Bahlsen Biscuits is launching a £4m TV advertising push for the Pick Up biscuit bar brand it soft-launched last year.

Distribution of Pick Up - which comprises chocolate between two biscuits and is sold in five-bar multipacks (rsp: £1.69) - has been building in recent months following a trial in 110 Tescos. It is also now in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, and will this month roll out to Morrisons.

The brand and its ad campaign would help Bahlsen reach beyond the 40 plus audience of products such as its Choco Leibniz and appeal to “hard-to-reach” 20 to 39-year-olds, said Bahlsen marketing director Jonathan Duffin.

“This demographic are looking for a quick snack between tasks,” he said. “It is not a cute and cuddly campaign.”

The TV ad breaks on 1 March and features a ‘ninja chihuahua’ and the strapline ‘chocolate that demands respect’. It will be supported with PR, digital, online and sampling activity.

Pick Up would be merchandised with other chocolate biscuit bars - unlike Cadbury’s recently launched confectionery line, which sandwiches chocolate between Ritz or Lu biscuits.