Hovis launches British Farmers Loaf with £3.5m marketing push

By Sarah Shearman, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Friday, 11 May 2012 04:50PM

Premier Foods brand Hovis is investing £3.5m in an integrated marketing campaign to back a new premium product called British Farmers Loaf.

British Farmers Loaf: new Hovis product

The £1.40 loaf, which comes in wholemeal and white variants, is made from 100% British wheat and is Hovis’ biggest launch of the year.

The campaign, created by Dare, starts this weekend with a TV ad showing a father and son overcoming the daily challenges of working on a farm and portraying the hard work that goes into making each loaf.

The ad will run on TV for the next four weeks, with a second burst in August. It will be supported by radio, digital and PR activity.

As part of the activity, Hovis is sponsoring British Sandwich Week next week. During the week, it will be running an ‘Ultimate British Sandwich’ campaign, fronted by celebrity Jodie Kidd.

Starcom handled the media for the campaign, booking the TV into tomorrow's 'Britain's Got Talent' final.

At the start of this year, Premier Foods announced it was committed to doubling its annual marketing spend across its eight key brands, which include Hovis, while at the same time cutting costs and disposing of non-core businesses.

More recently, the food company reduced its consumer marketing spend by 19% last year to £25.6m.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk