No permitted lollygagging: novelties, fortification, tropical flavors punch up the sucker...

To kids today, it's not always the taste that matters, but how cool it is. It's not surprising to see that maxim apply to suckers. There are many new shapes, flavors and novelty creations peppering the lollipop industry right now. But what's really hot, according to one candy distributor, is

The company started out with a Batman Projector Pop in time for the release of Batman Begins, which projects the Bat signal onto a wall or a child's forehead while the child is sucking the lollipop. As a second feature, the lollipop lights up.

It's been such a hit, says Mike Cavalier, vice president of marketing, that the company has created projector pops for all occasions. Children tested over 60 different images and the best ones are being rotated in sets of three. Non-seasonal projector pops include girl power with flowers, a boy on a skateboard that reads "Busted Out" and a slam-dunking basketball reading, "slammin'." Holiday versions include cupid flying through the air, a witch on a broomstick and Santa and his reindeer.

"This is our hottest item," says Cavalier, whose company specializes in interactive candies. "'They're collectibles for kids."

Imaginings 3 has even created limited edition Hot Wheels Projector Pops as well as revisions of the Batman signal, such as Batman in action and the Batmobile. The company will continue making projector pops with licensed characters including something in the future for Disney's movie, Cars, to be released next summer.

But Imaginings 3 isn't the only company doing licensed products. Cap Candy of Napa, Calif., came up with full-body action figure Spin Pops in Darth Vader and Chewbacca just in time for the spring release of the last Star Wars movie. The company also came out with Star Wars Pop Toppers featuring a lollipop inside the heads of galactic heroes Yoda and Chewbacca as well as the villain, Darth Vader.

Yet, there's more than just licensing going on with lollipops these days. All of the handcrafted lollipops at Kencraft Confections of Alpine, Utah, have been redesigned this year with new characters, according to Frank Trinnaman, senior vice president of sales and marketing.

In addition, the company has come out with a new line called Classics by Kencraft, each packaged with a nice red bow and a Classics by Kencraft hangtag. The new line is an upscale version of its Lollipals and ChocoPals. "It's more of an adult-type gift," Trinnaman explains. "A little more expensive, very nice detail--a really nice looking lollipop."

For Christmas, the Classic Lollies look like a decorated Christmas tree, a red gift package with a bow or a decorated ornament. Ornately decorated heart-shaped pops in soft pastel colors and egg-shaped pops in pretty pastel colors are offered for Valentine's Day and Easter, respectively.

Chocolate Lollies are an upgrade to ChocoPals and include a Valentine motif, old-fashioned Easter bunnies and Santa for the holidays. "They're extremely beautiful," Trinnaman says of the Classics line. "We felt like we were stepping back in time and put a lot of time and decorations into the lollipops."

Each Classics pop is about 15 cents more than the regular Lollipals but as Trinnaman explains, "We wanted something very exclusive and very nice and we didn't let cost cut us down on our decorating. There's a market out there for those who want something very beautiful and very exclusive and they're willing to pay a little more money for it."

Other companies gearing up for the holidays include Jolly Rancher, of The Hershey Co., which introduced Creepy Fruity Shaped Lollipops last Halloween to its line of suckers. This year's new pops include spooky blue raspberry shaped like a ghost face, eerie apple as a light green core with a ghoulish face and wacky watermelon that's a red watermelon slice with a scary face.

"Consumers love the fun, bold fruit flavors of Jolly Ranchers," says Stephanie Moritz, spokeswoman for The Hershey Co. "We're always looking for new ideas."

The company is also offering pumpkin decorating kits for families to use this Halloween. Children can use Hershey Kisses for eyes, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for a nose and Jolly Rancher Lollipops for ears.

For Valentine's Day last year, Spangler Candy Co., of Bryan, Ohio, introduced a Dum Dum Pops Valentine Kit that provided 32 Valentine cards, stickers and Dum Dum Pops that slide into holes in the cards. The box itself is a mailbox with a flip handle where two of the four sides can be decorated by the child and taken to school as a Valentine box.

"We have a lot going on right now," says Diana Moore Eschhofen, brand and public relations manager for Spangler. This spring, she says the company will launch its Winnie the Pooh Lollipops for Easter. Each 8- or 10-oz. bag filled with 0.5-oz. pops will be in pastel colors with a Pooh character on it. "We're always looking at new options and new things to do with our products."

