Quaker is pensioning off Windy Miller to focus its marketing activity on the health benefits of oats.

In a £15m campaign that started this week, the company highlights oats' cholesterol-lowering health claims. The activity includes new packaging and products.

Two porridge variants - Real Fruit and Maple Flavoured Real Fruit - join the traditional Quaker Oats range, while the Oats So Simple line-up gets two more newcomers in the shape of Maple Flavoured Fruit and Nut and Nuts, Seeds and Orchard Fruits combinations.

The latter also come as packs of five sachets of oats and five toppings. Quaker claimed that 80% of consumers prefer to customise their oats with ingredients such as fruit or honey.

Packs have been redesigned with a greater focus on oats and their natural benefits, while still retaining the familiar Quaker logo.

"The Quaker brand is strong and trusted and our proposition is simple," said marketing director Carol Garbutt. "Our new look retains these elements while communicating the natural health benefits effectively."

Besides TV advertising, the media campaign will include direct mail and posters aimed at heightening awareness of raised cholesterol as a health concern and the role Quaker Oats can play in combating this.

According to the company, coronary heart disease is the UK's number one killer, with nearly half these deaths due to raised cholesterol levels.

Eating oats as part of a diet low in saturated fat and a healthy lifestyle is said to help to reduce cholesterol levels naturally. Oats contain beta glucan, a soluble fibre that, during digestion, helps to soak up cholesterol and remove it from the body.

"With more than 100 years of oat experience, we believe Quaker is ideally placed to help raise awareness of the risks of raised cholesterol," said Garbutt.