Yes — if you want broad household appeal and clear price tiering in mass-market retail, I’d build the candy set around brands that are:

• widely recognized across age groups
• easy to merchandise by pack size / format
• strong on impulse and pantry-stock occasions
• naturally tiered from value to premium

Here’s a practical brand ladder:

1) Value / everyday indulgence

Best for high-volume, lower price-point shelves and impulse checkout.

• Tootsie Roll Industries
  • Brands: Tootsie Roll, Dots, Junior Mints, Blow Pops
  • Strength: very broad familiarity, strong value positioning, good single-serve and peg formats
• Atkinson’s / Goldbergs-style nostalgic value brands
  • Good for budget-friendly, old-school appeal if available in your market
• Smarties
  • Extremely accessible, low-cost, family-friendly

2) Mainstream mass-market core

These are the “everyone knows them” brands that tend to drive household penetration.

• Mars Wrigley
  • Brands: M&M’s, Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, Skittles, Starburst
  • Strength: strongest mainstream household appeal; easy tiering across singles, peg bags, share size, and family size
• Hershey
  • Brands: Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, Reese’s, Kit Kat, Almond Joy, York
  • Strength: very broad appeal, especially for chocolate and peanut butter; great for everyday grocery and convenience
• Ferrara
  • Brands: Trolli, Nerds, Lemonhead, Fun Dip, Brach’s
  • Strength: strong candy/novelty appeal with broad age reach, especially in gummies and sours

3) Premium / trade-up

These give you clearer premium cues and higher average selling prices.

• Lindt
  • Broad adult appeal, strong premium cue, easy seasonal and giftable merchandising
• Ghirardelli
  • Familiar premium chocolate, strong grocery and specialty crossover
• Godiva
  • More gift-oriented and premium, less everyday mass, but useful for top-tier positioning
• Russell Stover / Whitman’s
  • Good for boxed chocolate, seasonal, and giftable premium/value hybrid positioning

4) Better-for-you / adult-leaning premium

Useful if you want a higher tier that still sells in mass retail.

• Yasso / SkinnyDipped-style brands
  • More snack-adjacent than candy, but can help create a modern premium ladder if your retailer allows it
• Endangered Species / Unreal
  • Premium “better ingredients” chocolate positioning, adult appeal, natural/specialty crossover

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A simple price-tier architecture

If you want a clean assortment story, a common ladder is:

• Entry/value: Tootsie Roll, Smarties, some Brach’s
• Core mass: M&M’s, Snickers, Reese’s, Kit Kat, Skittles, Starburst
• Premium: Lindt, Ghirardelli, Russell Stover, Hershey’s premium lines
• Seasonal/gift: Godiva, boxed chocolates, large-format assortments

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Best brands for broad household appeal

If I had to pick the most universal names for a mass-market set, I’d start with:

1. M&M’s
2. Snickers
3. Reese’s
4. Kit Kat
5. Skittles
6. Starburst
7. Hershey’s
8. Trolli
9. Tootsie Roll
10. Lindt

That mix gives you:

• chocolate + non-chocolate
• kids + adults
• value + premium
• impulse + stock-up

If you want, I can also turn this into a tiered assortment plan by shelf role:

• checkout/impulse
• peg bags
• share size
• seasonal
• premium gift