Kraft gets competitive with new chocolatey peanut butter

Kraft unveiled its latest flavour this week: peanut butter with chocolate. Advertised as having “50% less sugar than the leading hazelnut spread,” it appears to compete with Nutella.

The product is currently being promoted on Facebook and Twitter. The brand held a Twitter party on Feb. 12 to play up the product’s chocolate aspect just before Valentine’s Day.

A magazine ad campaign, created by Starcom, will run nationally in English and French beginning in April. Edelman is handling the PR.

Kraft says the product is a response to customer requests; fans on Kraft’s Facebook page recently selected chocolate as their number one choice for a new product.

“Canadians told us that it was important to them that they had a breakfast spread option with less sugar but just as much taste compared to the products currently on the market,” said senior brand manager Aaron Nemoy.

Kraft launched four other peanut butter flavours earlier this year, including Honey, Banana Granola, Cinnamon Granola and Cranberry.

This isn’t the first time Kraft has put chocolate and peanuts together. As some fans on its Facebook page noted, the company launched a line of flavoured peanut butters called Koogle in the 1970s, which included a chocolate option.

This article appeared in Marketing magazine.