McVitie’s biscuits will play up their “emotional” connection to consumers in a £12m relaunch of the brand.

United Biscuits UK has unveiled a multimedia advertising campaign to support the refresh of brands including Digestives, Chocolate Digestives and Jaffa Cakes.

A trio of 30-second ads airing from today each feature a different animal emerging from a pack of biscuits: puppies climb out of a packet of Digestives; kittens exit a pack of Chocolate Digestives; and the planet’s smallest primate, the tarsier, peeps out of a box of Jaffa Cakes.

The ads carry the strapline “Sweeet”, and are designed to evoke the “same feeling and emotional response to that of eating a simple McVitie’s biscuit”, according to UBUK.

The relaunch comes as the company moves all of its sweet products with the exception of Go Ahead! under the McVitie’s ‘masterbrand’.

“Our masterbrand campaign for McVitie’s is the result of 12 months of extensive customer research in which we aimed to get to the heart of the emotional role biscuits play in our lives,” said UBUK CEO Martin Glenn.

“Thanks to the strength of our heritage range, McVitie’s has come to represent 40% of the everyday biscuits market in the UK. The new campaign aims to tap into consumers’ love for these brands as well supporting our efforts to drive growth for the category.”

The Sweeet campaign will be supported by in-store promotions, press and online marketing, and social media.

McVitie’s packaging will also get a minor refresh, playing up the “wholesome” wheatsheaf logo.

Sales of McVitie’s Digestives grew 11.8% to £141.2m [Nielsen 52 w/e 12 October 2013], with the brand comfortably holding on to the number-one spot in the biscuit category in The Grocer’s 2013 Top Products Survey.

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