Resonate Lucky Charms Campaign by mauracurtis77

LUCKY CHARMS CAMPAIGN 2017

AGENCY MEMBERS

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Maggie Doleschy

RESEARCH DIRECTOR

Matt Davis

CREATIVE DIRECTORS

Maura Curtis Maddie Martini

MEDIA DIRECTOR

Estefan Saucedo

PR DIRECTORS

Simone Greblo Cara Cicciarelli

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Situation Analysis

4-18

Campaign Strategy

19-31

Creative Brief

32-45

Media Plan

46-53

Public Relations Plan

54-65

SITUATION ANALYSIS

SITUATION ANALYSIS History of Company/Brand

Lucky Charms is a cereal owned by General Mills, a company that has been around for 150 years. General Mills has been at the forefront of cereal production and is known for having the most popular cereals on the market such as Cheerios. Lucky Charms started in 1963 when General Mills Vice President John Holahan needed to create a cereal that kids would enjoy. When Holohan decided to put small marshmallows in his bowl of Cheerios, Lucky Charms was born. When making Lucky Charms, he used an oat cereal similar to Cheerios and simply added the marshmallows to create a cereal kids would enjoy. Lucky Charms was the first cereal to include marshmallows. In 1964, Lucky the Leprechaun, the cereal’s mascot was introduced and he would be an important player in the cereal’s image for years to come.

Industry Trends

In the 21st Century, consumers have many more breakfast options to choose from than ever before. Cereal consumption in general is much lower than what it was in the 1990s when consumption peaked. Currently, consumers are more likely to choose granola bars, yogurt and drive-thru food over cereal. In the past decade the health food movement has grown a huge following, and consumers are opting for healthier breakfast alternatives. People don’t associate cereal as a healthy food, regardless of if the cereal is actually healthy. Instead, they opt for outwardly healthy foods such as a granola bar or a smoothie. In general, cereal sales are declining. From 2003 to 2013, flaked cereals such as Corn Flakes and Raisin Bran have decreased by 5.5 percent. During these years, sales of Cheerios and Life have decreased by 3.4 percent. Children’s cereals including Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs have seen decreased sales of 10.7 percent in that same timespan. The cereal industry has been declining for the past decade. Cold cereal represents 87 percent of the cereal category and generated $9.6 billion in sales in 2014. Overall, the cereal industry decreased 5 percent from 2009-2014. However, Mintel predicts that the cereal industry will grow 2 percent from 2014-2019 and will generate sales of $11.1 billion at current prices. Hot cereals have grown by 6 percent from 2012-2014 and generated $1.4 billion in 2014. Kellogg’s, the category leader, had their sales drop by 5 percent from May 2013 through May 2014. In that same period, General Mills increased their sales by 3 percent. PepsiCo’ sales increased 1 percent because of its Quaker line during this time period. A 2015 article by Prepared Foods found that 93 percent of U.S adults ate cold cereal and 36 percent of adults increased their consumption of cold cereal. These adults who have increased their cereal intake have also consumed more high fiber, granola and weight management cereal. Men and women aged 18-34 were more likely to eat cold cereal than older demographics because cold cereal is considered to be quicker and more convenient. Older consumers did not eat cereal as much because it does not have as much fiber and protein necessary to keep them full. For those who do eat cereal, 30 percent of them add extra ingredients in their cereal such as nuts and dried fruit. This includes 48 percent of people ages 55-64.

SITUATION ANALYSIS Industry Trends

Millennials pose a threat to the cereal and breakfast industry as they tend to snack throughout the day as opposed to eating three large meals a day. If they do take the time to eat breakfast, they opt for an on the go option such as a granola bar or fast-food. Additionally, consumers are beginning to view cereal as not just a breakfast cereal. 87 percent of cereal eaters agree that cereal can be eaten at any time of the day, and 76 percent agree that cereal is a great snack. The fact that consumers are viewing cereal as more than just a breakfast food contributes to cereal versatility and supports our positioning that cereal can be eaten at any time of the day. Based on these industry trends it is clear that consumers view cereal in a positive light, seeing it as versatile, convenient and affordable. However, cereal is also seen as boring and unexciting. The challenge that Lucky Charms faces is getting consumers to view the cereal in a different and interesting way.

Consumer Analysis

According to Simmons OneView Database, the weighted sample of Lucky Charms consumers was 14,864. Despite the decrease in sales of cereals, the sales of rolled-oat and granola-type cereals have increased by 1.8 percent. Ready-to-eat cereals generated around $10 billion in 2014. Age/Demographics Of current Lucky Charms consumers:

•Heaviest: Ages 35-44 (24.7%) •Moderate: Age 45-54 (20.4%) •Lightest: Ages 65+ (6.1%)

•Ages 18-24 account for 16.4% of Lucky Charms consumers •Ages 25-28 account for 10.1% of Lucky Charms consumers

•Of Lucky Charms current consumers, 66.4% are males and 33.6% are females

•Of Lucky Charms consumers •15.2% reside in the Northeast •24% reside in the Midwest •41.3% reside in the South •19.5% reside in the West

SITUATION ANALYSIS Consumer Analysis Lifestyle

•66.5% of Lucky Charms consumers are married, 34.4% are not married and 11.4% have never been married •66.6% of Lucky Charms consumer work full time. •62% of Lucky Charms consumers have one or more children. •44.3% of Lucky Charms consumers say that they often do things spur of the moment.

Education

•Of people who graduated from a high school, 36% eat Lucky Charms most often. •Of people who graduated from a four year college, only account for 4.7% of Lucky Charms con sumers, compared to Cheerios at 23%. •8.6% of Lucky Charms consumers are identified as full time college students.

Food/Values/Nutrition

According to our research, while the health initiative is clearly active, this may not always be the most important consideration for Lucky Charms consumers. •55% of Lucky Charms consumers strongly agreed that there is nothing wrong with indulging in fattening foods from time to time •59% of people ages 25-29 agree with this statement, and 48% said they frequently eat sweets. •Of people who frequently eat sweets, 6.6% eat Lucky Charms most often. •Lucky Charms consumers are 48% more likely than the national average to feel that fast food fits their daily lifestyles •62.6% of Lucky Charms consumers agree that they often snack between meals •49.9% of Lucky Charms consumers agree that simple, easy to prepare food are their favorite •35.3% of Lucky Charms consumers agree that they don’t have time to prepare/eat healthy meals

SITUATION ANALYSIS Competitive Analysis Cheerios (primary competitor)

•Accounts for 13 percent of the entire U.S ready to eat cereal market •Third-biggest selling cereal in 2013. •Rated 10th best brand in the U.S in 2014 •Generated nearly $1 billion in sales in 2014

Cinnamon Toast Crunch (secondary competitor)

•Ranked sixth among best selling cereal brands in 2014 •Generated $326 million in sales in 2014 •Most “liked” cereal on Facebook in 2013 •Saw a 34 percent increase in sales from 2005-2014

Frosted Flakes (secondary competitor) Frosted Flakes ranked second among best selling cereal brands in 2014, generating $453 million. Frosted Flakes has also had their overall sales increase by 11 percent from 2005-2014. Lucky Charms (Client) Lucky Charms ranked seventh among best selling cereal brands in 2014 generating $290 million. Their overall sales grew by 30 percent from 2005-2014. Out of 230,124 cereal consumers, 9 percent of them ate Lucky Charms.

SITUATION ANALYSIS Competitive Analysis

Lucky Charms has many competitors and it is important to see how they compare to well-known cereals. Research was done to compare to the consumption of Lucky Charms to its competitors. The competitors included Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cheerios and Frosted Flakes. According to the research from Simmons OneView, 9 percent of consumers ate Lucky Charms. Out of the all the cereals, Cheerios was the most consumed cereal at 32 percent. 11 percent of consumers ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 25 percent ate Honey Nut Cheerios, 17 percent ate Frosted Flakes and 6 percent ate Rice Krispies. The total number of consumers in this study was 230,124. A pie chart showing these percentages is included.

SITUATION ANALYSIS Primary Research

For our primary research, we conducted a survey of participants ages 18-25. We wanted to explore their eating habits and what activities they do to handle stress. Here are some of the most important points we found from conducting our survey: 23 percent of participants were most stressed between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. 48.4 percent of participants ate when they were nervous or stressed out. Participants were most likely to snack either 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. to 10 p.m Only 7.5 of participants ate cereal when they were stressed out 59 percent of participants believe flavor is most important when picking a cereal. 64 percent of participants were most likely to eat cereal from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

SWOT Analysis Strengths •Strong history, brand recognitions •Sweet taste •Marshmallows •Whole grain •12 vitamins and minerals •High calcium Opportunities •Declining consumption in breakfast food •Elimination of artificial colors and flavors •Consumers indulging in sweet cravings

Weaknesses •High sugar content •Considered unhealthy by many parents •Weak presence on social media •Kid oriented website and mobile application. Threats •Greek yogurt and regular yogurt •Granola bars, Pop Tarts •Healthier cereal •On-the-go breakfast options •Declining consumption in breakfast meals •Childhood obesity rates

SITUATION ANALYSIS Issues and Implications

Lucky Charms has a lot to consider with the SWOT analysis. While it has healthy aspects such as whole grains and 12 vitamins and minerals, it is considered unhealthy by many parents due to its high sugar content and artificial colors and preservatives. Lucky Charms also has a weak presence on social media and has an outdated mobile application that is targets kids. Lucky Charms also faces threats because products such as greek yogurt and healthier cereals are on the rise. Also, Lucky Charms needs to deal with the fact that millennials need a quick breakfast, and often skip breakfast altogether. To address these issue, Lucky Charms be eliminating all artificial colors and preservatives by 2017. Lucky Charms may also consider lowering their sugar content. Lucky Charms must continue to transition away from a children’s cereal, and consider positioning as a product outside breakfast cereals. Despite their weaknesses and threats, Lucky Charms can use its strengths and opportunities to become a force in the cereal industry.

