Potato chips industry in Denmark, Norway and Sweden started with the direct influence of the United States of America. Some of the first manufacturers in this region started producing chips after trips to the United States. Some of them even launched their business in collaboration with American companies. This can be seen in the design of their logotypes and later with choosing elements for shaping the bag visuals. Most of them still follow their trends, but over the years they also learned to listen to the needs and wants of their consumers.
by Barbara Zec
DENMARK
Orkla Confectionery & Snacks is a part of Orkla Group, one of Norways oldest business conglomerates and a leading supplier of branded consumer goods in the Nordics and Baltics. It is also an owner of the most popular potato chips brands in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: KiMs on Danish and Norwegian market, Taffel in Denmark and OLW in Swedish market.
KiMs is a brand of chips and snacks owned by Orkla Group. It was first named Kim, in 1961, but one German manufacturer of cigarettes already used and registered this name as a cigarette brand. That is why the brand name was later changed in KiMs. The first owner was Danish Odense Marcipanfabrik. Later it was sold to Nora Industries and finally, with merging with Orkla in 2013, it became a part of the Orkla Confectionery & Snacks DK. This year it celebrates fiftieth anniversary.
In Denmark, KiMs has around fifty percent of market share, which is about five times more than its closest competitor. They have their own brands but they also produce snacks for some of the leading international chains.
Under the brand name Kim’s they offer a small range of products for the Danish market. The most popular are Sour & Cream, American Grill, Franske Kartofler and Havsalt flavour.
NORWAY
KiMs and Lay’s are extremely popular in Norway, too. Two very strong domestic brands are Maarud and Sørlandschips.
With two sister companies, Taffel in Denmark and Estrella in Sweeden, Finland and Baltics, Maarud is a part of Estrella Maarud Holding AS owned by Herkules Capital until last year. In May 2014 they were sold to German Intersnack Group.
SWEDEN
Before mentioned Orkla Group owns another potato chips brand popular in Sweden. It is OLW, Old London Wasa, one of the oldest companies in Norway. OLW was founded in 1967 by Wasabröd. It was formed as partnership between Wasabröd, the world’s largest manufacturer of crispbread, and US chips manufacturer Borden Foods. Since 2014, it is a part of Orkla Group.
In 2009 they started to build their marketing strategy around the word “Friday” and the feel you get at Friday at five o’clock when the weekend starts. Swedes practice the idea of “Fredagsmys”, that can be translated as “Friday cosiness”. OLW shares that idea with their slogan “Leve fredagsmyset!”, in English something like “Long live the Friday cosiness”.
When it comes to packaging, the most recognizable element is their logotype. It is a big red circle with white OLW written inside and a couple of stars around it to remind of their American part. They have a wide range of snack products including several potato chips sub brands.
You can read the full exclusive article in the September-October issue of Potato Processing International magazine.
