LH-S wins 3m Pillsbury brief…

Grand Metropolitan has appointed Lowe Howard-Spink to handle the 3m UK launch of a range of children’s snacks under the Pillsbury name.

LH-S, which already handles GrandMet’s Smirnoff vodka, beat Ogilvy & Mather to the creative and media buying account for the brand, Toaster Pocket.

Leo Burnett, which handles Pillsbury’s Jus-Rol pastry range, was unable to pitch due to client conflict with Kellogg’s Pop Tarts, while McCann-Erickson had to drop out because of a conflict with its Nestlé Crosse & Blackwell chilled pastry range.

Toaster Pocket will be launched in the autumn, but the advertising campaign is expected to break next year. It consists of a range of frozen savoury snacks, prepared in the toaster, and is aimed at ten- to 16-year-olds. If successful in the UK, the products are likely to be rolled out in Europe.

The Pillsbury Doughboy, the brand’s famous marketing icon, is expected to appear in advertising, which will be targeted at mothers.

Dominic Harrison, GrandMet marketing controller, says: “The agency is known to us through its work for other parts of the group, and we have been impressed with its creativity and knowledge of the sector.”

The move to resurrect the Pillsbury name – which is huge in the US – comes after two failed attempts in the UK market. The latest was in 1991, two years after GrandMet bought the Pillsbury business for 3.6bn, when a range of chilled dough products was launched. The American-style croissants and cookies failed to catch on and were axed in 1994.

Tim Lindsay, LH-S managing director, will personally be in charge of the Pillsbury account.