Walkers plans new premium crisps brand

Walkers Snackfoods is launching a brand of premium crisps to compete with KP’s Brannigan’s, despite poor sales of its existing premium brand Double Crunch.

The range, called H Walker Originals, has three flavour variants: original, chargrilled steak and farmhouse cheese.

The crisps will be sold in sizes of 37g, 160g and six-packs of 35g. Packets will be on shelves by the end of the month.

H Walkers will not be supported by advertising in the first instance. In contrast, Walkers’ last brand launch, low-fat variant Lites, was backed by a multimillion pound campaign.

A spokeswoman says: “H Walkers will be counted as a brand extension and so no additional marketing budget has been assigned to the launch. They will simply appear on the shelves.”

Walkers remains the clear number one crisp brand in the UK. Its value market share rose 16 per cent in 1996 to 460m from 397m, according to figures from IRI InfoScan. KP’s share slumped by 20 per cent from 38m to 31m.

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