KP Snacks plans to revitalise the sales and brand image of Hula Hoops with a £7m marketing campaign targeted at teenagers. Central to the marketing activity is a £4.5m advertising campaign featuring a wacky hand puppet character, Hoopy McHula. He is made from a packet of Hula Hoops and he is the one who pulls the girls and scores the goals. Hoopy McHula (reminiscent of Flat Eric in the Levi's campaigns) replaces the Harry Enfield Self-Righteous Brothers' ads which focused on the shape of Hula Hoops. Julie Gallacher, marketing controller for Hula Hoops, said that campaign (last on air two years ago) had become too staid and one dimensional, and that the new one "will inject fresh energy into the Hula Hoops brand and create greater affinity with the target audience of 12-16 year olds". The two new commercials break on March 5 and run for four weeks on terrestrial TV. They will be backed by a PR campaign and competitions in teen press and football mags. The Hoopy McHula image will be used across all the brand's communications, including poster and radio advertising as well as on pack promotions later in the year. A website has also been set up (www.hoopymchula.co.uk), crucial for any campaign targeting teens. The Hula Hoops brand is worth £72.2m with a 10% rate of growth, though it is second to Pringles (worth £133m) in the snack category [Information Resources]. KP says the total UK savoury snacks category is worth £2.25bn. {{P&P }}

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