Weetabix is boosting its Alpen brand by adding a premium tier called Groove to its cereal bars and new upmarket flavours to the boxed cereals range.

Set to hit shelves in June and aimed at women, Groove comes in Sassy Strawberry, Lively Lemon and Nutty Chocolate flavours, with a yoghurt or chocolate coating, it offers a point of difference - a groove down the middle for a soft filling.

It extends the company's recent raft of innovations, which have marked its ambitions in both oat and wheat-based lines.

Alpen bars have performed strongly in the past year, but the boxed cereals have flagged as supermarket own-labels and rival producers have increased their premium offerings. To combat this, the company is updating packaging, with the Alpen branding running vertically, and bringing out two premium lines.

Nut Crunch combines hazelnuts, pecans and cashews with oat clusters, while Alpen High Fruit, which contains 42% fruit, claims to provide one of the 5-a-day portions of fruit or veg in every serving. TV advertising will back the full Alpen range later in the summer.

"The Groove launch activity behind the core Alpen brand range shows we are committed to growing and supporting core brands while looking at new ways to grow the category," said marketing controller Tony Corp.

Weetabix is spending a total of £25m in marketing support for its portfolio this year, with £5m going on the oat-based ranges, including Oatiflakes, launched earlier this month.

"Our aim is to carve out a sizeable new market with innovative oat-based cereal launches that respond to the need for healthy cereals by delivering the benefits of oats in an accessible family format," said Corp.

Weetabix is adding raisin, cranberry and blackberry variants of Oatiflakes later this year, while Oatibix will get a bite-sized version andSeriously Oaty porridge will be brought under the Oatibix branding.

Weetaflakes is set to get a pack redesign and a £2m TV campaign in the summer.

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