
Barney Banana is making another comeback, but not in the form most fans will remember.
This time, the nostalgic freezer favourite has been folded into a Maxibon, combining banana-flavoured ice cream with choc biscuits and choc vanilla biscuit crumb.
Barney Banana first launched in 1958 and has had a stop-start life on supermarket shelves ever since. Fan demand helped bring it back for limited-edition runs in 2009 and 2017, and the requests clearly never went away, with petitions, Reddit threads and comment sections still calling for another return.
“Barney Banana is one of those products Aussies have an incredible amount of nostalgia for. We knew if we were going to bring him back, we had to do it in a way they wouldn’t expect,” said Peters Ice Cream Head of Marketing Andrea Hamori.
This time, instead of simply re-releasing the original, Peters has paired it with Maxibon for what it says is a first for both brands.
The new Maxibon Barney Banana features banana-flavoured ice cream between two choc biscuits, with the other end dipped in choc vanilla biscuit crumb.
“Pairing that iconic banana flavour with Maxibon felt like the perfect way to give an Aussie favourite a new lease on life. We think longtime Barney fans are going to go bananas for it, while those meeting the Aussie icon for the first time might just discover a new freezer favourite. It might even turn the heads of a few banana deniers along the way,” Hamori said.
The launch has already started making the rounds with food creators. @nickvavitiss called it the “perfect balance of choc and banana”, while @nectoriouspapi’s review has pulled in hundreds of comments from people keen to try it.
Nostalgic food releases have been everywhere lately, with old favourites repeatedly returning in new formats. Research cited by the brand found 42% of consumers are motivated to try familiar favourites with a fresh twist.
Maxibon Barney Banana is now rolling out nationwide in multipacks at Coles, Woolworths and independent grocery stores for RRP $5.60, as well as loose packs in petrol, convenience and impulse stores for RRP $11.50.
For longtime Barney Banana fans, it is another chance to revisit a freezer classic. For everyone who missed it the first few times around, it makes for a a fairly chaotic introduction.
Source: Wired Co.
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