Brand Analysis

“They’re magically delicious” Throughout its near 50-year history, Lucky Charms has positioned itself as a kids cereal. The cereal mascot, Lucky the Leprechaun, and his “You’re always after me Lucky Charms” narrative has been a consistent element in advertisements. Lucky Charms differentiates itself as a playful, interactive, magical storytelling brand. The Lucky Charms official website allows you to create a free account to join the “Adventurers Club” where you are able to play a variety of interactive video games as well as read a series of comic chapters about Lucky the Leprechaun’s adventures. Currently, Lucky Charms is in a transitional phase. While they do still position themselves as a children’s cereal, they are simultaneously attempting to reposition in order to target a new audience - adults. According to Greg Peterson, the brand’s marketing manager, in 2015 the magnitude of adult consumers has risen to 45 percent. Lucky Charms launched an “adult” campaign in 2012, which aimed to foster a sense of nostalgia within adults who ate Lucky Charms as kids. Lucky Charms wants adults to “rediscover” their favorite children’s cereal. Additionally, the Lucky Charms Facebook takes on an adult manner, which attempts to recall classic moments in Lucky Charms brand history. Although this movement toward targeting an older demographic does not stem from ethical considerations about targeting kids, it does have the possibility to foster goodwill.

Situation Analysis Brand Analysis

This transition to targeting adults has does not mean that Lucky Charms is moving completely away from kids. In fact, the elements have been incremental. When targeting adults, Lucky Charms attempted to move away from traditional marketing and towards more interactive platforms. The launching of the “Chase for the Charms” mobile application came with their efforts in targeting adults, specifically “tech savvy millennials.” Lucky charms saw a 43 percent increase in sales in the first week alone, and 25% increase in the second week. Consumer perception of the cereal industry as a whole has brought harsh criticism due to health implications specifically from artificial ingredients. General Mills recently announced that it will be removing all artificial colors and flavors from its cereals. The company stated that one of the most difficult cereals to accomplish will be Lucky Charms because of its marshmallow ingredient. In 2016 Lucky Charms will also be completely gluten free. Jumping on the healthy conscious bandwagon again fosters goodwill, and allows Lucky Charms to compete with health brands like Cheerios and Special K.

Competition

According to Simmons Market Research Database, Lucky Charms’ top three competitors are Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cheerios, and Frosted Flakes. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, owned by General Mills, traditionally has positioned itself as a children’s cereal. Like Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is currently transitioning to target adults through becoming nutritionally conscious. In 2014, Cinnamon Toast Crunch was still the fifth top selling U.S. cereal brand, with roughly half of those consumers being adults. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is attempting to “re-woo” young adults while also appealing to the next generation. Cheerios, owned by General Mills, originally differentiated itself around taste and convenience. It now has transitioned to positioning itself as a healthy alternative to sugary cereals. “Heart healthy” has been a main feature for many of Cheerios campaigns. Cheerios also uses their packaging to instill positive associations by featuringwords such as “Trusted” and “Smile” along with their bright yellow box. Moms have been found to trust Cheerios as finger food for babies and small children. Frosted Flakes, owned by Kellogg’s, is a sweet and crunchy cereal brand. Their mascot, Tony the Tiger, is known for the brand slogan, “They’re G-r-reat.” One of Frosted Flakes main positioning strategies is promoting physical exercise and sports, specifically targeting moms who value this for their children. In essence, the strategy revolves around encouraging healthy lifestyles for children.

Situation Analysis Media Usage

Media consumption is leaning towards electronic consumption. The Internet’s share of overall media consumption went up from 12.9 percent in 2010 to 22.6 percent in 2014, and is expected to go up to 28.6 percent in 2017. The growth of Internet is a threat to traditional media such as magazines, radio and newspapers. Television consumption dropped by 6 percent between 2010 and 2014. While television consumption went down, it is still one of the most used types of media for advertisers. The potential reach for an ad in television for Q1 of 2012 was projected to be 283,302,000 people. The projected reach for the Internet in Q1 of 2012 was 211,633,000 people. Moreover, the average usage of TV per day for Q1 of 2012 was 5 hours and 16 minutes and 1 hour for Internet. Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Frosted Flakes and Cheerios did most of their advertising spending on cable television, according to a 2013 media usage report by Kantar Media. Network television took second place on spending, further reinforcing that television is still one of the most-used media forms. Frosted Flakes spent $85,200 on magazine ads and was the only company out of the four to choose that medium. Cheerios spent $265,000 on national spot radio and Frosted Flakes spent $115,700 on network radio. Our agency used 2013 Simmons One data to run a crosstab and found that Lucky Charms and Frosted Flakes consumers are 19 percent more likely to watch cable television than the average person. For Internet usage, the cereal brands fell on the average index, except for Lucky Charms, with their consumers being 16 percent more likely to use the Internet than the average person. Social media is an important component of Internet advertising. The percent of Internet users in the United States with a social networking profile has increased from 48 percent in 2010 to 73 percent in 2015. According to research done by Statista, Twitter is one of the most-used social media sites with 4.8 percent of all social media visits in the United States going to the site. Moreover, it’s also one of the most used apps on mobile devices, with 22 percent of all mobile users around the world using it in 2013. Our agency analyzed Lucky Charms’, Frosted Flakes’ and Cinnamon Toast Crunch’s Twitter accounts using FollowerWonk. (Could not include Cheerios because the follower count was too large to generate a report) We found that Lucky Charms’ followers are more active on Twitter from 1 to 3 pm.

Situation Analysis Creative Analysis

For most of its 48-year history, Lucky Charms has targeted kids. The animated character Lucky the Leprechaun, the abundance of colorful rainbows and even the marshmallows in the cereal itself all suggest a youth-focused effort. Until 2012, many of Lucky Charms’ TV commercials depicted children running after Lucky the Leprechaun in pursuit of his box of Lucky Charms. While the company kept their slogan and jingle “They’re magically delicious,” repositioning is a recent trend for Lucky Charms. According to brand marketing manager Greg Pearson, in the fiscal year 2012, 45% of Lucky Charms consumption was by adults and this was without any advertising towards this audience. Pearson articulated that the goal is to capitalize on the nostalgia of adults who grew up eating Lucky Charms. A campaign was started, targeting adults through new channels, specifically social media. This nostalgia-led campaign has not forgotten its original packaging, characters or brand associations. This consistency in branding has fostered nostalgia in adult cereal eaters. They have also reintroduced the “hearts, stars and clovers” jingle that hasn’t been played in over a decade, evoking the same sense of nostalgia. The brand’s adult-targeted Facebook page celebrates the introduction of its classic rainbow marshmallow from 1992. This Facebook page, a page with over 500,000 likes, features photos posted of Lucky Charms paired with a wine glass or a champagne flute filled with milk. Both their Facebook and Twitter accounts used the hashtag “adulting,” allowing Lucky Charms eaters to share their experience with eating the cereal as adults. Another facet of this social media campaign is the hashtag, “Luckytobe.” This encouraged Lucky Charms consumers to post a video of themselves on various social media outlets explaining why they are lucky. The goal of this campaign is to support and embrace the unique qualities of the brand’s users. The “luckytobe” hashtag supplemented a LGBT Pride Month digital campaign celebration that targeted a diverse and progressive audience. According to Amanda Hill, associate marketing director for the brand, Lucky Charms is also the most Instagrammed cereal. Their Instagram account uses the hashtag, “magically delicious” to connect Lucky Charm’s eaters. This hashtag is consistent with their slogan, which is also “magically delicious.” To utilize their success on social media, Lucky Charms started a marshmallow-only cereal box sweepstakes. The company responded to customer demands for a box consisting of only marshmallows by creating a social media-run sweepstakes. They encouraged their fans to share a photo of themselves holding an imaginary box of cereal on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtag, “Lucky 10 Sweepstakes,” for a chance to win one of the 10 marshmallow boxes. Lucky Charms’ current campaign relies on social media to attract their target audience. It is based on social media’s participatory ability to allow consumers to engage and share what they love about the cereal. This same participatory element creates a space of nostalgia for adult Lucky Charms eaters, an important factor in targeting this audience.

Situation Analysis Creative Analysis

Lucky Charms has established a presence on television as well. Its consistency and recognizability has slightly transitioned as it attempts to reach an older audience. During the 2016 Grammys, Lucky Charms aired a commercial that positioned the cereal as a late-night snack for adults. This contrasts with their previous ads that were targeted toward a younger audience. Their recent campaign targeted towards adults does have consistency with their previous ads. They continue to use “They’re magically delicious” as well as Lucky the Leprechaun in their content. In relation to their competitors, Lucky Charms has a smaller presence on Twitter. They also have less “likes” on their Facebook page than their competitors. This limits the engagement they can get online with consumers. Cheerios has several campaigns currently, all of which debuted in Canada before the U.S., which is interesting because they are an American brand. They have focused on “dadvertising” toward older men as well as “anti-dietainment” geared toward teenage girls to create a world without dieting. Cheerios tends to take a family-oriented and loving approach to their advertising, playing up emotional appeal. Their print ads are simplistic in nature, and their television ads draw upon family values. Overall their advertising reflects their cereal, which is a wholesome, timeless and classic breakfast. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, also a General Mills company, has been taking a retro approach to their ads and content. They have turned the mini french toast “squares” into characters, and their advertisements have a very playful vibe. Similar to Lucky Charms, their current ads are focused on evoking a sense of nostalgia in adults, and focusing on an older demographic as opposed to children. The brand created a series of TV ads that spoofed the daytime television dramas, using dolls as opposed to people. The cereal was introduced in the 90s, at the height of soap opera popularity, and the ad has a very kitschy, humorous vibe intended to appeal to an older generation who is familiar with these television programs. Frosted Flakes has also transitioned their recent advertising efforts to reach an older demographic, more specifically dads. They are doing this because of the current crackdown on the food and beverage industry’s efforts to advertise toward children. It appears to be a recent industry trend to reach for an older demographic.

