Bloom stirs Horlicks with packs for extra-light range

GlaxoSmithKline’s hot drinks brand Horlicks is this week unveiling an extra-light range, with packaging design by Bloom.

Horlicks appointed the consultancy to carry out design work for the brand in January, following a two-way pitch against Blue Marlin.

The consultancy was tasked with ‘building additional warmth into the brand and to communicate the positive aspects of sleep’.

The new range, Horlicks Extra Light, comes in five flavours – traditional Malt, Malt Chocolate, Dreamy Vanilla, Cosy Caramel and Heavenly Amaretto.

A media spend of £4.2m, which includes television advertising, supports the product launch, which aims to increase the brand’s appeal to younger consumers and reinvigorate the category.

‘Horlicks Extra Light will bring younger consumers to the malt drinks market,’ says Alex Pettigrew, Horlicks senior brand manager. ‘We’re targeting 25- to 45-year-olds and our research shows that this market often leads hectic lives and finds it difficult to unwind before bed,’ he says.

As part of the Extra Light range packaging, the Horlicks moon image has been retained, but made ‘warmer’, nestling into the clouds. This is intended to cue the ‘dreamy’ sleep state that people experience before falling asleep.

‘We were also tasked with communicating the wholesome qualities of the product,’ says Bloom managing director Jill Marshall, ‘and clearly differentiating the new product from the existing Original and Light variants.’