McVities, the UK biscuit maker owned by United Biscuits, yesterday launched a major new advertising campaign for its popular Penguin brand of chocolate biscuit, and in particular for the new Penguin Chukka sub-brand.
The £5 million (€6.97m) advertising campaign features a new TV spot for Penguin Chukka, as well as a major sponsorship package with the Cartoon Network which spans on-air, interactive, print and web activity.
The massive campaign forms part of Penguin's biggest ever brand activity in its 70 year history and is expected to grow the brand by 25 per cent during 2003, according to United Biscuits.
Alice Cadman, McVitie's marketing general manager for kids biscuits, said: "The campaign allows us to build on Penguin's cheeky and fun personality and demonstrates that Penguin is more than just a chocolate biscuit bar by showcasing the range.
By also linking up with Cartoon Network we are able to reach Penguin's target market perfectly, providing the ideal platform to launch the new Penguin sub-brands and give greater awareness to the more established products."
Penguin Chukka features pieces of chocolate, biscuit and caramel in a flip-top pot, and its launch will be supported by a new TV advert continuing the long-running 'p.p.p.pick up a Penguin' campaign.
The ad sees the animated Penguin character getting into trouble with some hairy-faced Scotsmen at a caber-tossing contest in the Highlands. The tagline of the ad is 'Don't just p.p.p.pick up a Penguin, Chukk one', and UB claims that it emphasises the way the product can be eaten anytime and anywhere.
The TV ad is expected to drive levels of awareness of the Chukka brand, reaching over 6 million children in 3 million UK households.
In addition to the TV spot, the Penguin brand will also sponsor a number of programmes on the Cartoon Network, building on a previous three-year partnership between the TV station and UB brands. A range of Penguin sub-brands will feature as part of the sponsorship deal, including Penguin Wing Dings, Flipper Dipper, Splatz and Mini Splatz.
An online promotion on the Cartoon Network's website will feature a number of Penguin-themed games, screensavers and wallpapers, while advertising in the Cartoon Network monthly magazines (circulation 110,000) will also feature product sampling allowing children to taste the biscuits for themselves.