Armour hot dogs. You know the jingle.You're probab

Armour hot dogs. You know the jingle.You're probably humming it right now. Hot dogs. Arrrrmour hot dogs. What kind of kids eat Armour hot dogs?Fat kids, skinny kids, and this summer, those overgrown kids we call professional baseball players, eight of whom will make their singing debut as part of Armour Swift-Eckrich's relaunch of the brand.

The Armour makeover includes a new name, Armour Stars?the stars being the eight MLB players, all of whom are featured on the package?"dramatic," in the words of Armour Swift-Eckrich president Steve Silk, product quality improvements, and a higher retail price point.

"For the most part [Armour hot dogs had been] a line sold at a low price for kids' consumption," Silk says. "We felt there was more profitable volume to be made."

The reformulation and $9 million marketing program are designed to bring Armour Stars up to the level of mid-range players like Oscar Mayer and Ballpark. That campaign includes the new packaging, which was set to begin appearing on-shelf this month, as well as FSIs, a promotion offering a trip to the All-Star Game, and national network radio spots on which the ballplayers sing an updated version of the Armour jingle.

While lifting Armour out of the price-brand basement, Chicago-based Armour Swift-Eckrich is also working to establish its Hebrew National brand as the premium beef frank nationwide. Armour began rolling the brand out nationally last year, says Hebrew National marketing director Leigh Platte, and it's now available in about 70 percent of the country. Overall, the rollout increased Hebrew National's volume by 35 percent, and made the brand the No. 3 beef frank behind Ballpark and Oscar Mayer, Platte adds.

"Since the launch we've been going into bigger markets like Chicago and partnering with retailers to entrench ourselves locally," Platte says. He cites Jewel in Chicago as a good example. Hebrew National has sponsored an independent hockey team in concert with the chain, and pulled off a three-way promotion with Jewel and Pepsi. Similar programs with Publix in Miami have made that chain the brand's No. 1 retailer.

Even in Midwest markets where an ethnic brand might not be expected to do well, Platte says that a marketing menu including sampling efforts, coupons, and in-store programs has won converts. "If consumers don't find our brand on the shelf, they won't buy another brand," Platte says. "We have 80 percent loyalty, the highest of any brand in the category."

A new execution of the brand's tongue-in-cheek "We answer to a higher authority" campaign is due out this month, ahead of Hebrew National's summer "Buy the Franks, Win the Rolls" sweepstakes.

The Rolls in question is a vintage Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, but since focus-group participants voiced doubt about chances of actually winning the car, "we made the Rolls the lead item and we're giving away 43,000 other prizes," Platte says, including Weber gas grills and free packs of Hebrew National franks.