Multigrain Cheerios is taking on dieting, promoting healthier alternatives instead, as part of its latest campaign, which includes a partnership with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, Go Girls!
Aside from financial and resource support, the General Mills cereal brand will also provide media support for the program that mentors girls aged 12 to 14 and helps them to develop healthier lifestyles.
“Through consumer research, we learned that there’s an increasing trend towards young girls dieting earlier and earlier,” Jason Doolan, director of marketing, cereal, General Mills Canada, tells MiC. “We realized there was an opportunity to give voice to what a lot of consumers were thinking or knew – that there’s a better way to be healthy than deprivation.”
With media by ZenithOptimedia and creative by Cossette, Multigrain Cheerios’ new campaign is aimed at women above the age of 35 who are in a position to influence younger children.
Doolan says the campaign is significantly larger than past efforts for the Cheerios sub-brand in terms of both spend and breadth, noting that the size of the campaign puts it on par with typical projects for Honey Nut Cheerios, which is Cheerios’ largest sub-brand.
He adds that the campaign will differ from campaigns for other Cheerios brands, in that it will play itself out seasonally, intensifying the buy for the launch and also after the December holiday season, when consumers are more receptive to messages around health and weight management.
He says this campaign is one of the most tightly integrated programs Multigrain Cheerios has rolled out, noting that TV will be the linchpin, with spots airing across conventional and specialty channels like CTV, City, Canal D, W Network and the Food Network.
The TV spot features young girls engaged in a variety of activities, like riding a roller coaster or playing with a yo-yo, alongside copy that plays on phrases that are commonly associated with dieting, including “She will never stress over yo-yoing” and “She will never fear the roller coaster.”
Additionally, the brand has launched a web hub, which will educate consumers about the Go Girls! program, will have cross-promotion on the Go Girls! website and is also leveraging a network of bloggers to spread its anti-dieting message.
Doolan says another key to the campaign will be new packaging for Multigrain Cheerios. The boxes include information on the Go Girls! program, the partnership and how to learn more about it, as well as a brand manifesto, explaining the values of Multigrain Cheerios. He adds that packaging is important because, according to research by the brand, consumers read a cereal box between eight and 12 times, and spend upwards of seven minutes with it, making it a powerful tool for starting family conversation around the table.
Rounding out the campaign, the brand will look to roll out a heavy social media campaign in the coming months to keep the conversation around dieting going.
The campaign will be in market for the next 10 months.
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