Oreo - International Distribution - China

China

Oreo cookies were introduced to Chinese consumers in 1996 and sales gradually grew. By 2006, Oreo became the best-selling cookie in the People's Republic of China, after altering its recipe to have a lower sugar content to suit local tastes. Kraft Foods also introduced smaller size packages of Oreo cookies that became more affordable to the majority of Chinese consumers. Kraft began a grassroots marketing campaign in China to "educate" Chinese consumers about the American tradition of pairing milk with cookies. The company created an Oreo apprentice program at 30 Chinese universities that drew 6,000 student applications. Three hundred of the applicants were trained to become Oreo brand ambassadors, and some students rode around Beijing on bicycles with wheel covers resembling Oreo cookies and handed out cookies to more than 300,000 consumers. Others organized Oreo-themed basketball games to reinforce the idea of dunking cookies in milk. Television commercials depicted children twisting apart Oreo cookies, licking the cream center and dipping the chocolate cookie halves into glasses of milk.

Although sales improved, Kraft still felt the Oreo could do better and decided to reinvent the traditional, round biscuit to a wafer. The new offering was called Oreo Wafer Sticks and consists of four layers of crispy wafer filled with vanilla and chocolate cream, and on the exterior is coated with chocolate. The wafer was also formulated to ensure that the chocolate coating was not too sweet for Chinese consumers and product could be shipped across the country---withstanding the cold climate in the north and the hot, humid weather in the south. The new Oreo was outselling traditional round Oreo cookies in China in 2006, and Kraft has begun selling the wafers elsewhere in Asia, as well as in Australia and Canada. Kraft has also introduced Oreo Wafer Rolls, a tube-shaped wafer lined with cream, in China. The hollow cookie can be used as a straw through which to drink milk.

Over the period of 2006–2007, Kraft doubled its Oreo sales in China, making China the second-largest Oreo market globally behind the United States. With the help of those sales, Oreo revenue topped $1 billion world-wide for the first time in 2007.

Oreo introduced new flavor varieties from 2008 through 2010. Oreo with strawberry creme filling was introduced in 2009 and Oreo Ice Cream flavors were introduced in 2010. Oreo Ice Cream flavors included Vanilla and Green Tea ice cream flavors. "Double-Fruit" flavored fillings, orange and mango or strawberry and blueberry, are also available. Mini Oreo, a smaller version of the original cookie, were introduced to China late in 2010. In April 2012, in celebration of Oreo's 100 year anniversary, Birthday Cake Oreos, debuted in China.

Oreo used Shanghai-born Yao Ming, the tallest player in the National Basketball Association, as a brand ambassador, featuring him 'dunking' Oreo cookies like a basketball in its 2010 Oreo advertising campaign.