Situation Analysis Public Opinion and Stakeholder Analysis Public Opinion

Because of the recent health food craze and the desire for food to be made with healthy, natural ingredients, eating habits have changed drastically. Therefore, healthier breakfast options are consumed more frequently and sales in the cereal industry have gone down about 5 percent in the past five years. Additionally, a survey issued by General Mills states that “about 49 percent of households are trying to avoid artificial flavors and colors.” Due to to the fact that Lucky Charms contains artificial flavors and colors, despite recent efforts to remove these ingredients, some consumers avoid purchasing and consuming this cereal. Nevertheless, Lucky Charms is still ranked among the top 10 best-selling cereals, meaning that there remains a large section of the population that is not concerned with the nutritional value of Lucky Charms. Research has also found that millennials between the ages of 14 and 32 are more likely to skip breakfast and opt for a more convenient option. As opposed to eating three main meals each day, this demographic is far more likely to continuously snack throughout the day. In contrast to this group, there is also “a small but very active and influential group of millennials who are focused on health and don’t like processed food.” In order to account for this spike in healthy lifestyles, the breakfast food market has grown substantially. There are now several different breakfast options for people to choose from, such as yogurt or juices, and cereal is no longer the top contender.

Stakeholder

The General Mills Corporation, which was first incorporated on June 20, 1928, trades stock publically on the New York Stock Exchange. Shareholders can apply for a Direct Stock Purchase Program through General Mills, which requires a minimum investment of $250 and allows stockholders to easily reinvest dividends. Following the close of the second quarter for this fiscal year, General Mills’ net sales declined to $4.42 billion, a decrease of roughly six percent. This decline in sales mirrors a persistent challenge faced by the cereal industry as a whole: changing consumer preferences. To improve the company’s performance and protect the investments of its shareholders, General Mills continues to reformulate their products, like Lucky Charms, to better reflect consumers’ new appreciation for low-sugar, gluten-free products. General Mills values the integrity of their products, as well as the support of its shareholders, and therefore the company is making healthy changes to bolster sales.

Situation Analysis Public Opinion and Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder

General Mills Corporation is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota; however, it markets its products in nearly 100 different countries. To supply the global community with quality cereal, baking products, snacks, yogurt and meals, General Mills employs approximately 42,000 individuals, with half employed outside of the U.S. With an international reach, General Mills abides by a policy of “global responsibility,” meaning that the company maintains healthy, safe and inclusive workplaces for all employees. To ensure that employees are satisfied and properly supported, General Mills distributes employee climate surveys, creates employee action groups and discussion forums and promotes an active social media community. Lucky Charms consumers have a rather large stake in the success of the product. Lucky Charms is among the top 10 best selling cereal brands, meaning it’s consumers continue to purchase the product despite the increasing trend towards healthier eating. With over 600,000 followers across all social media platforms, and approximately 6 percent of the population eating the cereal regularly, Lucky Charms has a wide consumer base. The success of the cereal would directly affect all those consumers who look forward to enjoying a bowl of Lucky Charms. Additionally, General Mills engages with customers and consumers through surveys, industry partnerships, focus groups and their call center. By engaging in this way, General Mills is able to connect on a more personal level with their consumers and also gain valuable insight into their product. Recently, General Mills and Wal-Mart co-sponsored an effort to “support innovators and farms who demonstrate the most promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through nitrogen management.” The average supermarket has a very thin profit margin, typically about 1-3 percent. In order for a grocery store to make up for this low margin, they must sell large quantities of their products. Because Lucky Charms was in the top 10 best selling cereal in 2014, retailers of the brand benefit highly from the sales. At the beginning of 2016, Lucky Charms became gluten free, and is currently in the process of being made without any artificial flavors, colors or high fructose corn syrup. General Mills is responding to general trend towards healthy diets and lifestyles, and by removing these unhealthy aspects of their product, Lucky Charms will appeal to health experts and bloggers.

Situation Analysis Public Opinion and Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder

The FDA, or Food and Drug Administration, strives to protect the health and safety of the American public by regulating the production, marketing and distribution of food, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, tobacco and radiation emitting products. Therefore, the FDA monitors the production of General Millsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; products, such as Lucky Charms, and ensures that all contents of these products are safe for human consumption. Nevertheless, in October 2014, an individual posted a photo on Facebook claiming that Lucky Charms contained Trisodium Phosphate, a chemical often used in paint cleaning products. Lucky Charms responded to this complaint by stating that the FDA approved the use of Trisodium Phosphate in food products. Thus, the FDA is called upon as an authority on public health and safety and consumers respect its rulings on particular products and ingredients in the food industry.

Campaign Strategy

Campaign Strategy Consumer Target Primary Target: Hannah Brown, age 25 Hannah Brown is a 2013 graduate of the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, now currently climbing the corporate ladder. After receiving a job from a large scale marketing agency, Hannah works within the city at Olson. This isn’t just your typical 9p.m. to 5p.m. job, Hannah is working late into the night trying to meet tight deadlines. Coming out of college, Hannah thought she had it all. She was employed, living in popular city and building a new group of young professional friends. Little did she know how exhausted she would be. On the weekends, Hannah enjoys exploring the city, looking for cute coffee shops and trendy boutiques. If she’s not attending a work event on Saturday night, she’s out with her friends at Minneapolis’ most popular clubs. In essence, there’s never a moment where Hannah isn’t doing something. While Hannah values health and nutrition, during an exhausting day at work, Hannah often needs that extra pickme-up to get her through the stress. She often finds herself craving sweets, hoping it will boost her spirits or give her something to look forward to. Hannah holds a starting salary of $45,000. While this does give her a certain amount of disposable income, she often doesn’t have the time or the patience for lengthy trips to the grocery store. Hannah normally finds herself skipping breakfast, usually from rushing to work. If she does eat breakfast, it’s likely an on-the-go type product such as an apple or granola bar.

Campaign Strategy Consumer Target Why Hannah? Demographics

Our research has guided us to believe that millennials ages 25 to 29 are the most ideal target for Lucky Charms. This is a market that Lucky Charms has not fully taken advantage of, in that of people who eat Lucky Charms most often, only 10.1 percent comes from ages 25-29. This market consists of current, but low consumers, which leads us to believe that there is a better opportunity targeting this demographic, compared to 18-24 who only account for 16.4 percent of Lucky Charms consumers. Hannah is also ideal because her college education represents another opportunity for Lucky Charms. Currently, of people who graduated from a four year college, only 4.7 percent eat Lucky Charms, as compared to Cheerios at 23 percent. Additionally, Hannah resides in a major urban area, which aligns with data that shows millennials desire to live in metropolitan areas over suburbs or rural communities. Specifically, Hannah lives within a Midwestern city. This campaign will focus on millennials living in large cities within the midwest, because only 24 percent of Lucky Charms consumers reside in the Midwest as compared to 41.3 percent in the South. Lastly, our primary target will be female based, particularly because only 33.6 percent of current Lucky Charms consumers are females, whereas 66.4 percent are males. While our campaign will not heavily differentiate between our primary and secondary target, we do aim to rebalance this disparity in gender demographics.

Values/Attitudes

Currently, General Mills is currently taking steps to make its products more nutritious, and it is estimated that by 2017, Lucky Charms will have no artificial colors or flavors. While the health movement is clearly active, our research found that health and nutrition for this demographic is not always the most important factor in purchasing decisions. In fact, 55 percent of people who eat Lucky Charms most often strongly agreed that there is nothing wrong with indulging in fattening foods from time to time. Additionally, 59 percent of people ages 25 to 29 agree with this statement.Of people ages 25 to 29, nearly 48 percent would say that they frequently eat sweets. Despite this, of people who frequently eat sweets, only 6.6 percent consume Lucky Charms most often, which is where we see an important opportunity. When it comes to consumption habits, 70.3 percent of individuals 25-29 agreed that they often snack between meals, and 58.2 percent believe that most snack food people eat these days are not healthy. Additionally, of this age demographic, 48 percent agreed that they enjoy treating themselves to foods that are not good for them.

Campaign Strategy Consumer Target Why Hannah? Behaviors

It comes as no surprise to find that Americans face high amounts of stress in their daily lives. However, according to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Society, millennials between the ages of 18 to 35 feel the effects of stress more than any other generation. This may be do to the fact that is demographic is highly concentrated on their career aspirations. In fact, of people ages 2529, 23 percent would consider themselves workaholics. Additionally, nearly half of 25-29 year olds would say that they want to get to the very top of their career, which is 54 percent more likely than the national average. Because a millennial like Hannah leads a stressful life, she is more likely to opt for easy, on-the-go food choices, and does not want to spend time stressing over cooking and grocery shopping. In fact, only 8.5 percent of people ages 25-29 would say that they really enjoy cooking, and 47.2% agreed that simple, easy to prepare foods are their favorite. As well, of people ages 25-29, 31 percent agreed that they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t often have time to prepare food. Grocery shopping is far less planned for millennials than it is for other, older generations. Hannahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choices are impulsive, and tends to buy things as she sees them.That means she is more likely to indulge in treats, and give in to the colorful box of Lucky Charms in the cereal aisle. Lucky Charms consumers are 48 percent more likely than the national average to feel that fast food fits their daily lifestyle. Hannah doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t plan out her shopping trips, and her focus is more on fulfilling her cravings in the moment as opposed to planning out meals for the upcoming week. Additionally, of people ages 25-29, 38 percent would say that they rarely even going shopping.

Campaign Strategy Consumer Target Secondary Target: Sam Tindall, age 21 Sam Tindall is a junior at University of Wisconsin-Madison who is working towards a nursing degree. Sam comes from a middle class family in Wales, Wisconsin. Sam enjoys playing intramural soccer with his friends, and attending Badger athletic events throughout the week. Despite this, Samâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s studies often stress him out and he spends many late nights at the library studying for exams. On top of that, as a nursing student, Sam has early morning clinical rounds four days a week starting at 6:00a.m. On the weekends, if heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not trying to catch up on a pile of school work, he often attends concerts at the Madison Majestic or trys out a new restaurant along State Street. Sam works as a part-time student assistant at the University Hospital making $10 an hour, which he uses to buy groceries. His parents support him the best they can when it comes to his tuition, housing rent, groceries and other expenditures. Throughout a long day of clinicals, class, work and soccer games, Sam will likely find himself craving something sweet, but tries to hold back on eating fattening foods. When he does indulge, he picks a sweet treat like candy or cookies, which ends up giving him a stomach ache before bed. He feels guilty for eating such unhealthy choices, and his choice never seems to fulfill or better his mood.

