Honey Nut Cheerios begins Bring Back the Bees campaign
By Adnews Staff
General Mills Canada of Mississauga has begun a new campaign for its Honey Nut Cheerios cereal brand called "Bring Back the Bees." The marketing campaign is intended to raise awareness of declining bee populations. It encourages consumers to plant wildflower gardens to support the growth of bee colonies. As part of the initiative, the brand will distribute free flower seeds to consumers to sign-up online at <http://www.bringbackthebees.ca>. Promotional workers will also distribute seeds at the Canada Blooms garden festival. The six-week campaign also includes special packaging in which the brand's bee spokescharacter Buzz is absent from the box art.
The campaign, developed by Cossette, also includes a 60-second television commercial, online video, a sampling program, a contest component and public relations. The commercial depicts humans helping animals of various kinds, then encouraging viewers to help bees as well. Media planning and buying are being managed by Cossette Media. Tribal Worldwide is handling the website work and social media activities. Public relations are being conducted by Veritas Communications. The packaging creative was produced by Hunter Straker.
"General Mills' decision to draw attention to the issue of declining bee populations marks the continuation of its commitment to purpose-based marketing, which means brands will go beyond traditional statements such as product benefit in order to align with what's really important to consumers," said Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Cossette. "By taking the bold step of removing a well-established brand symbol from its packaging, General Mills is further challenging marketing's conventional thinking to underscore its point."