UK popcorn market remains in its infancy, it has “ironically been helped by the economic downturn as more people stay at home instead of going out for expensive trips to the cinema or theatre”.
Flavoursome competition?
In May, chocolate giant Cadbury dived into the popcorn sector with its new chocolate-coated toffee popcorn in a move it said was in light of the potential and growth the segment had.
The UK confectionery firm has re-packaged its popcorn snack following the introduction of new flavours and pack formats. The new branding set to be phased into market by the end of the month.
