General Mills breaks Cheerios campaign
By Adnews Staff
General Mills Canada of Toronto has begun a new campaign for its Cheerios brand of cereal. Developed by Cossette, the campaign marks the first time that all Cheerios sub-brands have been marketed together under one umbrella theme. The creative depicts a parallel between the way small floating objects tend to move toward each other with the various ways in which people connect with each other. The campaign's television commercials begin with an image of Cheerios in a bowl of milk moving closer together until they touch, followed by images of real people and their stories of personal connection. These personal stories also appear in more detail online at <http://www.cheerioseffect.ca>. The website also invites visitors to submit their own personal stories of connection. The site launched on Sept. 29. Online and television advertising will begin on Oct. 6.
"One of the insights behind this campaign is that with all the technology available to us, it's actually real human connection that is on the decline," said Jason Doolan, director of cereal marketing at General Mills. "In an increasingly disconnected world, we believe that by sharing stories of connection we can inspire people to come closer together and that in this way Cheerios becomes the brand whose purpose is to say that we are all worthy of connection. When we took a look at the heritage of the Cheerios brand, we discovered that there has always been a theme of connection, whether between a grandmother and a grandchild, or a couple at breakfast, or a father and his daughter. Connection is the one theme that runs through all the messaging for Cheerios sub-brands. When we discovered that Cheerios naturally come together in a bowl we thought that this was a natural metaphor for telling our story and demonstrating our values."