Dolmio Cooking Sauce

The company spent some £2.3m on the first products it launched last year, a four-strong range of premium pasta sauces, marketed under the 'Tastes of Italy' banner.

Aimed specifically at adult, rather than family purchasers, the sauces retail at £1.55 in 350g jars. Each featured individual place names for the particular flavours (viz; Taste of Sorrento involved cherry tomato and parmesan), and was marketed with a mix of in-store tastings, television commercials featuring the familiar Dolmio family puppets, and broadcast over six weeks, and a promotional tie-in with ITV's This Morning breakfast television programme.

In July the company consolidated and expanded one of its existing product lines with the launch of new and improved Bolognese sauces, which contained more tomato pieces than before.

Labelling was also improved, the Dolmio Chunky name replaced by 'Extras' labelling, and some £4m was spent on related television and press promotions for the enhanced ranges.

The Tesco supermarket chain was used as the launching point for its organic Bolognese sauce.

“Customer research identified significant interest in an organic recipe,” said Suzanne McFarlin, Dolmio's customer marketing manager.

The £11.6m Dolmio spent on product development last year is an indication of the seriousness with which the Masterfoods-owned company takes its market, which it identified as being worth £581m and growing annually at some 7%.

More specifically, the company claims to be the biggest player in the UK wet cooking sauce category, which it reckons is growing yearly by 6.6% and is worth some £280.3m. According to Dolmio, its market share is currently 20.1%.

Its Dolmio Bolognese Original line has enjoyed a 28.4% demand growth and is currently worth £13.7m, whilst its My Dolmio and Dolmio Express microwavable lines have seen a 6.4 % demand jump and are worth some £4m.

From 2006 the My Dolmio name has also been applied to a range of meals aimed at children. These have seen a 0.6% growth rate and make annual returns of £1.5m. Sales of Dolmio Express sauces have also prospered, with a 4.5% value share growth.

Not only has the company used the Tesco supermarket chain as the launch pad for its organic Bolognese, but it has also joined forces with a variety of retailer publications and dotcom operators to promote what it describes as 'exclusive competitions.'

2007 £120.4m
2006 £114.8m
yoy change 4.9%