Hovis is relaunching its Seeded and Granary ranges, in what it calls its biggest campaign since the new ownership.

This signals the start of a ‘wave of activity’ planned for the brand before the end of the year. It will be the brand’s biggest marketing campaign since Hovis became a joint venture with The Gores Group and Premier Foods, and follows the appointment of a new chief executive for the brand - as Dairy Crest boss Martyn Wilks took the post in May.

The campaign aims to focus on the taste and health benefits of the seeds and sprouted wholegrains in its premium ‘bread with bits’ loaves.

The Hovis Seeded and Granary ranges will be rolled out with new packaging designs, as well as a coupon on its Wholemeal loaf, offering shoppers 30p off any Hovis Seeded or Granary loaf throughout August.

Jill McCall, marketing manager for premium at Hovis, said: “Research has found that consumers increasingly want foods that deliver health benefits for themselves and their family, and foods that are perceived as more natural and less processed are high on their list. The new-look premium packaging will meet this need by highlighting recipe improvements and claims regarding ingredients on-pack, and will create stand-out on-shelf, supported by a suite of POS for retailers.”

Wrapped bread has taken a hit of price cuts in the past year, and the UK retail value sales of pre-packed bread fell 5.6% to £1.87m in 2014. Despite this, Hovis enjoyed volume growth of 5.8% in the past 52 weeks (IRI 52w/e 13 June 2015.)

In February, Sainsbury’s slashed the price of large white and wholemeal Hovis loaves to 75p, as the competitive market against discounters remains.

This comes as British Baker announced this week that flour miller Rank Hovis managing director, Jon Gatfield, had left the business after just five months.

Hovis Limited employs approximately 3,800 people at nine bakeries, six flour mills and two regional distribution centres across the UK.