Little Acorns went into 71 Asda stores this week

Hot dog supplier Ye Olde Oak has launched a kids’ range and is advertising on TV for the first time in more than 25 years.

This week, the Halifax-based business launched Little Acorns into 71 Asda stores and revealed it would be running its first TV ad campaign since the late 1980s. Featuring a new animated character, the push will start with a short burst on Yorkshire TV in June, followed by a national campaign from September.

The moves were part of “significant” investment planned for the brand in the wake of winning a bigger listing with Tesco last August when the retailer dropped Princes canned hotdogs, it said. As The Grocer revealed in October, Tesco started delisting dozens of Princes lines last summer in what is believed to be a trading dispute.

The extended listing with Tesco had helped boost its sales by 10% to around five million packs a year and increase its market share from 56% to 73%, said Ye Olde Oak.

Little Acorns would “widen the brand’s appeal to its core consumers of young families” and extend the brand from being a snack to a teatime staple, added Ye Olde Oak senior account manager Liam Racktoo.

The rollout introduces three variants of mini hot dogs in sauce - gravy, tomato and barbecue (rsp: 79p/210g), while the brand’s existing mini hot dogs in brine, previously sold under the Mr Greedy Mr Men licence, have been rebranded under the Little Acorns banner.

Ye Olde Oak was established in the UK in 1949 and is owned by Dutch business Struik Foods Europe.

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