Purists may wince. Chocoholics may rejoice. In a move that is apt to stir Oreo fans either way, Nabisco is tinkering with its top-selling cookie icon.
Nabisco has quietly begun distribution of Chocolate Creme Oreo cookies, the first new Oreo to pop out of its ovens in a decade. The dunkers, whose middles contain a cocoa-flavored filling, should be available nationwide by June, says a spokeswoman for Philip Morris Cos.' Kraft Foods division. Kraft acquired the Nabisco snack lines in December.
But Kraft, which is offering shares to the public in the next several weeks, is providing few Oreo specifics to chew on. Citing the company's "quiet period" mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission before a stock offering, the spokeswoman says, "I'm limited in what I can say about this."
In the past, Nabisco has made an early promotional splash when launching even seasonal varieties of Oreos, such as orange-centered cookies for Halloween and Oreo "magic dunkers," which turned eaters' mouths blue. Now, the Kraft division is planning to break a national television ad campaign by next Wednesday — with the goods already on some shelves. The ads are being created by FCB Worldwide, a unit of True North Communications Inc.
Though Nabisco had previously tinkered with its famous cookie, including a short-lived mint version, Kraft says its new all-chocolate indulgence represents the first-ever "permanent flavor change" for Oreo. The last major tweak to the cookie's taste profile was in 1987, when Nabisco launched fudge-covered Oreos. Last October, the company reintroduced its downsized Mini Oreos, but didn't trumpet that they briefly appeared in 1991.
A chocolate-stuffed Oreo might seem like an obvious line extension. After all, other cookie companies have knocked off the round-sandwich-cookie concept since Oreo's inception in 1912, using all sorts of flavors on the inside. (Oreo itself arrived after Sunshine Biscuits Inc.'s 1908 introduction of Hydrox sandwich cookies.) Kraft wouldn't comment on why brand managers waited 89 years to offer the alternate version.
The Oreo line has long been a blockbuster for Nabisco. In the 52-week period ended March 25, Oreo racked up $571 million in retail sales, according to Information Resources Inc. Sales volume rose 15 percent in the same period, while the overall cookie category posted flat growth.
In keeping with other snack foods, which seem to ever swell in size, the new Oreos are bigger than their traditional white-centered cousins. Though not double-stuffed, like an Oreo variety introduced in 1975, the new chocolate cookies contain what Kraft calls "a stuff and a half" — giving them about 50 percent more grams of fat.
Via The Associated Press