Honeycomb’s latest campaign features a celeb mascot who acts as a coach for embracing and navigating all the new experiences of teenhood.
“Big Honey” stars actor and ex-NFLer Terry Crews as a buff bee pitchman giving tweens and teens motivational speeches about rites of passage like asking someone to a school dance, tagged with the phrase “Bee Big.”
David Bagozzi, VP of marketing at Post Consumer Brands, says the campaign is grounded in the simple truth that the tween and teen years come with all kinds of new experiences and challenges, and Crews’ “Big Honey” persona is meant to encourage and inspire that audience in a fun way.
“The new campaign is designed to reinforce Honeycomb’s long-time brand idea of championing the small but big moments in life,” Bagozzi says.
The campaign launched nationally in Canada on February 8 and runs through spring, with ads appearing in 6- and 15-second video and static formats on digital platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. Crews will also be featured as the “Big Honey” character in a series of short videos and stills across Honeycomb’s social channels.
According to Bagozzi, this is the first time the brand has leveraged a celebrity or well-known figure in a campaign for the cereal in Canada and that Terry Crews’ larger-than-life, funny and approachable personality was well-liked by its target demo.
Also, he says, it’s been 12 years since Post started supporting Honeycomb with consumer-facing marketing campaigns in Canada. Bagozzi says the timing of the campaign is to appeal to a new generation of cereal fans and to capitalize on a growing category, with sales of Honeycomb also up year-over-year.
“The cereal category is experiencing strong demand as people continue to seek out comfort foods and products that provide good value,” Bagozzi says. “People are finding a lot of comfort in things that are familiar, especially now amid the pandemic,” he says, adding that there’s a trend toward nostalgia that’s benefiting the brand.
The social and digital platforms were chosen to appeal to teen and tween digital natives, as well as their parents.
“These are the platforms where they are most active and where we can best engage them with the Big Honey message,” he says.
As reported in strategy, Post recently created a buzz of another kind, linking up with Tim Hortons for a foray into coffee cereal, an innovation shake up to tap Tims’ brand trust and recognition.
The ad spend for the “Big Honey” campaign is comparable to what it spent on the brand last year. OstrichCo did the creative, Carmichael Lynch Relate handled PR, Untitled Films handled production.
