United Biscuits UK is bringing all its sweet biscuits under the McVitie’s banner as it looks to grow its business by 50% over the next five years. From January, it will roll out new-look McVitie’s packaging and make four of its Jacob’s ranges – Club, BN, Iced Gems and Fig Rolls – part of the McVitie’s brand under a new “master brand” strategy.
It will be supporting the activity with a £12m push it claimed was its “biggest-ever” campaign.UBUK savoury brands including Cheddars and Mini Cheddars will be re-branded as Jacob’s, while Go Ahead! will remain a standalone.
UBUK said the move was part of a “focused and integrated programme of marketing initiatives” that would increase the size of the business from £400m in retail sales to £600m over the next five years.
Everyday biscuits such as McVitie’s Digestives would be at the heart of the strategy, according to UB, which is rolling out Chocolate & Orange Digestives as part of a string of launches planned for early 2014.
The business said it was also adopting a new approach to its advertising after appointing agency Grey London. Launching in February, the multichannel campaign would comprise ads featuring featuring McVitie’s three biggest brands – Original Digestives, Chocolate Digestives and Jaffa Cakes – under new strapline ‘McVitie’s… Sweet’.
“Biscuits are already an intrinsic part of our daily lives but we know there is a huge opportunity to grow the category further by adding more excitement,” said Sarah Heynen, marketing director for sweet biscuits at UBUK.
“By harnessing the power of the McVitie’s brand, we will modernise and grow the category.”
The move comes seven months after former Birds Eye boss Martin Glenn became UBUK chief executive.
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