RETAIL / ADVERTISING : Forget the Barbie--Now the Aussies Want to Slip Some Snacks Into America’s Millions of Microwaves

Say G’day to Four ‘N Twenty.

The United States subsidiary of an Australian company has launched a radio campaign on Southern California airwaves to tout Aussie Snacks, a six-pack of two-ounce, Americanized microwaveable meat pies.

The pies, now available in supermarket chains--including Ralphs, Vons and Albertson’s--actually started appearing in frozen food cases in Denver and the Pacific Northwest two years ago. But that more authentic version--a six-ounce beef-and-mutton pie--proved a bit too, well, Australian for Yankee tastes.

The pies were scaled down to a rectangular finger food without the strong-tasting mutton. Two flavors--beef and barbecue beef--are now available throughout the West on a test basis. The recently launched radio campaign is intended to help gauge when Aussie Snacks can go beyond the testing stage--expected within six months to a year.

“We want to own the microwave, after-school segment,” said Lesly Craig, general manager of the Tustin-based North American subsidiary, called Four ‘N Twenty (Australia). Craig declined to reveal sales projections. The radio ads, set to run through Dec. 15, are budgeted as “well under $1 million,” Craig said.