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Honey Bunches of Oats mashes up memes, user content in Snapchat debut

In its first Snapchat effort, Post Foods bunches together product, lifestyle and branding content in 10-second video ads for Honey Bunches of Oats that appear between posts on the millennial-friendly platform, part of a new integrated campaign.  

While the This. Is. Eveything campaign reaches across channels, Post Foods is relying on mobile to help it connect with a younger demographic via short, entertaining content on YouTube, Spotify, Facebook and Snapchat. The campaign mashes up social memes and pop culture references to reflect Honey Bunches of Oats? mixture of flakes, clusters and honey. 

?We are targeting millennials and think that our commercial is very social focused, which makes Snap Ads Between Friends a great fit for our message and target,? said Julie Hewitt, integrated marketing communications manager for Honey Bunches of Oats at Post Foods.
 
?Users will see an abbreviated version of our commercial spot in between their stories as they catch up with friends,? she said. ?There will be various versions of the ads, some more meme focused and some more product focused, the goal being to reach people with various messages.? 

10 seconds
Snapchat unveiled its program for serving video ads between stories earlier this summer and it has been steadily growing since. 

For Post Foods? first effort with Snapchat, it is leveraging the new program so that users can view a 10-second version of longer ads appearing on television, which will appear as they transition between friends? stories. 


?It?s a variety of product, lifestyle and branding packaged together to be entertaining and not disrupt the user,? said Justin Sparks, associate director of search, social and ecommerce at MediaVest Spark. ?The content plays well with or without sound, catches one?s attention quickly but doesn?t lose its branding value ? all within 10 seconds or less.?

The overarching message of the campaign encourages consumers to rethink the classic cereal and emphasizes that the end product is greater than the sum of its parts, which include crispy flakes, crunch granola oat clusters and honey.  

The integrated campaign hopes to reach consumers in person, online, offline and across multiple screens, inserting social memes and pop culture references to grab consumers? attention. 

The first commercial spots hit in August across cable networks. 

User generated content
The digital portion of the campaign encourages consumers to play with and make the content their own. 

Consumers are encouraged to visit a campaign Web site, www.honeybunchesthisiseverything.com, and personalize the ad with photos of themselves and their families. 

Those who create and share a video will be automatically entered into a sweepstakes that runs through Oct. 31. 


In addition to Snapchat, ads are also running on YouTube and Spotify, with a larger percentage delivered towards mobile. 

Custom mobile banner ads are being delivered programmatically and driving viewers to the campaign site. 

?We are leaning heavy on mobile ? particularly with Snapchat,? Mr. Sparks said. ?While we?re not explicitly delivering a certain percentage of our inventory to mobile on Facebook, given the target, we do expect to deliver a majority of our reach to come via mobile.?

The campaign also entails a sampling tour, retailer events, media partnerships and cinema ads. 

?The addition of millennials to the This.Is.Everything campaign target and Snapchat?s advertising updates presented an opportunity to reach millennials who may not be exposed to the campaign?s TV ads,? Mr. Sparks said.