Levi Roots has teamed up with Wallace & Gromit creators Aardman Animations for the TV advertising debut of his Reggae Reggae sauce.
The studio has created an animated version of Roots for the ad that breaks on 3 May and runs until the end of August.
Roots told The Grocer that the ad – which features his Reggae Reggae Sauce song – was part of a £2m push designed to take the Caribbean food market to the next level.
“We have had ve years of building the brand and now it’s time for us to capitalise on that,” he said.
Since Roots secured £50,000 from Dragons’ Den investors Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh on the TV show in 2007, the Reggae Reggae brand – estimated to be worth £30m – has been expanded into categories including ready meals, so drinks and snacks. Roots is now ramping up overseas expansion, which kicked o with launches in Canada and his native Jamaica, and is set to extend into Japan and the US.
“Dragons’ Den is not known in the US and we know it is going to be dif- cult, but why not?” said Roots. “A black Rasta man from Brixton who’s on a journey to bring Caribbean food to the people – now that’s got to get noticed.”
Roots will publish a book on Caribbean desserts later this year and said more brand extensions were on the cards.
“Perhaps a er that I can have a rest and let the puppet do some work,” he added.
Sales of Reggae Reggae sauce have grown 3% year-on-year to £4.5m [SymphonyIRI 52 w/e 19 March 2012].
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