Lion is a brand of chocolate bar currently owned and manufactured by Nestlé. The brand was originally introduced by British company Rowntree's in 1976 and also produces Lion Cereal.Lion was first launched by Yorkshire confectionery company Rowntree's in Fawdon, Newcastle in 1976.[1] The production of Lion bars was moved to a factory in Dijon, France when it was bought by Swiss company Nestlé in 1988.[1]In 2004, Nestlé invested £6.7 million in the relaunching of the chocolate bar across Europe in countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany.[2] The campaign was suited to the target market of teenage boys which differed from Lion bar's traditional target market of 18 to 34-year-old males.[2] As part of the campaign Nestlé and TV channel Animal Planet launched a co-branded in-store promotion in 2000 stores in the United Kingdom.[3] The promotion included sampling designed to reach more than one million customers, as well as a TV campaign.[3] The sampling team gave away more than 650,000 Lion bars at ten shopping centres and 20 town centre locations.[2] Nestle brand manager David Hardwick said that following Nestle research the chocolate bar was made lighter and milkier and the caramel was made softer.[2] The size of the wafer was also reduced and more cream and crispy bits were added.[2] Hardwick stated that the only thing that had not changed was the recipe for the wafer.[2] [Wikipedia]
