When the Linda McCartney food range was launched by Ross Youngs (now McVitie's Prepared Foods) in 1991, it was dismissed by most of the food industry and many consumers as faddish and for hardline vegetarians.

But the brand, now worth £50m, is showing every sign of becoming a freezer and chiller cabinet regular, having doubled in size in the past two years.

McVitie's has just invested [pounds]5m in a dedicated production facility for a new range of ready meals, currently one of the most buoyant sectors of the food market, under the Linda McCartney brand.

Last month it introduced meat-free international dishes, including Kashmiri Balti and Singapore Black Bean Noodles. The On Tour range neatly cashes in on two current food trends: healthy food and ethnic flavours.

This week sees the launch of a dessert range. Haldane Foods has been granted the right to use the brand by McVege Foods, the company formed by McCartney to supervise the licensing of her name and to monitor product quality.

The new yogurts and ice-creams are 'dairy-free' (ie cholesterol free), and fit in image-wise with the brand's other meat-free products.

The brand is also benefiting from a £3m TV ad campaign, its first for three years. Although concentrating on the meat-free mince product, it also backs the brand as a whole, says RPM3 account director Simon Gravatt. "We are showing the quality of the food, which reflects well on all the products sold under Linda's name," he says.

What's in a name

Like Jane Asher's cakes and Paul Newman's pasta sauces, the Linda McCartney brand benefits from the fact that many consumers, especially those interested in meal- or dairy-free foods, are aware of McCartney's social and political concerns. The fact she is known for her vegetarianism and concern for animal welfare means the products that bear her name come with an instant reputation. It also means that the brand has huge potential in the food sector.

"We have a number of new products under test," says Neil Gillis, marketing director meat-free at McVitie's Prepared Foods. Because the healthy eating trend is at an all-time high, boostedby numerous food scares and a buoyant economy, there is every chance that the Linda McCartney brand values could be transferred to anything from sauces to breakfast cereals.

But we are unlikely to see runaway Virgin-style brand stretching. The rights to McCartney's name are firmly controlled by the woman herself, aided by her friend, food scientist Tim Treharne, head of McVege.

Gillis meets McCartney and Treharne once a month to present product and promotional ideas. "Although she doesn't want to get involved in the minutiae of the commercial side, she is very interested in the food. We have to stay true to her ideals," says Gillis.

Ultimately the development of the brand will rest on creating widespread awareness among non-vegetarians, who still account for 96% of the population. "We're aiming at the 25% of people who are actively trying to cut down their intake of meat," says Gillis.

Copyright 1998 Haymarket Publishing Ltd., From the April 16, 1998 issue of Marketing.