The company also began marketing Dum Dum in 24-count strips of assorted flavors and Dum Dum Gum Bunch Pops with seven multi-flavored pops sold together in a bunch.

Last fall, Spangler also began fortifying its Winnie the Pooh Saf-T-Pops with vitamin C. These trademark loop-handled Saf-T-Pops also have a letter or number on them allowing parents and teachers to use them as flash cards and in educational games.

Chupa Chups, which is distributed in the United States by Spangler, also started fortifying products. In an attempt to capitalize on the energy market, Chupa Chups is launching a reformulation of its Crazy Dips with Power Rocks this fall. The new formulation will include a vitamin B1 and B2 combination for its energy component, said Kirk Vashaw, director of contract manufacturing at Spangler. And it shouldn't be too hard to market it to kids with its NBA tie-in. Not only will the packaging showcase NBA players, but each pouch will contain stickers of NBA players inside.

Crazy Dips are an interactive lollipop in the shape of a foot that can be dipped in crackling candy that pops in your mouth. The concept is similar to Pop Rocks, but the crackling coating is a finer consistency. Crazy Dips comes in strawberry, grape and blue raspberry flavors.

Although most lollipops, including Crazy Dips, are fat-free, kids don't care about its nutritional value, says Vashaw. "It's a fun product. Kids buy it themselves."

At the end of last year, Chupa Chups introduced two fortified products: Chupa Chups Fat-Free Creamy Lollipops fortified with calcium and vitamins A and D in strawberries and cream, chocolate-vanilla and peach yogurt flavors and Chupa Chups Fat-Free Fruit Lollipops flavored with real fruit juice and enriched with vitamin C. The fruit pops come in strawberry, orange, watermelon and cherry. Whereas the Crazy Dips are marketed toward kids, the fortified products are advertised to parents.

Chupa Chups is also updating is graphics for its whistle pop line to give it a fresh look.

And, finally, Tootsie Roll Industries has added three new flavors to its line of Tootsie Roll Pops, strawberry, watermelon and blue raspberry. At least one of the three flavors can be found in the assorted bags, according to President Ellen Gordon. The Chicago-based company has also introduced a Tropical Stormz line of Tootsie Roll Pops, which include berry-berry punch, lemon-lime, strawberry-banana, citrus punch and orange-pineapple.

TOP 10 LOLLIPOPS

(Information gleaned from IRI's hard sugar candy/packaged and roll
candy category, for the latest 52 weeks ending July 10, 2005.
Encompasses food, drug and mass merchandiser totals, excluding
Wal-Mart.)

                                   Dollar Sales     % Change    Dollar
                                   (in millions)    Year Ago    Share

JOLLY RANCHER                          $42.6           10.4%       2.3
TOOTSIE ROLL POPS                      $20.8           -4.3%       0.1
CHARMS BLOW POP                        $14.9          -11.7%      -0.3
SPANGLER DUM DUM POPS                   $9.0           10.0%       0.5
STARBURST FRUIT CHEW POPS               $3.3          -18.1%      -0.2
TOOTSIE BUNCH POPS                      $3.3            1.6%       0.1
TOOTSIE ROLL CARAMEL APPLE POPS         $3.2           -2.1%       0.0
CHARMS ZIP A DEE DOD DA POPS            $1.1          -18.7%      -0.1
BUBBLICIOUS BURST POPS                  $0.7        5,602.7%       0.3
SPANGLER SAF-T-POPS                     $0.6          -31.5%      -0.1

                                    Unit Sales      % Change
                                   (in millions)    Year Ago

JOLLY RANCHER                          31.9            13.2%
TOOTSIE ROLL POPS                      11.1            -8.8%
CHARMS BLOW POP                        16.1           -13.2%
SPANGLER DUM DUM POPS                   4.0             9.1%
STARBURST FRUIT CHEW POPS               2.1           -15.4%
TOOTSIE BUNCH POPS                      5.9            -6.0%
TOOTSIE ROLL CARAMEL APPLE POPS         2.5            -6.2%
CHARMS ZIP A DEE DOD DA POPS            0.5           -20.3%
BUBBLICIOUS BURST POPS                  0.5         4,625.8%
SPANGLER SAF-T-POPS                     0.3           -28.7%

Source: Information Resources, Inc.