Mondelēz International, Cadbury’s parent company, and Lotus Bakeries recently announced their strategic partnership, which will see the duo expand Lotus Bakeries’ Biscoff brand in India and develop co-branded chocolate innovations to appeal to both brands’ consumers.
Other confectionery collaborations
- Tony’s Chocolonely and Ben & Jerry’s are aligning their social justice missions. The brands have teamed up to end modern slavery and child labour in the chocolate industry. Ben & Jerry’s has joined Tony’s Open Chain, an initiative to tackle this social mission.
- Energy bar brand Grenade joined forces with chocolate biscuit brand Oreo to launch a new protein bar in milk and white chocolate varieties. The bar contains 21g of protein and Oreo biscuit pieces and is marketed as a high-protein, low-sugar variety.
- Online sports nutrition brand MyProtein announced its latest partnership with lollipop brand Chupa Chups in October 2023. The Myprotein x Chupa Chups collab has seen Myprotein formulate its nutrition bar in various popular Chupa Chup flavours, including strawberry.
- In June Nescafé joined forces with the Quality Street green triangle and Aero Peppermint to bring their chocolate and coffee offerings together in a new frothy coffee range.
They plan to first scale their presence in the cookie and chocolate categories before looking at other segments and markets. “Mondelēz will manufacture, market, distribute and sell the Lotus Biscoff cookie brand in India starting in H2 2025,” said a company spokesperson. For Mondelēz, the deal “significantly expands our presence in the fast-growing sweet biscuit category in India”.
It will form an important part of the company’s new product development strategy.
Calling India “a high-profile market”, Lotus Bakeries wants to become more visible and grow its sales there. As part of its partnership, it will use Mondelēz’s distribution network and local market presence. “We look forward to building on their commercial expertise and market-specific knowledge in India, and we believe now is the right time to expand our distribution in this growing market,” says Jan Boone, CEO of Lotus Bakeries. “More specifically, the addition of Biscoff to our portfolio addresses a key white space of premium tea time/coffee biscuits in India.”
Dirk Van de Put, Chair and CEO of Mondelēz International agrees: “This partnership will help accelerate our strategic focus on the cookies category by introducing a premium brand that is widely loved in numerous markets to a much wider audience,” he says.
Building on each other’s big name brands
Chocolate heavyweight Mondelēz International is available in over 150 countries worldwide. The owner of leading household brands Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka, Toblerone, and Oreo achieved 2023 net revenues of approximately $36 billion. Meanwhile, at almost 100 years old, indulgent snacking brand Lotus Bakeries has numerous brands, including Lotus, nākd and Biscoff. Its Biscoff products have gained more popularity in recent years, appearing in diverse formats such as spreads and shakes.
“For Mondelēz, they have the opportunity here to leverage the much loved Biscoff brand, which has become a ‘go-to’ for food and drink content creators and social media content for its distinctive taste and flavour,” says Kate Williams, Founder of KW Marketing. For Biscoff, meanwhile, the collaboration cements them as more than just a ‘spread’ and shows they are a true contender in the confectionery and sweet sector. “They can leverage other household brands whilst showing they can be more than just a biscuit flavour.”
Big-name brands team up
“We are seeing more and more collaborations like this as food companies benefit from these partnerships,” says Vhari Russell, Founder of the Food Marketing Experts.
They enable them “to benefit from each other’s brand following, sales channels, social media power and reputation” she says. “Consumers can be very brand loyal so it can be an ideal way of driving sales and trial for new customers.”
“We’ve seen consumers love the chance to get ‘limited edition’ collaborations or to even have a say in what the latest release or new product development is,” says Williams. “Creating limited edition collections or flavour combinations will be sure to pique the interest of foodies and sweet tooths, and they’ll be sure to share their excitement online, driving others to do the same.
“The recent news that Mondelēz and Lotus Bakeries have come together is a brilliant move by both brands and the perfect opportunity for cross-marketing to both audiences,” she adds.
Lotus is now able to collaborate with the range at Mondelēz creating hype that novel and exciting ranges are on the way. “It’s the perfect example of ‘demand marketing’,” says Williams.