Premier Foods backs Power Brands with TV ads

30-Jan-2012 - Last updated on 31-Jan-2012 at 13:45 GMT

Related tags Loyd grossman Premier foods

Hovis is one of the Power Brands that will feature in Premier's ad campaign

Premier Foods is stepping up its Power Brand plan after announcing a major TV advertising push as md Michael Clarke continues his plan to stabilise the business after a troubled 2011.

The new campaign is part of Premier’s strategy to double its marketing spend to more than £50M for this year. It will be the largest concentrated period of TV advertising that the firm has launched, a statement revealed.

Practical investment will be focused on the firm’s key brands, which include Ambrosia, Hovis, Mr Kipling, Loyd Grossman, Batchelors, Oxo, Sharwoods and Bisto. The new adverts will hit UK screens from February 2 and will run until the end of April.

Committed

Clarke said: “The awareness and popularity of our Power Brands remain strong but it’s clear that we haven’t invested enough in marketing compared with our competitors. I’m committed to changing that. The new TV ads are just the start of things to come.”

Sharwood’s 'Great British Curry' will be the first campaign to air and is part of a wider £6M marketing campaign targeting UK curry lovers, according to Premier.

These will be followed by a £2M Loyd Grossman campaign and a £10M Hovis push, which seeks to build on the brand’s 'British goodness'.

Premier announced its focus on the Power Brands in October last year as a key strategy to restore the business as it battled debts of over £1bn. This plan was rocked the following month, however, after it was revealed that three children from the same family were hospitalised after contracting botulism from a jar of Loyd Grossman korma sauce.

The siblings made a full recovery and later returned home but investigations into the matter continue.

As Premier continues its recovery under Clarke, it announced on January 17 that it planned to axe up to 600 jobs across the firm in a bid to reach a cost reduction target of £40M. This accounts for 5% of Premier’s 12,000-strong workforce.

Powders business

The firm has also now confirmed that further jobs will be cut at its powders business in Knighton, Staffordshire.

Premier told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the business, which produces well-known brands such as Cadbury’s drinking chocolate, Angel Delight and Bird’s custard powder, was currently talking to its employees and expected to cut “a small number of jobs”.

The job cuts were a result of a contract loss at the plant which was caused by a major client restructuring its supply chain, a spokeswoman revealed.

She said: “The potential redundancies are a result of a contract loss due to our previous customer’s desire to restructure its supply chain.

“It is never an easy job for us to come to such a decision but it is separate from the announcement on January 17, which is a result of the driving efficiencies from the firm’s central functions. We will obviously endeavour to keep redundancies to a minimum.”

The firm confirmed it was now “in talks with its employees” but declined to specify how many jobs will be affected.