Old El Paso Gets a New Look

"The new design means the brand is well placed to continue spearheading the development of Mexican food in the years ahead by attracting more regular purchasers."

18 Sep 2009 --- Old El Paso, the UK's No. 1 Mexican food brand, is set to further enhance the brand's social nature, increase appetite appeal and improve differentiation between products across the range with eye-catching new contemporary improvements to its iconic yellow packaging.

Not content with being the beacon for the Mexican category and its back to back double digit growth, General Mills UK, which markets and manufactures Old El Paso, plans for the packaging renovation to attract even more shoppers to the already successful brand and also to demonstrate the brand's category leadership credentials.

Andy Foweather, Sales Director of General Mills UK, said: "This design improvement is the next step in Old El Paso's category development journey.

"The new design is the output of extensive consumer research over the last 12 months. We're really excited about the opportunity to attract new shoppers to the fixture and to further grow the category.

"For years, the iconic yellow packaging of Old El Paso has been the beacon for the Mexican category. The new look keeps the shelf standout the brand has always enjoyed, but also benefits from improved food photography and better differentiation between the products in the range."

The new-look features a host of improvements including:

• An updated design that communicates brand authenticity and warmth

• Colour coding to help consumers differentiate between product and spice level

• Enhanced food photography to better communicate ingredients and appetite appeal

• More prominent GDA information featured on the front of pack to make it easier for shoppers to find

Ed Culf, Marketing Director, General Mills UK, said: "Old El Paso is the brand that paved the way for the rise of Mexican food by introducing it to the UK, making it both appealing and accessible.

"While the brand is in 13.2% growth, we are always looking for new ways to move the brand and category forward.

"Packaging is the key element communicating the brand's credentials at the point-of-sale, so it plays an important role attracting shoppers to the brand and the fixture."

Mexican food continues to perform spectacularly: it generated retail sales of £127 million - a rise of 9.1% - in the most recent 12-month period.

Old El Paso is the category leader accounting for more than 53% of business with sales of £68.1 million in the same period - an increase of 13.2% on the previous year*.

The design revamp will add a new dimension to the retail performance of the brand which benefits from a £5.5 million marketing support package.

Culf said: "This level of marketing back-up gives Old El Paso the power and the tools to educate and inspire consumers going forward.

"The new design means the brand is well placed to continue spearheading the development of Mexican food in the years ahead by attracting more regular purchasers."

The new-look Old El Paso range will be available from early September.RRP of £0.59