Campaign Strategy Consumer Target Why Sam?

Sam comes from the age demographic of 18-24 year-olds, which still falls within our overarching goal of targeting millennials. Sam represents a market that Lucky Charms has not yet broken into, in that of people who eat Lucky Charms most often, only 16.4 percent come from this age demographic. The difference between our primary target and secondary target is that, unlike Hannah who has steady salary, Sam still remains in college. We wanted our primary and secondary target to be a similar demographic, with similar values and behaviors, in order to keep a cohesive message across all platforms. Since we are making a drastic jump from Lucky Charmsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; current position, we wanted our target audience to be a strong, consistent group of individuals. While we do recognize that both of these audiences require further segmentation, we believe that they accurately represent the market we are reaching for.

Demographics

Sam is within the 18-24 year-old demographic, and many of the insights we found on Hannah will apply to Sam as well. Sam is a college student attending a large University in the Midwest, which is located in a populated city. This also aligns with the insight that millennials are social beings who desire to be immersed in dense, diverse, urban communities. Additionally, Sam represents the college student market that has not yet been tapped into by Lucky Charms. Of Lucky Charms consumers, only 8.6 percent are identified as full time college students. We see this as a demographic opportunity for Lucky Charms.

Values/Attitudes

While Sam and other college students may not have a steady salary, we see college as a crucial moment for gaining brand loyalty. For many college students, it may be the first time they are doing their own grocery shopping and spending their own money. Gaining a minor amount of autonomy from parents, Lucky Charms sees this as an opportunity to jump into this market. Our SWOT analysis showed that we have high brand awareness, so we anticipate this will aid in breaking into this millennial market.

Campaign Strategy Consumer Target Why Sam? Values/Attitudes

Many of the attitudes about food and consumption habits that are present in our primary target market, are also present in our secondary. Of 18-24 year-olds, 66.4 percent agreed that they often snack between meals, which also reflects 62.6 percent current Lucky Charms consumers who would agree with this as well. Along with this, 63 percent of this demographic believe that most snack food people eat these days are not healthy. A significant finding for this age demographic is that they are 15 percent less likely than the national average to feel guilty when eating sweets. Additionally, of people ages 18-24, 55 percent agreed that there is nothing wrong with indulging in fattening foods from time to time, with 47.5 percent agreeing that they frequently eat sweets themselves. Along with this, 43 percent of this market say that they enjoy treating themselves to food that is not good for them. Again, these findings demonstrate an opportunity for Lucky Charms, in that of people who frequently eat sweets,only 6.6 percent consume Lucky Charms most often. millennial market.

Behaviors

As a college student at a prestigious university, Sam’s day-to-day life is extremely stressful. He doesn’t have much time to spend on grocery shopping and cooking, so he tends to opt for foods that don’t require much thought or preparation. He spends late nights at the library studying, and often finds himself grabbing quick snacks from the convenience store or dining hall. This also aligns with our research that finds that millennials are more stressed than any other generation. Our research furthers this notion, in that of people 18-24 years old, 42 percent feel as though simple, easy to prepare foods are their favorite, and only 10.4 percent would say that they really enjoy cooking. Additionally, this target market is 30 percent more likely than the national average to say that fast food fits their busy lives, with 29 percent agreeing that they don’t often have time to prepare food. Like Sam, this target market is highly focused on their career and future aspiration. In fact, 24 percent of 18-24 year-olds say that they want to get to the very top in their careers, which makes them 60 percent more likely to say this than the national average. Additionally, 24 percent of this market would consider themselves workaholics.

Consumer Target

For both our primary and secondary targets, Lucky Charms will focus on consumer marketing, rather than business-to-business. Based on our research, we believe we will be more successful in targeting the consumer.

Campaign Strategy Positioning and Branding Business Objective/Competitive Advantage

Over the past few years, the cereal market has increasingly faded. On average, there has been a 5 percent drop in cereal consumption over the past five years. Lucky Charms, in particular, has faced unique challenges as consumers have increasingly viewed cereal as overly processed, unfulfilling, and in effect, exchanged cereal with breakfast options such as yogurt, cereal bars, and coffee. Given this shift in consumer health focus, Lucky Charms will run a year-long campaign in order to diffuse these challenges. Our main business objective is to increase the amount of 25-29 year-olds eating Lucky Charms cereal from 10.1 percent to 25 percent and the amount of 18-24 year-olds to increase from 8.7 percent to 20 percent. Additionally, we want to maintain our largest consumers of the age demographic of 35-44, which stand at 25 percent of current Lucky Charms consumers.

Unique Selling Proposition

The main selling point of our campaign will by the marshmallow component of Lucky Charms cereal. In order to play on this competitive advantage, our campaign will emphasis the sweet, sugary taste that is unique to Lucky Charms. Rather than competing with the more health conscious breakfast cereals, Lucky Charms will be sold as a “non-breakfast cereal.” Lucky Charms will be portrayed as dessert-like, sweet snack alternative to other options such as cookies, ice cream and candy. Research shows populations aren’t eating breakfast anymore, and if they are, it’s healthier alternatives. By repositioning Lucky Charms as a treat, rather than a breakfast food, Lucky Charms will be able to reappeal to cereal lovers. The research we conducted drove us to this conclusion, in that while people are more health conscious than ever before, this does not prevent our target audience from indulging from time to time.

Position

Throughout our fifty year history, Lucky Charms has been positioned as a classic cereal for kids with the help of the mascot, Lucky the Leprechaun and his “you’re after me Lucky Charms narrative. Currently, Lucky Charms is in a transitional period attempting to reposition to target adults. The idea is to foster nostalgia within adults who ate Lucky Charms as kids. Resonate aims to take this adult segmentation in a different direction. Based off our target market’s behaviors, attitudes, values and demographics, we want to reposition Lucky Charms as a “nonbreakfast” cereal. Rather than eating Lucky Charms in the morning, we want people to eat Lucky Charms as a sweet treat. Our target market, and populations at large, aren’t eating breakfast, so repositioning our cereal to demonstrate its versatility and uniquely sweet taste will appeal to snackers with a sweet tooth.

Campaign Strategy Positioning and Branding

Brand

Currently, Lucky Charms differentiates itself as a playful, interactive, magical storytelling brand. In their efforts to move toward a more adult-centered brand, Lucky Charms began to establish a goodwill brand with their #LuckyToBe campaign. Resonate wants our brand to build off of this by being thought of as an alternative to treats such as baked goods, ice cream or candy. We want Lucky Charms to be the cereal people go to when they are stressed, feeling overwhelming and even just feeling like they deserve a treat. We want to be the cereal for people who need a little extra luck in their lives. Both our primary and secondary targets live busy, stressful lives and often find themselves snacking throughout their day, rather than eating full meals. Resonate hopes to play on both the consumption attitudes and habits of our markets, as well as their daily behaviors and attitudes. By repositioning Lucky Charms as a sweet snack, we hope our consumers will see our cereal brand as something to add some sweetness to their high involvement lives. We want to be the cereal for people who need that extra push to get through their week, to meet that tight deadline or to prepare for that high-pressure pitch at work. We want to be there in that moment; the moment you need some reassurance or a stress reliever. Lucky Charms will â&#x20AC;&#x153;add a little luck.â&#x20AC;? We will be the glass of wine on Thursday nights, or the protein powder before a deadly workout, or even the popcorn during a scary movie. Lucky Charms will be there in the moment that you need it most. We want to be the relatable brand for millennials just trying to make it through.

Campaign Strategy Timing Our campaign will focus on communicating to our clients that we are repositioning Lucky Charms as a snack or “non-breakfast” cereal. Since our primary and secondary audiences fall within closely aligned age groups, the same types of media can be used to target both of them effectively. The campaign will follow a pulsing strategy.

Timing: January 2017- December 2017

The campaign will begin in January 2017. We will begin by advertising Lucky Charms as sweet snack alternative for millennials living stressful lives. We will not be advertising the cereal as healthy food, but rather a sweet snack. January will kick off our campaign with television, video and audio streaming. The winter “X Games” will also take place in January. This event will serve as excellent impact media since most of its viewership are individuals that are around 20 years old. In order to keep the campaign’s momentum from January, February will be a month for mobile, Facebook and outdoor advertising. The month of March will focus on St. Patrick’s Day promotions. We will use the holiday to our advantage and promote Lucky Charms as a sweet snack on cable television. April to May will be months of low spending similar to February. End of May through June will be heavy spending times on cable television in order to appeal to college students as their go-to snack when there is nothing to eat at home. July will be a low spending month that will rely on promoted social media posts and print. August and September will be similar to May and June, with cable television spending in order to get college students and young professionals to adopt Lucky Charms as a snack that is consumed throughout the work or school day. August will also include the “MTV Music Awards.” October will feature Friday the 13th promotions and Halloween on cable television and mobile ads. December and November will have mobile, Facebook and outdoor. SEM and SEO will be used throughout the year.

Campaign Strategy Timing Time of the Week and Time of day

Weekdays are when people ages 18-24 consume the most television. The times that they consume it the most are weekdays from 2p.m. to 4p.m. and midnight to 2a.m. Social media posts will be used throughout the week but will be posted between 1p.m. to 3p.m. due to the fact that most of Lucky Charms Twitter followers are active during these times. The supporting radio ads will be launched weekdays from 7p.m. to midnight. During this time, people ages 18-24 are 51 percent more likely to listen to the radio than the average consumer.

Location

According to a study done by Nielsen, 40 percent of people ages 18-36 said they prefer to live in urban areas. Cities with large state universities and professional development hubs such as Chicago, Indianapolis and Minneapolis/St. Paul will constitute our primary locations since these are urban areas that millennials have an affinity for.

