In September last year, General Mills hired a chief creative officer, which was a bit strange for a company that churns out Betty Crocker, Latina and Old El Paso products.

Michael Fanuele even came with a real (and rather prestigious) creative history – former chief strategy officer of ad agency Fallon in Minneapolis, and chief strategy officer at Euro RSCG, (now Havas).

General Mills had just bought Annie’s, a huge organic foods company in the US.

In July last year in Australia, General Mills, who was once ranked last on climate change policies in Oxfam’s Behind the Brands scorecard, committed to set targets to reduce emissions and participate in real climate advocacy.

Could General Mills be getting trendy?

Smart is probably more accurate. The organic food sector may be new, now and wow but it is also growing fast. Environmental responsibility is a do or be killed off undertaking for any company these days. And Fanuele sees his role as fostering the end of relationships with agencies “based on a toxic cynicism” and killing off the idea that, “Clients think agencies don’t understand their business, agencies think clients don’t understand creativity.

And when you’re a company that has about twenty agencies, it’s very smart to have someone with access to the master switch.

Which brings us to the General Mills agency pitch. It began in November and its stated intention was to to reduce the number of agencies on its roster to make its creative output more efficient. The pitch was led by General Mills’ global marketing and managing director, Jennifer Jorgensen. And Grey London has won it, becoming General Mills lead creative agency. The account is believed to be worth £11 million.

Grey will be responsible for brands including Jus-Rol, Betty Crocker, Green Giant and Nature Valley. It will also handle some activation work for Häagen-Dazs and Old El Paso. Häagen-Dazs’ advertising account is held by Saatchi & Saatchi in the US. Bartle Bogle Hegarty oversees the Old El Paso business.

UK agency Karmarama, that had been appointed for Jus-Rol and Betty Crocker there in February last year, did not repitch. McCann London had worked on Nature Valley.

Old El Paso created an Australian branded content series with Andy & Ben via Projucer this year, outside its mainstream campaign.