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Lets take a trip down memory lane ...
The ChocolateMission Omnibus:
The week started off with my review of Paul.A.Young's Salted Caramel Chocolates that I found to be absolutely superb. Several readers including Alan, Brody, Laura and Rachel asked the question whether these could be mail ordered, which led to Paul's manager James popping in tell us that they indeed could indeed be made to order - further details on the review (See HERE).
Later on in the week I reviewed the final variant from Taste of Natures Cookie Dough Bites range - the Mint flavoured, whilst I also published my review on Ferrero's Duplo bar. I was surprised to learn from Susanne and Chris that I had in fact reviewed the Duplo that is in distribution in Italy and not the German one I thought.
A few days later I reviewed the Hotel Chocolat Mango Strips which were met with a great deal of positivity from Mark and many others who are obviously fans of Hotel Chocolat's chocolate coated fruit collection. I managed to pick up another couple of requests from readers in that review - I will endeavour to get them covered ASAP.
News from the Chocolate Market:
* The recession has even managed to even hit the confectionery market with Mars introducing some price marked pack for their Twix, Bounty, Mars and Snickers bars - 35p sounds good to me. See HERE
* Mars are also launching a new promotion on their bitesize selection packs with a '1 in 10 chance to win a DVD' competition. See HERE
* Nestle are also getting in on the act with a new on pack competition on their Kit Kat range with 35 million music downloads up for grabs. See HERE
* Cadbury have announced their first half results - claiming that overall sales are up 10% ... lord knows what they will deliver in Q3 & Q4 with the upcoming release of the Wispa Gold. See HERE
* Strong contender for article of the week ... 'Blue M&Ms help spinal injuries' :) See HERE
* Burnt Sugar are relaunching their adult confectionery line introducing some new packaging and smaller sized packs. See HERE
Posts from other Blogs I enjoyed this week:
Foodstufffinds - Just as I announced in the last edition of 7Days of Chocolate Reviews, Mars Treets are back and FSF as always managed to hunt them down first. My review will be up on Monday but see the FSF review HERE
Chocablog - Dom had a very justified rant at M&S for producing a blatant imitation product of the Mars bar. As Dom put so elegantly ... 'WHY??' ... come on M&S your better than that! See HERE
GiGi - I have seen some puzzling collaborations in my time ... but Mountain Dew and World of Warcraft!? Someone please explain me the significance of the two - GiGi didn't seem to know either. See HERE
ImpulsiveBuy - Marvo released the first ever Impulsive Buy podcast which is well worth checking out ... starring Marvo himself! See HERE
JapaneseSnackReviews - KitKat seem to be relentless in their innovation in Japan and the latest flavour they have come up with is Mango Purin ... 'Purin' being a milky sort of pudding. Sounds good to me! See HERE
Question of the Week:
'What do you think is the best looking product on the Chocolate Market'
... I don't mean the best tasting .... I mean the best one aesthetically!
Sunday, 2 August 2009
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11 comments:
Hey Jim
I can see where Dom is coming from with the M&S mars bar thing, though it's hard to imagine them tasting the same lol. Most stores do rip offs with varying success but I've never been too sure really why.
As for best looking choc product thats hard but from a wrapper point of view it would be the new Cadbury Dairy Milk range wrappers - love it/them! All choc looks pretty good in my view tho lol :)(except calorie mate!)
M&S are blatant copycats. They even have faux walnut whips, faux thorntons bars and faux toblerones. It seems to me they're missing an oppurtunity to do their own thang.
Have you tried anything from Burnt Sugar? The fudge is beyond sweet, it's more like butter tablet. The amount of sugar gives me the shakes. I still love it though.
Hotel Chocolat slabs are always pretty. Especially the xmassy ones and the swirly ones. Er, let's think, Guylian seashells look very suarvey. And it's probably just me but I find the green centre of mint aeros really mesmerising. Packaging-wise I concur with Alan, Cadbury do a good job. And I like milka packaging in a pretend-it's-a-wonka-bar way.
I think Sterling Confections look pretty awesome. Still have to try them though! http://sterlingconfections.com/default.asp?s=0
On a side note, do you know this blog? Good for keeping up with Kitkat developments (and being jealous for never ever seeing them in the UK!)http://jenkenskitkatblog.blogspot.com/
I like the more classical looking chocolates like the Kit Kat or plain Dairy Milk bars.
I much prefer bars with branding - I think Mars and Snickers need to sort this out.
I agree with Lottie Hotel Chocolat always do a magnifecent job with their chocolate slabs. The boxs they come in aren't always the best though.
I always think that Thorntons do a great job of presenting their products. They don't always taste the greatest but they tend to look rather pretty.
RXXX
Jim those Japanese Kit Kats you have reviewed have always looked superb. In fact I would say the majority of the things from Japan you have reviewed have looked awesome. Yummy :D
Jim those Japanese Kit Kats you have reviewed have always looked superb. In fact I would say the majority of the things from Japan you have reviewed have looked awesome. Yummy :D
Alan
The new Dairy Milk ones do look awesome in my opinion! I must say I am not liking the new Boost wrapper myself. I think the older one looked better myself.
Lottie
Yep I think M&S should try do their own thing ... they either just seem to produce knock off Mars products or knock off Thorntons ones!
I haven't tried anything from Burnt Sugar yet! I will take a look at their product line and try sort something out.
I think you have come up with the best looking chocolates ... Guylian sea shells win in my estimation!
Susanne
Thanks for linking both those websites I have never seen them before.
Sterling confections looks like an awesome brand to me! Really artsy! Might have to drop them an e-mail see if they are interesed in being featured.
Mark
I also like the more classical looking ones. Kit Kat always gets a tick in my book.
Not to sure about your idea for changing the Mars or Snickers though.
Anon 1
Hotel Chocolat always do a sterling job in my opinion.
Rachel
I think Thorntons can be a little lazy at times, their square bars range is often a little unimaginative.
Anon 2
Yep the Japanese products are always really well presented and often pretty fun looking. They seem to never hold back on their designs.
Thanks everyone
Jim
Hey Jim
lol I know what you mean about the Boost wrapper, it is quite an unusual design I have to say. I think perhaps that the old one is more along the sporty energy theme (apart from the daft claim).
But it had been the same for years and when I saw the new one I was rather taken with the fact that it was quite different to alot of chocolate bar wrappers and very different to any previous Boost wrapper. It's rare afterall to see that colour isn't it lol I was in two minds though, it made the bar look smaller for one! But of course it's all down to individual likes etc lol. Have you tried one in the new wrapper? They seem softer to me, esp the caramel part!
Thanks for the shout out Jim!
The WoW/Mountain Dew combo is actually because here in the U.S. Mountain Dew has a reputation for being the soda of choice for nerds/hard core gamers (and caffeine addicts like myself)
In a marriage made in marketing heaven Mountain Dew introduced the first Game Fuel flavor (which is now the Red Horde flavor) in 2007 marketed along side the release of the game Halo 3. The packaging contained art work from the game.
I myself wish they would bring back either Pitch Black or Pitcher Black II which were grape/sour grape flavored Dews.
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