Budget Allocation

Majority of the budget will be allocated to cable television advertising because its massive reach potential. Promoted social media posts and radio are meant to only supplement the campaign.

Campaign Strategy Message Strategy We are mainly communicating with our target audience of young professionals ages 25-29 and college students ages 18-24, like Hannah Brown and Sam Tindall. Our message is that Lucky Charms can be more versatile than just a breakfast food; we aim to position it as a snack, or something you eat as a sweet dessert-like treat. We hope to appeal to these demographics who live busy, active, and stressful lives by branding Lucky Charms as a way to relax or de-stress. Stemming from marshmallows as our unique selling point, the big idea will be “Thank your Lucky Charms.” Our keyword/tagline in this campaign will be “add a little luck.” The idea is that Lucky Charms not only provides you with a sweet treat, but also helps make stressful events feel a little sweeter. We believe Lucky Charms’ sweet, sugary flavor will work well with this message. Since Lucky Charms was established, they have used the idea of “luck” to position their cereal through the use of Lucky the Leprechaun. However, they have never used this approach for this specific audience. This message strategy is important because it targets the two age groups, 18-24 and 25-29, that are least likely to buy Lucky Charms. Our message strategy will target this audience with the goal of changing their cereal buying habits, specifically buying more Lucky Charms. Although they are not the most frequent consumers, we believe this age group offers characteristics that we can take advantage of through our campaign. For example, considering the stressful lives of people like Hannah or Sam, our campaign will present Lucky Charms as a versatile solution to these stresses and a treat to look forward to. This age group is also less likely to eat cereal for breakfast, therefore we are repositioning the cereal as a potential dessert option to fill an exposed need for the product. After interacting with this campaign, we want our target audience to see Lucky Charms as something more than a breakfast cereal, and to see it as a product to “add a little luck” to their high-stress situations. More generally, we want Lucky Charms to literally be a “lucky charm” to our consumers and to be consumed in larger variety of instances. After our campaign, you will want to eat Lucky Charms before any of your stressful occasions.

Campaign Strategy Creative Brief The first issue that this campaign strategy must address is the fact that our target audience is not eating cereal for breakfast. They frequently choose more on-the-go or healthier options. Because of this, we want our target to see Lucky Charms as a treat or snack. The second key issue is addressing the market’s current health trends and Lucky Charms’ strive towards a healthier product with their transition to no artificial colors or flavors. The final challenge we are faced with is targeting an audience that currently is not likely to buy Lucky Charms. We believe our repositioning will help solve this. A key insight we have into our consumer audience is how busy their lives are. Our target works hard to find success and often finds stress from this. The strategic big idea that will umbrella our campaign will be “Thank Your Lucky Charms,” playing off of the common phrase “thank your lucky stars.” This aligns with our marshmallows being the unique selling point of our product, in that the marshmallows themselves are a variety of charms symbolizing luck. We will communicate this notion with the tagline “add a little luck.” This tagline refers to our brand as a comfort to our target audience during daily events such as interviews, exams, big pitches at work and other aspects of our primary target’s busy lives, giving them something to look forward to or help them push through. In order to unify the elements of our campaign under this concept of luck, we will portray Lucky Charms in stressful or tiresome moments that our target audience will find relatable. The tone of our campaign will consist of a more sophisticated design on both packaging and advertisements. Our plan is to position ourselves as a treat alternative to other snacks by putting Lucky Charms into a variety of different moments to demonstrate its versatility. In doing so, we are essentially altering the brand image staying clear of the Lucky the Leprechaun narrative, and portraying a light-hearted, humorous space which will appeal to our target audience.

Creative Brief

Creative Brief Unique Selling Proposition

Lucky Charms already sets itself apart from other breakfast cereals by being the only cereal with marshmallows. Resonate’s campaign will take this unique selling proposition to position Lucky Charms as a non-breakfast cereal. This fosters creativity for our agency as we enter the previously unexplored snack industry for the brand.

Big Idea

Our campaign theme is based on the big idea, “Thank your Lucky Charms.” The idea behind this is that Lucky Charms is presented as a sweet (and lucky) solution for a stressful time. Our unique selling point is the cereal’s marshmallows, shaped in various types of “lucky charms.” Our big idea, “Thank your Lucky Charms” not only focuses on the presence of marshmallows, but also ties in our tagline, “add a little luck.” Our big idea and tagline will cohesively work together to accomplish our position as a de-stresser before important or nerve-wracking events in the lives of millennials in our target audience ages 25-30. Our audience will be thanking Lucky Charms for helping them through a stressful event.

Unifying Elements for the Campaign

The concept of “luck” will be a unifying element to our campaign. Our creative content will consist of Lucky Charms consumed before events such as dates, work pitches or exams. These messages will appeal to the target audience through relatability, especially focusing on their stressful, busy lives. Resonate’s advertisements will depict people in the target audience in circumstances and situations that they face daily. The tagline “add a little luck” will be used throughout the campaign and along with the theme of eating Lucky Charms as an actual “lucky charm.”

Appealing to our Target Audience

Our theme of “adding a little luck” to our consumer’s lives fits well with our target audience because our research showed that millennials are more stressed than any other generation (see Campaign Strategy). Using this fact, Resonate can capitalize on the “lucky” aspect of Lucky Charms, positioning them as a de-stresser for this target audience.

Altering the Brand Personality

By targeting an older age group (25-29), Resonate is repositioning Lucky Charms as an adult, non-breakfast cereal, instead of targeting to appeal to their current market of families with children. We will continue to use the brand’s “lucky” image, however we will use it to approach this new audience by making the cereal a solution to a stressful situation for busy millennials. We will reduce the presence of Lucky the Leprechaun’s character in branded content in order to make its image more sophisticated for this demographic. We will also incorporate a more light-hearted, humoristic tone to our advertisements to appeal to this older demographic. Showing actors eating Lucky Charms before a first date or a work pitch will help achieve this

Television Advertisement 1 “Shaun White’s Lucky Charm” Impact Media X-Games

Scene 1: Show Shaun White walking in full snowboarding gear. There is a large, snowy ski hill in the background, competition going on in the background. He has a snowboard in one hand and a handful of Lucky Charms in the other.

Scene 2: Show Lucky Charms in his hands and zoom to his face, then him putting the whole handful in his mouth.

Scene 3: While chewing, Shaun White says “Let’s be honest, I practice a lot.”

Television Advertisement 1 “Shaun White’s Lucky Charm” Impact Media X-Games

Scene 4: Shot of Shaun White snowboarding down the hill after taking a large bite of Lucky Charms and saying “Let’s be real, I practice a lot.” This snowboarding shot will be a transition to the next scene.

Scene 5: Shaun White with his guitar around his shoulders, backstage of a show, music and concert sound playing in the background, has a bowl of Lucky Charms in his hands, and says,“But a little luck can’t hurt,” takes a bite, then walks on stage.

Scene 6: Goes to screen with Lucky Charms logo and campaign slogan: “add a little luck.” Shaun White will say the slogan.

Television Advertisement 2 “A Lucky First Date” Cable Television

Scene 1: Shot of male eating Lucky Charms as he walks up to his date’s door.

Scene 2: Shot of female eating a bowl of Lucky Charms in her apartment while she waits for her

Scene 3: The female receives a text that her date is on the way

Television Advertisement 2 “A Lucky First Date” Cable Television

Scene 4: Close up of male putting a handful of Lucky Charms in his pocket before he knocks on his date’s door.

Scene 5: Before knocking, the male takes a few pieces of cereal out of his pocket and eats them

Scene 6: The female opens the door while eating a bowl of Lucky Charms, she offers her date a bite. He shakes his head and shows her the Lucky Charms already inside his pocket

Television Advertisement 2 “A Lucky First Date” Cable Television

Scene 7: The couple laughs together after realizing they were both eating Lucky Charms

Scene 8: Closing screen of Lucky Charms’ box and bowl of Lucky Charms

*Light background music plays throughout the commercial

Radio Advertisement “Work Day’s Lucky Charm”

Resonate’s radio advertisement will be 15 seconds. It aligns closely with our television advertisements to create a consistent message across the various media. It features our tagline “add a little luck” and incorporates Lucky Charms’ classic “magically delicious” jingle, but removes the jingle’s former words. VO3 will be in the voice of Lucky the Leprechaun to also help reinforce the brand’s recognizability. These factors will help the listener know the advertisement is for Lucky Charms even if they don’t hear the copy, but the advertisement will also feature our new campaign elements: the tagline “add a little luck” and the cereal’s position at a de-stressor.

SOT: Loud crunching noise/ office noises VO1: “Big meeting this afternoon Michael, you ready?” VO2: (While crunching) Yes sir, I’ve got a little luck on my side today.” VO1: “Great, I’ll see you in twenty.”

VO3 (Lucky the Leprechaun): Add a little luck to your day with General Mills’ Lucky Charms

SOT: Magical Jingle (to the tune of “they’re magically delicious

but without the words)

Interactive Advertisement 1 “Lucky Charms’ Guide to Lucky Charms”

This is an advertisement on a streaming service, like Hulu, during a show like New Girl, you can click on Lucky Charms’ marshmallows to make your commercial break shorter. Each marshmallow will have an explanation of how it is lucky. Once you click on one marshmallow, you will be prompted to continue to your television show.

Example Option

Other examples of how each Lucky Charm is lucky are: for the heart marshmallow, “Brings love to your life,” or for the star marshmallow, “A wish will soon come true.”

Interactive Advertisement 2 “Choose your Luckiest Charm”

This advertisement would be featured on Facebook, but could also be used in a promoted tweet. The advertisement encourges users to click on their “luckiest charm” to “add a little luck” to their lives, but would also direct them to Lucky Charms’ website once they clicked on their charm.

Print Advertisement 1 Resonate created a series of print advertisements to be placed in magazines. They show Lucky Charms’ marshmallows replacing common “lucky charms” like a penny or a four leaf clover.

