Golden Wonder picks Leith to oversee brand relaunch

Golden Wonder, the iconic British savoury snacks brand, has appointed The Leith Agency to handle its advertising business, without a pitch.

The incumbent was JWT, before the brand was bought from the receivers by Northern Ireland-based food company Tayto (NI) in February. When the company went into receivership in January, the marketing budget – at that time estimated to be &£1.3m – was suspended.

Golden Wonder has also appointed Feather Brooksbank to handle its UK media planning and buying.

Tayto Stephen Allen marketing manager, would not comment on budgets, saying that Leith’s first task would be to assess the brand’s strengths and develop a marketing strategy. The agency’s specialist planning arm, Leithal Thinking, is already working on brand planning.

Golden Wonder claims it is still a popular brand in Scotland, and it is understood that Tayto hopes to capitalise on that strength before embarking on any activity south of the border.

Allen says that Leith impressed Tayto with its work on the company’s Tayto brand in Northern Ireland, and adds “given their experience on other Scottish brands such as Irn-Bru and Tennent’s Lager, they were a natural choice.” Tayto also uses Belfast-based integrated agency Fire IMC.

Tayto bought the Golden Wonder, Nik Naks, Golden Skins, Golden Lights, Wheat Crunchies and Ringos brands in February for an estimated â¬22m (&£15.23m). It then sold Nik Naks and Wheat Crunchies to UB UK.

Tayto was involved in the bidding for Irish food and drinks group C&C’s crisps division, also called Tayto, but pulled out. C&C’s Tayto was bought by Largo Foods, which was already producing the brand for C&C, for â¬63m (&£43.6m) last week.