As part of the revamp, Walkers will reduce the pack size of Sensations' regular line by 15g to 160g. The recommended retail price of some but not all packs will remain the same.
The brand is also replacing Sensations' white packs, featuring black and white photography, with a predominantly black design - the most significant packaging change since the range's launch in 2002.
The relaunched line, due to be rolled out in supermarkets from next month, will also include additional flavours. TV and press advertising, created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, will support the revamp.
Sensations' sales have been sliding for several years, according to Nielsen. Although the brand recorded a flat performance in the year to October 2008, when sales grew by just 0.4%, over the past five years it has posted a decline in its value sales.
In 2004, Sensations was the third-biggest bagged snacks brand behind Pringles and Walkers Crisps, with annual sales worth £105m; it is now worth £77m. Insiders have suggested that consumers no longer consider the brand to be as premium as at launch when it was backed by ads featuring football pundit Gary Lineker and Victoria Beckham.
A hive of activity is expected in the premium crisp category in the first half of the year.
Kettle Chips, for example, which grew by 41% last year, is to debut ads created by Isobel. Walkers is planning to launch another premium crisp brand, called Redsky, later in the year.
Procter & Gamble's Pringles Select brand, meanwhile, launched in September, is being backed by a TV push.
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