Debbie & Andrew's has unveiled plans to advertise on TV for the first time in a bid to boost its share of the sausage category.
Shoppers who bought Debbie & Andrew's sausages showed "fantastic loyalty" to the brand, according to co-founder Andrew Keeble, but penetration among UK households remained at only 4% within the chilled sausage category. "We really need to tackle the problem of awareness," he said.
The brand which is owned by meat processing giant Vion was therefore planning a multimillion pound 12-week campaign on ITV1 starting next March, he said.
The commercials would run alongside food and farming programmes.
Keeble said he hoped to grow the brand's penetration to 12% and its share of the premium sausage category from 23% to 40% by March 2013.
Featuring Debbie and Andrew Keeble and their children, the commercials would focus on the theme of "food, family and farming", said Keeble, who praised the efforts of Yeo Valley, which made its television debut last week with its 'rapping farmers' commercial.
"That is something we'd aspire to the effect of that advertisement is amazing," he said.
Meanwhile, Keeble revealed that Debbie & Andrew's had taken the decision six months ago to end its deal to sell co-branded Guinness pies in partnership with Diageo as they were "not making any money out of it".
"The Guinness pies were very good sellers but because Debbie and Andrew had to use a third party manufacturer, they couldn't make a decent margin, so it became unsustainable for them to continue," added a spokeswoman for Debbie & Andrew's.
When the deal was first agreed, Keeble described the arrangement as a "long, far-reaching contract".
Debbie and Andrew's is also set to launch branded cocktail sausages and sausage meat into some regional Asda stores in the run up to Christmas.
Shoppers who bought Debbie & Andrew's sausages showed "fantastic loyalty" to the brand, according to co-founder Andrew Keeble, but penetration among UK households remained at only 4% within the chilled sausage category. "We really need to tackle the problem of awareness," he said.
The brand which is owned by meat processing giant Vion was therefore planning a multimillion pound 12-week campaign on ITV1 starting next March, he said.
The commercials would run alongside food and farming programmes.
Keeble said he hoped to grow the brand's penetration to 12% and its share of the premium sausage category from 23% to 40% by March 2013.
Featuring Debbie and Andrew Keeble and their children, the commercials would focus on the theme of "food, family and farming", said Keeble, who praised the efforts of Yeo Valley, which made its television debut last week with its 'rapping farmers' commercial.
"That is something we'd aspire to the effect of that advertisement is amazing," he said.
Meanwhile, Keeble revealed that Debbie & Andrew's had taken the decision six months ago to end its deal to sell co-branded Guinness pies in partnership with Diageo as they were "not making any money out of it".
"The Guinness pies were very good sellers but because Debbie and Andrew had to use a third party manufacturer, they couldn't make a decent margin, so it became unsustainable for them to continue," added a spokeswoman for Debbie & Andrew's.
When the deal was first agreed, Keeble described the arrangement as a "long, far-reaching contract".
Debbie and Andrew's is also set to launch branded cocktail sausages and sausage meat into some regional Asda stores in the run up to Christmas.
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