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Well, like I said, the causality for that one runs the other way. HP got the Hugo after the earlier books had already become very popular with the general public, rather than getting a higher profile because of the award. I think I recall reading some sort of retroactive commentary that back then, there was some argument as to whether it should have qualified for the Hugo, being "mainstream" and all and not marketed through the usual imprints/outlets.
Not to mention, at one point J.K. Rowling actually was quoted as saying something along the lines of "I didn't think I was writing fantasy at all; just ordinary children's tales", to which Terry Pratchett retorted something along the lines of "wizards, dragons, elves, and a magical school; what part of these things did you not think of as fantasy?"
Reminds me of Margaret Atwood trying to live down her Arthur C. Clarke award for The Handmaid's Tale by claiming that since Oryx and Crake didn't involve rocketships but instead portrayed a speculative post-apocalyptic near-future scenario based on genetic engineering technology we don't have yet going horribly, terribly wrong, it couldn't possibly be that nasty old *science fiction*.
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