Print Advertisement 2

Print Advertisement 3 This print advertisement shows Lucky Charmsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; marshmallows being used to designate wine glasses. The advertisement also suggests that your wine glass Lucky Charm will bring its drinker good luck.

Billboard Advertisement This billboard advertisement is similar to Print Advertisement 1. It shows a male picking up a Lucky Charms’ marshmallow as if it was a penny. The repetition of this association in both print and billboard advertisements will make our idea that Lucky Charms “add a little luck” more memorable.

Media Plan

Media Plan Campaign Objective

The main objective of the campaign is to make Lucky Charms an appealing cereal choice for consumers ages 18-24 and 25-34. Most peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial perception of Lucky Charms is that it is a cereal that is consumed by youth. We want to change our positioning from being a sweet breakfast cereal for children to a snack that can be consumed at any time of the day. Both of our primary and secondary targets account for a small percentage of Lucky Charms consumers. We believe that with this campaign we will be able to increase Lucky Charms consumption in these untapped target markets.

Target Audience

Our primary targets are professionals ages 25-34. These are graduates and professionals that live and work in metropolitan areas. Our secondary target is close in age to our primary target, which allows us to deliver a strong and consistent message. Our secondary target is millennials ages 18-24. Our secondary target also lives in metropolitan areas but instead of working a professional job, they are college students.

Campaign

The campaign will start in January 2017 and go to December 2017. January will be a heavy promotion month because we want to make sure we deliver a strong message in a variety of our media outlets. We will use January as a month to refresh our image. February, March and April will have outdoor, Facebook and national radio drive time ads. This is going to be done in order to keep Lucky Charms in the mind of consumers that were reached by the initial ad spurt in January. These months will also be supported with outdoor promotion. Ideally the billboards would be placed as transit ads and near the targetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workplaces universities. May and June will be heavy spending months similar to January. This is because many people in our target will be leaving school in order to go home for vacation. We want to make them aware that Lucky Charms is product they should pick up for when they are at home and want a snack. July will be a frequency month with outdoor, Facebook and radio support. August and September are months in which students move into schools and job openings are filled. October will be almost as saturated as January. It will include promoted tweets in order to support the PR events in addition to television, streaming, Facebook, radio and outdoor ads. November and December will have radio, Facebook and outdoor. SEM and SEO will be implemented throughout the year. We hope that with the timing and placement of these ads we can start to reposition ourselves as a snack rather than a breakfast cereal. For example, we want people to associate watching late night television with eating Lucky Charms. We want to correlate the times in which our target market is consuming media with consuming Lucky Charms. According to a Mintel report published in the New York Times, 40 percent of millennials skip breakfast. This is why we want to influence them to consume Lucky Charms during other times of the day.

Media Plan

Media Plan Campaign location

We decided to choose locations with high volumes of population because they are likely to have companies and universities. According to a study done by Nielsen, 40 percent of people ages 18-36 said they prefer to live in urban areas. We will focus on the Midwest but give priority to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago and Indianapolis.

Reach and Frequency

We believe that a pulsing strategy is the best fit for repositioning Lucky Charms. We are going to concentrate our spending in months that involve lifestyle changes in our target markets. May, June, August and September are the lifestyle change months that will involve heavy spending. January and October are also heaving spending because they will supplement PR events. February, March, April, July, November and December are not greatly relevant our brand. But since we are repositioning ourselves we want to constantly remind consumers of our new message. Those months will involve promotion in Facebook and radio.

Media Selection

The largest portion of our budget will go to Television. Television has a large potential reach and is widely used by our target markets. Weekdays are the days that people ages 18-24 consume the most television. They do so from 2pm to 4pm with an index of 115 to 120 and 12am to 2am with an index of 138 to 160. “How I Met Your Mother” has an index of 140 and upwards for both of our target markets. Reruns of the show occur from 12am to 2am on the channel TV Land. These are the times that our target markets are most likely to watch television. The show also runs during prime time on weekdays on Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday on WGN. “Modern Family” resonates with our primary target market with an index of 140. “Modern Family” runs during prime time during most weekdays on national television and cable. “The Simpsons” performs well for both target markets with an index of 128 and above for consumers ages 18-34. Reruns occur during prime time on FXX and new episodes premiere during prime time on Fox. “New Girl” performs well with our primary market with an index of 158 for consumers ages 24-30. It runs on Fox during prime time. It also runs on TBS at 5pm and 5:30pm but we will not spend during this time because our audience does not watch television during these times.

Media Plan Media Selection

Much of our primary market uses the Internet to stream television shows. Simmons data shows that people ages 25-34 have an index of 194 for video streaming consumption. Ads in video streaming will take place on Hulu. Hulu hosts the same four shows we are using for television promotion, which makes it a useful supplement. Outdoor spending will be very constant throughout the year. Since our target markets are in cities that require the use of a car or public transportation, we feel that outdoor ads will be effective. We will use a mix of billboards and transit ads to ensure we reach them regardless of the method of transportation they choose. According to a study done by Arbitron National, a person spends upwards of 20 hours per week and travel more than 200 miles. In addition, the study found that 71% of drivers “often look at the messages on roadside billboards.” Radio ads will be delivered during drive times because of the same logic that our outdoor ads follow. Facebook has a system that allows us to reach specific sections of our target market. We will look to specifically target people that had been reached by our television or streaming ads. The “X Games” are an impact event that resonates with our secondary market. According to metrics done by Performance Research, the mode for viewership of the event is 20 years old. According to Statista the average total viewership for the “X Games” over the last 5 years is 16.3 million. This allows us to reach a very specific section of our target market. The “MTV Music Awards” performs well with our secondary market and a portion of our primary market. It has a 177 and upwards index for consumers ages 18-29. Mobile advertising takes up a significant portion of our impact spending. This is because both of our target markets for indexes of 137 and upwards when it comes to owning a smartphone. Promoted tweets will allow us to make sure that Lucky Charms’ Twitter followers see our new messages. Promoted tweets let us appear various times on user’s Twitter timelines. The promoted tweets will be boosted from 1pm to 3pm during weekdays due to the fact the Lucky Charms’ Twitter followers are most active during these times. Drive time radio will be used as support due to its low CPP, which allows us to use it constantly in order to maintain frequency in our strategy.

Media Plan Media Selection

According to Statista, streaming is on the rise in terms of music industry revenue. Downloaded and physical purchases have been constantly declining over the last three years. We will use Pandora as our audio streaming outlet. SEO is a necessity. We want Lucky Charms to show up as a natural search result. SEM places ads that appear above search results. This is extremely beneficial because we can select keywords that our competitors would use. This way Lucky Charms could be the top result of a search that would usually lead to a competitor. Even if we appeared as the third option in a search that would usually lead to a competitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s site, people still consider clicking any of the top three search results.

Media Plan Total Spending

Media Plan

Public Relations Plan

PR Plan Goals and Objectives

Due to the recent health food craze and the desire for food to be made with healthy, natural ingredients, eating habits have changed drastically. Based on a survey issued by General Mills, “about 49 percent of households are trying to avoid artificial flavors and colors.” Additionally, healthier breakfast options are becoming increasingly more consumed, and sales in the cereal industry have gone down about 5 percent in the past five years. Some people avoid the cereal because of this fact; however, it is still ranked among the top 10 best selling cereals, meaning that there remains a large section of the population who are not concerned with the nutritional value of Lucky Charms. Research has also found that millennials between the ages of 14 and 32 are more likely to skip breakfast and opt for a more convenient option. As opposed to eating three main meals a day, this demographic is far more likely to continuously snack throughout the day. In contrast to this group, there is also “a small but very active and influential group of millennials who are focused on health and don’t like processed food.” In order to account for this spike in healthy lifestyles, the breakfast food market has grown substantially. There are now several different options for people to choose from, and cereal is no longer the top contender. Lucky Charms’ current public relations and social media strategy focuses on the concept of “adulting,” in attempts to normalize the consumption of Lucky Charms’ breakfast cereal among older audiences. Therefore, posts on Twitter and Instagram poke fun at the experiences of grown-ups. For instance, photos feature Lucky Charms cereal in champagne flutes and allude to upcoming tax refunds. Yet, through this campaign, Lucky Charms continues to be framed as a breakfast cereal. Although this existing strategy may appeal to the young adult audience we are targeting, we hope to highlight Lucky Charms’ ability to be an anytime sweet snack for young adults, rather than limiting the product as merely a breakfast cereal. We will strive to create social media posts, promotional events and product placement choices that emphasize Lucky Charms’ notably “magically delicious” marshmallows, while also encouraging millennials that they can rely on Lucky Charms as a snack they can turn to throughout the day. Our research showed that our target audience have extremely busy lives, so we have decided to tap into this idea by focusing our campaign around “Thank your Lucky Charms,” playing off the common phrase “thank your lucky stars.” Our tagline “add a little luck” plays into the idea that the marshmallows in Lucky Charms can bring comfort to our consumer’s stressful lives at any time of day.

PR Plan Goals and Objectives

We aim to create social media content that is both witty and relatable to younger audiences. We will engage our target demographic by actively responding to their virtual comments and questions, thereby forming direct relationships and fostering open channels of communication with consumers. Our promotional events will work to address the wants, needs and fears of urban millennials, while relying on celebrity appearances to generate buzz and draw the press’ attention. We will also place our product on television shows and networks that fulfill the preferences of our target demographic. In summary, our public relations strategy is best described as “engaging and accessible.” We want our target market to feel as though their messages are acknowledged and that our messages are reflective of their unique experiences as millennials.

Media Exposure and Tracking

Over the past year, media exposure has remained relatively neutral. Despite trends leaning towards healthier breakfast alternatives, Lucky Charms has not been caught in the crossfire of this debate. In fact, most of the news coverage has leaned in favor of Lucky Charms. Lucky Charms’ now gluten-free formula and efforts in eliminating artificial flavors and colors has allowed our brand to be seen in a more positive light. Recent media coverage ranges from more serious articles, such as those reporting the passing of the voice of Lucky the Leprechaun, to more light-hearted references to the Lucky Charms brand. For instance, Lucky Charms has been used as a colorful and quirky ingredient in a number of dessert recipes published by a variety of news sources, including the Huffington Post. In order to optimize our effectiveness in tracking exposure, we will be using programs such as Hootsuite and BurrellsLuce that allow us to obtain a more in-depth look at our consumers’ and followers’ interactions with our brand through different types of media. This ensures that we will be able to monitor of all mentions of our brand in real time.

