The 160-year-old McVitie's brand is being relaunched today with a £12 million advertising campaign, focused on emotional themes to convey the "sweet" appeal of the category.
Launching today (3 February), it is the biggest campaign of its kind for its owner United Biscuits, with advertising focused on three products: Digestives, Chocolate Digestives and Jaffa Cakes.
The McVitie’s logo features prominently in all executions and all packaging has been redesigned to give the name more prominence. Brands including Club and Penguin will be brought under McVitie’s later this year.
The changes are being overseen by former Birds Eye boss and Marketing Society president Martin Glenn who became chief executive in April 2013.
At an event in London to mark the launch of the campaign, Glenn said the relaunch of McVitie’s is an example of how the company is “re-energising” to “take our place on the world stage”.
‘The business has been undermanaged,’ he said. ‘While the products are strong the biscuits are beginning to look old fashioned so we are launching new pack formats.’
But he refused to be drawn on whether there are current plans to float of the company later in the year, a move which is widely expected in some quarters: ‘I can’t comment. There are no plans to sell the business although I know there has been speculation, especially since the business has been owned this long.’
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
