In May last year, Mondelez’ General Foods launched an ad for Cheerios that starred a multi-racial family. And all hell broke loose in the States. With its ally, Saatchi & Saatchi, the company negotiated the storm superbly. That’s a big win for acceptance. And a massive win for Cheerios cereal. Why massive? Because in the world now where consumers are not only highly informed about healthy choices but are also oversupplied with nutrient dense cereal options, Cheerios which – let’s face it – is just not that good for you, achieved a lot of goodness ticks albeit though the side door.
Now Droga5 New York is doing the same for another Mondelez brand, Honey Maid, that makes graham crackers. Like Cheerios, Honey Maid sits on the healthy food fence.
The Droga5 campaign is cheesier than its S&S counterpart. But then, America is more tolerant of schmaltz just as Australia is more tolerant of difference. Let’s view this campaign through US eyes.
The launch ad, This is Wholesome, released in March 2014, starred a two dad family.
You already know what happened next, but here’s one example anyway:
So Droga5 created a response ad.
Heart-warming, isn’t it?
Effective too. It achieved 1.5 million views the first day it was uploaded.
This is Wholesome has become a huge campaign. For National Stepfamily Day on September 16 (now in its 17th year in the US), a two minute doc and a new theme, #notbroken, was added.
The core thought on which the campaign is built is that after divorce, families are blended, not broken. At its spearhead is Mondelez International senior marketing director Gary Osifchin, who understands that with 43% of Americans now part of a blended family, it’s smart business to validate them.
“Now as we continue with #NotBroken, he told AdWeek, “we’re holding a mirror up to America and celebrating all-American families. We’re on a journey here where we are very much showing America who they are…It’s reality. Who thought a graham cracker could be talking at this level as a brand? But we can because we are talking very meaningfully to the family of today and that’s resonating.”
Here’s something else that Osifchin knows: “We’re in the mode of real-time marketing and we’re deep in with digital and social. We have a social team listening to consumers, responding to consumers in their social lives every day. In the first three days of the ad launch [Honey Maid Documentary: #NotBroken, September 7], we’re seeing 98% of mentions about it as positive or neutral and 2% negative.”