Media Relations Strategy

We plan on maintaining strong relationships with the media sources that our target demographics read regularly. Based on a survey conducted by the Media Insight Project examining media consumption habits of young adults aged 18-35, most people within this age range get their news from social media. We will maintain relationships with the following publications, as these have been found to be the sites most heavily frequented by our target demographics. At the end of 2016, before launching our campaign, we will send out personalized boxes of Lucky Charms to each of the publications along a press kit and a few other tokens of good luck, like a four leaf clover, a mini horse shoe and a penny, in order to begin communicating our new campaign and creating a relationship with the reporters. Additionally, throughout the duration of the campaign, we will invite reporters to the General Mills headquarters in Minneapolis to spend a day touring the city and trying out new products at GM. Our goal is to cultivate personal relationships with these reporters and make our brand relatable and accessible.

PR Plan List of Relevant Media Contacts • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Buzzfeed: Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief, ben@buzzfeed.com New York Times: thearts@nytimes.com Gawker: tips@gawker.com Complex: Jack Erwin, Director of Content, @fulltimejackmove Wall Street Journal: nywireroom@dowjones.com Vice: editor@vice.com Elite Daily: Julian San Pedro, Feature Writer L.A. @kuliano Candice Jalili, Feature Writer New York, @CandiceJalili Cosmopolitan: Joanna Coles, Editor in Chief, @JoannaColes Upworthy: Amy O’Leary, Editorial Director, @amyoleary Chicago RedEye: redeye@tribune.com DNAInfo: Lizzie Schiffman Tufano, Senior Editor, lschiffman@dnainfo.com Stephanie Lulay, Reporter/Producer, slulay@dnainfo.com

Headlines of Recent Stories • Arthur Anderson, Voice of Lucky Charms Cereal’s Leprechaun, Dies at 93 - NYT • • • • • • • • • •

General Mills to label GMOs in products nationwide - WSJ Watch This YouTuber Turn Your Favorite Childhood Cereal Into an Amazing Dessert - TeenVogue Lucky Charms Pancake Cups: The Inevitable End of The Internet’s Recipe Rainbow - Forbes Leprechauns Try Lucky Charms for the First Time - FunnyOrDie You could win a box of Lucky Charms filled with only marshmallows - Fortune More than magically delicious - Western Herald 19 things you didn’t know about Lucky Charms in honor of national cereal day - Inquisitr 15 magical St. Patricks day desserts made with lucky charms cereal - Elite Daily Your Lucky Charms are about to change in a big way - Time The real reason General Mills will cute fake flavors from cereals like Trix and Lucky Charms - Washington Post

PR Plan PR Plan: Total cost- $8,200,000 Social Media: $1,100,000

Millennials, our target demographic, use social media as a central source of news and information, in addition to using these platforms as networking tools. According to a study conducted by the American Press Institute, 88 percent of millennials reported that they receive news from Facebook. The study also illustrated that 57 percent of millennials use Facebook daily, with YouTube, Instagram and Twitter serving as additional daily informative resources. This study also indicated that millennials ages 18 to 21 rely on a mix of social media platforms, averaging an active use of 3.7 social media outlets out of seven possible forms of social media. Based upon this significant information about our target demographic, social media will serve as a key component of our public relations strategy. Due to social media’s role as a news source among young people, we will actively share positive information published by other news sources to foster good will towards our brand. We will also depend on sponsored content, particularly on Twitter, to guide millennials to our social media accounts, which they may not already “follow” or view. The material of this sponsored content will mirror that of our creative strategy, taking on a more dry sense of humor and incorporating images that are recognizable and relatable for the average millennial, such as the work place or aspects of urban life. Additionally, we will engage social media users and potential consumers through the use of hashtags, such as #addalittleluck and #LuckyCharms, which will allow consumers to better communicate with our brand and to explore others’ comments about our brand. Public relations specialists will monitor these hashtags and reply to consumers’ tweets, posts or comments in order to facilitate more communication between our brand and the market. Lucky Charms wants to know what millennials are thinking and, more importantly, how they feel about our product. Therefore, these hashtags will serve as portals to the thoughts and attitudes of millennials within the candid atmosphere of social media platforms. Snapchat poses interesting marketing opportunities for our brand. Snapchat users fall into our primary and secondary marketing, making it ideal for us to advertise on this platform. We will take advantage of utilizing a Snapchat geofilter on Friday the 13th to support our promotions on these days. This allows Snapchat users to interact with our brand and share with their friends, generating impressions. This snapchat will be available in the three cities where the event is occurring, as well as in other major cities in the Midwest.

PR Plan Social Media: $1,100,000

Lucky Charms will also use social media to publicize promotional events and create buzz around our product’s new position as an anytime snack. For example, Lucky Charms’ “‘Add a Little Luck’ to your Love Life” speed-dating with Amy Schumer event will use social media to promote the event and select participants. Those interested in participating in this event must use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to post about his or her most memorable first date, alongside “#speeddatingwithamy.” The top fifty posters will then be invited to Chicago to attend the exclusive event. Lucky Charms will also rely on social media to promote nationwide “‘Add a Little Luck’ to your Friday the 13th” events. These posts and tweets will encourage millennials to attend the events and later advertise the success of the events by tagging attendees who are then apt to “retweet” or share the posts to their social media networks.

Buzz Marketing/Word of Mouth : $100,000

We plan to take full advantage of buzz marketing and word-of mouth marketing techniques. People are far more likely to trust what their peers are saying about a brand as opposed to what that brand is saying about themselves. Our target demographics are highly engaged on social media, and we plan on using this platform to our advantages. We will maintain a strong social media presence, generating light-hearted and humorous tweets that our demographic can relate to and in turn, share to their own profiles. Both of our major events also promote our brand through buzz marketing, as consumers are encouraged to tweet out to us, thus spreading the word to their followers on social media. Additionally, we plan to stay up to date on current events and use social media to play up these events and make our brand relatable to what’s going on in the world. Our advertisement featuring US Olympic gold-medalist Shaun White poses the perfect opportunity to partner with him in our buzz marketing efforts. White has nearly 2 million followers across his social media platforms, and by partnering our brand with him, Lucky Charms would be able to reach an audience that we may not have been able to through our own channels. The Olympic athlete would create and retweet posts about our brand on his social media accounts, thus creating an organic association with White and Lucky Charms. Additionally, our speed-dating event with Amy Schumer creates an opportunity to partner with the comedian through social media. Like White, Schumer will post about the cereal and generate brand impressions from her 8 million combined followers.

PR Plan Product Placement: $1,500,000

1. Friday the13th: $2,500,000 (includes cost of event marketing and consumer promotions)

Whether you believe it or not, everyone knows that Friday the 13th is known as the unluckiest day in the year. We plan to combat this superstition by adding a little luck to people’s day with Lucky Charms. In 2017, Friday the 13th falls in January and October, so we plan to hold activations on both these days in three markets that serve as hubs of our target demographics: Chicago, Milwaukee and Indianapolis. We will send out a team of Lucky Charms ambassadors equipped with individual packages of Lucky Charms to these cities between the hours of 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. in order to spread good luck to people on this arguably unlucky day. We will be focused mainly in train stations in neighborhoods where demographic tend to live, such as the Wrigleyville or Lakeview neighborhoods in Chicago. Along with a free individual sized box of Lucky Charms, if you tweet out a photo of your free Lucky Charms using our hashtag, “#addalittleluck,” you will be rewarded with a discount code for a full sized box. This allows Lucky Charms to take advantage of a valuable buzz marketing opportunity, while also encouraging sales. Additionally, Lucky Charms will have its own unique Snapchat geofilter available in all the cities we are launching the event, as well as major Midwest cities. Snapchat users are able to use our geofilter and share the luck with their friends. We plan to make this unlucky day a lucky one, and because the first Friday the 13th of the year is in January, it makes for the perfect opportunity to begin introducing our new campaign. Lucky Charms will be partnering with Uber to provide free rides to a select number of lucky app users throughout these two day in each of the three cities. Uber customers will be able to log on to the app between throughout the day and have the chance to win the “Lucky Uber,” where riders will be picked up and driven to their destination in a lucky green car stocked with Lucky Charms. Winners are encouraged to share their experiences on social media using the hashtag “#LuckyUber.”

2. Speed-dating with Amy Schumer: $3,000,000 (includes cost of event marketing)

Fifty young singles from the Chicago-land area will be invited to a swanky downtown restaurant for a night of speed-dating and relationship advice from comedian Amy Schumer. At the “‘Add a Little Luck’ to you Love Life” event, Lucky Charms hopes to mirror ideas proposed in the creative strategy, such as using Lucky Charms as a source of good luck before a first date. Host Amy Schumer’s candid sense of humor and visibility in the lives of millennials will generate buzz around the event and inspire traditional media coverage. This event will also incorporate social media, as the final attendees are selected through a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram contest.

PR Plan Press Release 1

Jan. 6, 2017 Issued by: General Mills, Inc. Contact: Simone Greblo, (773) 899-5555 or simonegreblo@generalmills.com Lucky Charms Adds a Little Luck to Friday the 13th CHICAGO — Friday the 13th is the unluckiest day of the year. In an effort to combat this superstition, Lucky Charms will be hitting the streets of Chicago, as well as Milwaukee and Indianapolis on Friday, January 13th passing out free cereal and spreading good luck. Members of Lucky Charms’ team will be scattered around Chicago from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., in order to catch people as they are heading to work at the beginning of the day. We will be passing out individualized boxes of Lucky Charms in several different El stations around the city, including Belmont, Fullerton, Addison and Damen, as well as on the streets downtown as people are commuting to work. “Our hope is to add a little luck to people’s day on the most unlucky day of the year,” Maggie Doleschy, the account manager for the brand, said. “We want to brighten people’s days and remind them that even on the worst day of the year, Lucky Charms is there to bring you luck when you need it the most.” Additionally, Lucky Charms will be partnering with Uber on this day to provide free rides to a select number of lucky app users throughout the day. By logging on to the app and requesting a ride, customers will have the chance to be driven to their destination for free in a car stocked with Lucky Charms. Recipients are encouraged to engage with Lucky Charms on social media using the hashtag #addalittleluck or #LuckyUber. Participants who tweet out a photo of them with their free Lucky Charms alongside the hashtags will receive a coupon for a full-size box of the cereal. For more information, please contact Simone Greblo at (773) 899-5555 or simonegreblo@generalmills. com.

