An aggressive assault on the snacks category in 2004 has been planned by the United Biscuits Group, which is raising its marketing spend for the year by 30 per cent to £44 million – its biggest-ever investment.

The programme kicks off with major initiatives on two brands within the KP Snacks portfolio – The Real McCoy’s and Hula Hoops.

The company is investing more than £3.5m on The Real McCoy’s, which will benefit from a major overhaul, including new packaging across core and Spice ranges; the launch of Spice Thai Sweet Chicken flavour; a new salted flavour to replace Rock Salt; new multipack larger pack counts and single-flavour packs; and the return of the ‘Bag of Best’ TV advertising campaign. Hula Hoops is being supported with a £6.5m package to create awareness of the innovations, which include: a new ‘inside and out flavour’ delivery system; a new limited edition Shake 2 Flava product (includes a sachet of BBQ Sauce seasoning for consumers to ‘create their own taste’); and a £4m TV campaign.

0800 1380813

Topics