General Mills brings back its colour-changing spoons

buzzspoon

General Mills Canada is treating consumers to a blast from the past with the return of collectable colour-changing spoons to its cereal boxes.

The spoons, last inserted into cereal boxes more than a decade ago, feature General Mills characters Buzz the Bee, Lucky and Crazy Squares and change colour when dipped in cold milk or yogurt.

“With more Canadians spending time at home together as a family now, we wanted to bring back a familiar tradition,” says Fawad Farrukh, director of marketing for cereal at General Mills Canada, in an email. “So many Canadians remember the excitement that came from finding a collectable in their cereal box, and we wanted parents to be able to both share that memory with their kids and relive the joy themselves.”

The CPG brand developed the promotion with campaign materials designed to grab the attention of shoppers who are spending less time in grocery stores due to the pandemic, Farrukh says.

“We knew that we needed to capture consumers’ attention with eye-catching in-store POS and a compelling message,” he says. “We believe the spoons promotion is fun, imaginative and lends itself to more time for play around the breakfast table.”

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The giveaway is the latest promotion from the CPG brand, which earlier this month launched a giveaway featuring Fitbit devices and service subscriptions. These promotions are part of a deliberate strategy “to develop offers that resonate with consumers,” says Farrukh.

“We believe that promotions and trade spending are a great way to maximize consumer fun and value,” he adds. “To do so, our team builds a strategic, multi-year promotional pipeline to ensure we are always coming up with something new and exciting.”

The limited-edition spoons will be included in one million original, Honey Nut and Multi Grain Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms boxes distributed nationwide. To handle PR on the promotion, General Mills worked with rock-it promotions inc.