Mark Roberts, Marketing and Trade Marketing Director, Perfetti Van Melle UK, discusses the innovations behind famous brands like Chupa Chups and Mentos
To start, could you please introduce yourself and share a bit about your role at Perfetti Van Melle, as well as your journey within the confectionery industry?
I’ve been part of the FMCG industry for over 20 years, working with both Brand and Trade across some of the UK’s leading alcohol and confectionery brands. Having joined Perfetti Van Melle ten years ago, it’s been a pleasure to see the business go from strength to strength throughout my journey within the Marketing team. Now leading as Marketing & Trade Marketing Director, I head up the strategic development of four of the World’s favourite sugar confectionery brands; Chupa Chups, Fruit-tella, Mentos and Smint, in the UK market. With the consumer and shopper at the heart of what we do, my Trade and Category Marketing team plan and deliver growth across UK brand and trade. This last year has been an incredibly exciting one for us, from new product launches to innovative new media partnerships and plenty of award wins. It’s a busy but very fulfilling role especially as we’ve seen such success.
Perfetti Van Melle is a global leader in confectionery. How does the company balance innovation with maintaining the heritage of iconic brands like Mentos and Chupa Chups?
Like anything it’s a balance, we have our bestselling core range which is popular for a reason. We’ll always want to champion those products as they are synonymous with quality and trust. We monitor what is performing well, as well as following shopper trends closely. We might look to add new formats to a best-selling product, for example a multi-pack or sharing bag to give people more opportunity to enjoy their favourites with friends. Sustainability is also key to us as a business, the introduction of our Mentos Paperboard bottles is a great example of us marrying innovation and heritage. Our best-selling gum is now available in recyclable packaging. There’s a reason some products are best-sellers and we will never lose sight of that, however there is room for both nostalgia and innovation at Perfetti Van Melle. Our heritage lies in innovation; in 1930 we pioneered the first chewy “Dragee” candy format; Mentos, and we continue to challenge the confectionery industry today. Whether that’s through exciting new flavours such as Mentos Discovery which features 14 exotic fruit flavours rarely seen in confectionery, or new and exciting formats such as jellies for Chupa Chups, and innovation through quality for Fruit-tella where we use real fruit juice to ensure it tastes as fruity as possible. Chupa Chups lollipops will always be iconic and we use that to our advantage, this year saw the launch of a Chupa Chups advent calendar allowing us to tap into the trend for non-chocolate calendars and give fans the chance to enjoy the brand in a new and exciting way in the run up to Christmas.
With sustainability being a priority across industries, what steps is Perfetti Van Melle taking to integrate eco-friendly practices into its operations and product development?
Sustainability is a big priority for us as a leading confectionery business. We’ve made some important changes to our products to ensure they can be recycled more easily, removing unnecessary plastic wherever possible. Mentos Pure Fresh Gum’s recyclable Paperboard Bottle1 has been a milestone move towards our ambitious SBTI targets to reduce GHG emissions by 42% by 2030, whilst Mentos Gum Duo Packs’ fully recyclable outer wrapper marks another category first. We made the switch to paper sticks for Chupa Chups lollipops a step that will contribute to the elimination of around 5k metric tons p.a. of plastic globally by the end of 2026. Sustainability is a primary focus for our R&D team and we’re committed to leading the charge within confectionery to ensure packaging does evolve and is more sustainable.
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