Lineker back in Walkers launch

Top three grocery brand and market leader Walkers Snack Foods is to unveil its latest Gary Lineker ad in the “No More Mr Nice Guy” campaign for the launch of a new flavour.

Barbecue flavour crisps will appear in the shops in June in a distinctive black-coloured pack, alongside Walkers’ ten other flavours.

“The choice of black will certainly make the product stand out on the shelves. It is all the more attractive because it is being backed by another Lineker ad,” says one source close to Walkers.

The “No More Mr Nice Guy” campaign, through BMP DDB, has achieved high levels of brand awareness. The agency won the advertising account in July 1994.

Walkers Snack Foods, a subsidiary of PepsiCo Foods International, has a 52 per cent share of the crisps market by value (IRI Infoscan 1995).

Martin Glenn, vice president marketing for Walkers, says:”Consumers associated the colour black with the smokiness of barbecues. It’s clearly not a children’s flavour; it’s aimed at the teenage and adult market.”

Walkers Crisps was named Brand of the Year in the fast-moving consumer goods category in the ITV Awards for Marketing 1996, sponsored by Marketing Week, ITV and The Marketing Society (MW April 5).