PR Plan Press Release 2

Jan. 07, 2017 Issued by: General Mills Inc. Contact: Cara Cicciarelli, (708) 341-8544 or Cara_Cicciarelli@generalmills.com Comedian Amy Schumer and Lucky Charms Help Millennials “Add a Little Luck” to their Love Lives CHICAGO — First dates are…well, awkward. In an effort to ease the nerves that inevitably accompany a first date, Lucky Charms will partner with comedian Amy Schumer to host a one-time speed-dating event in Chicago this February. The event will be held at the trendy, yet relaxed MK restaurant in Chicago’s River North neighborhood on Thursday, February 9, 2017. Selected participants will meet fellow twenty-somethings in a carefree environment, as well as view a special comedic performance by Amy Schumer. Schumer will also serve as the event’s host and “dating expert,” allowing participants the chance to receive personalized dating advice from Schumer herself. Despite her often-cynical attitude towards dating, Schumer is confident that she will be the perfect dating coach for these hopefuls. “I love love, and I’m very hopeful…I just have a more realistic take on it,” Schumer said . Schumer also recognizes that there is often a little bit of clumsiness involved in finding “the One.” “The moments that make life worth living are when things are at their worst and you find a way to laugh,” Schumer said . Interested participants are encouraged to share the story of their most memorable first date, alongside the hashtag #speeddatingwithamy, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Lucky Charms will then select the top 50 participants who will be invited to attend the event and meet Trainwreck star, Amy Schumer. For more information, please contact Cara Cicciarelli at (708) 341-8544 or Cara_Cicciarelli@generalmills.com

PR Plan Press Kit Backgrounder

On February 9, 2017, fifty lucky singles will join comedian Amy Schumer in Chicago for a night of speed-dating and invaluable relationship advice sponsored by Lucky Charms. At the “‘Add a Little Luck’ to your Love Life” speed-dating event, Lucky Charms hopes to remove some of the stress of finding a date in today’s hurried and frenzied dating environment by inviting a small group of young people to meet for an evening of real conversation and endless laughter. Participants will begin the night at MK restaurant in Chicago’s River North neighborhood with a casual social hour and appetizers, which artfully prepared by Chef Michael Kornick. Following these light hors d’oeuvres, host Amy Schumer will entertain attendees with a private comedy show, highlighting the relationship struggles of today’s twenty-somethings and offering her candid advice for millennials navigating the ever-changing and nuanced dating world. Singles will then begin the speed-dating portion of the night, which allows each participant a four-minute conversation with a prospective date. Each participant then ranks his or her immediate response on a slip of paper, indicating the strength of the potential love connection. If it is a match, participants receive one another’s contact information and are encouraged to set up a future date. Attendees are chosen through a month-long social media contest. Interested participants are invited to tweet or post about his or her most memorable first date experience, including the hashtag “#speeddatingwithamy.” Lucky Charms will then select the top fifty responses from the Chicago-land area and those individuals will be invited to participate in the event. Selected participants will also be entered in a random drawing, in which three winners will be chosen to meet for a one-on-one dating advice session with Schumer herself prior to the event. While most dating events or singles’ mixers are stuffy and awkward, Schumer’s brazen comedic style and light-hearted advice will ensure that the “‘Add a Little Luck’ to your Love Life” speed-dating event is a casual and comfortable opportunity for young people to meet one another, share some laughs and form meaningful connections.

PR Plan Press Kit Spotlight on Amy Schumer

Comedian and actress Amy Schumer is an unapologetically genuine representation of the millennial experience. Her cynicism and strong point of view catapulted her to stardom, resulting in standup albums, Comedy Central specials and a featurelength movie. Schumer was born on June 1, 1981 in the Upper East Side of New York City to Sandra and Gordon Schumer. When Schumer was nine years old, her father developed multiple sclerosis and the family’s baby-furniture company went bankrupt. Shortly thereafter, Schumer’s family moved to Long Island and her parents divorced. Schumer later attended college at Towson University in Maryland; however, she eventually returned to New York City to pursue a career in stand-up comedy . In 2007, Schumer appeared on Last Comic Standing, earning the fourth place spot on the NBC reality show. Amy Schumer soon released, Cutting, her first stand-up album and by 2013, Schumer starred in her own Comedy Central show, Inside Amy Schumer . In 2015, Schumer went on to write and co-produce, Trainwreck, a romantic comedy modeled after aspects of her own life, such as her father’s experience with multiple sclerosis . Amy Schumer’s comedic style mirrors the hopes and needs of today’s young people: honesty, wit and unforgiving societal analyses. Schumer narrates a millennial’s daily frustrations as she navigates a world of work, relationships and social media, in turn becoming a symbol of the experience of America’s young people.

PR Plan Press Kit Factsheet

Sources

Situation Analysis Sources Simmons OneView Market Research Database http://www.preparedfoods.com/articles/115129-top-breakfast-cereal-trends-in-2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/cereals-struggle-in-us-as-tastes-and-rituals-change.html?_r=0 http://www.preparedfoods.com/articles/115129-top-breakfast-cereal-trends-in-2015 http://www.startribune.com/general-mills-makes-cheerios-a-serial-business/141221743/ http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2015/01/cheerios-a-top-brand-in-2014/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/22/the-real-reason-general-mills-is-cutting-fakeflavors-from-trix-lucky-charms-and-other-cereals/ http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130423006248/en/Rabobank-Report-Cereal-Killers-â&#x20AC;&#x201C;-TrendsRevolutionizing http://investors.generalmills.com/faq http://smallbusiness.chron.com/profit-margin-supermarket-22467.html http://investors.generalmills.com/2015-12-17-General-Mills-Reports-Fiscal-2016-Second-Quarter-Results https://www.generalmills.com/en/Company/publications Simmons Research LLC, Spring 2013 NCS Adults Study 12-Month http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2016/01/cereal-team-celebrates-milestone/ http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/tsp.asp http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/why-tv-still-most-effective-advertising-medium-165247 http://adage.com/article/news/lucky-charms-finds-gold-adult-fans/238551/ https://www.spredfast.com/social-media-strategies/see-how-lucky-charms-won-big-luckytobe-campaign-0 http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2015/10/win-a-box-of-marshmallow-only-lucky-charms/ http://adage.com/article/see-the-spot/cheerios-dad-makes-u-s-debut/296429/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvIs7ujnyCo http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/tiny-dolls-act-out-hilarious-soap-operas-over-single-pieces-french-toastcrunch-165139 http://romanik.com/good-and-good-for-youcheerios/ http://www.chicagonow.com/marketing-strategist/2012/09/kellogg%E2%80%99s-frosted-flakes-exercisesmarketing-strategies-to-engage-mom-and-her-active-child/ http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/people-spend-eight-hours-day-consuming-media-reportszenithoptimedia/1349375 http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/people-spend-eight-hours-day-consuming-media-reportszenithoptimedia/1349375 http://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2012/11/20/tv-advertising-vs-digital-marketing/#5d03511d5040 http://www.statista.com/statistics/265773/market-share-of-the-most-popular-social-media-websites-in-the-us/ http://mashable.com/2013/08/05/most-used-smartphone-apps/#oJ4ZWZUh7qqg http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/why-tv-still-most-effective-advertising-medium-165247 http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2015/01/cheerios-a-top-brand-in-2014/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/18/the-most-popular-breakfast-cereals-inamerica-today/ http://www.startribune.com/general-mills-makes-cheerios-a-serial-business/141221743/ http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/236349/cinnamon-toast-crunch-campaign-leverages-newflavo.html

https://www.facebook.com/frostedflakes/ https://twitter.com/realtonytiger?&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=frosted%20 flakes%20twitter&utm_content=Frosted_Flakes_Twitter_Exact&utm_campaign=Intention_Social_

Campaign Strategy Sources Simmons OneView Market Research Database http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/millennials-prefer-cities-to-suburbs-subways-to-drive ways.html http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/general-mills-to-phase-out-artificial-cereal-dyes/396536/ http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-the-most-stressed-out-2015-2 http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Markets/Millennials-and-food-shopping-Are-you-up-to-speed http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/millennials-prefer-cities-to-suburbs-subways-to-driveways.html http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-the-most-stressed-out-2015-2 http://j345manual.journalism. wisc.edu/lucky-charms/ http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/general-mills-to-phase-out-artificial-cereal-dyes/396536/ http://adage.com/article/news/lucky-charms-finds-gold-adult-fans/238551/ http://blog.generalmills.com/2015/06/show-us-why-you-are-luckytobe/ http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/millennials-prefer-cities-to-suburbs-subways-to-driveways.htmlChannels&mkwid=c5GMAHHd&gclid=Cj0KEQjwmKG5BRDv4YaE5t6oqf0BEiQAwqDNfNrW8TZbEHwQmyb2N4rLIEuPuu7L8Q0ONLbaTnfqrmUaAk6h8P8HAQ

Creative Brief Sources

Media Plan Sources http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/dining/breakfast-cereal.html?_r=1 ii http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2011/10/10/does-outdoor-advertising-still-work/#46d5c4061c88 iii http://www.statista.com/statistics/229093/people-who-watched-the-x-games-on-tv-within-the-last-12-monthsusa/ iv https://www.statista.com/chart/4557/us-music-industry-revenue/ v http://www.fastcompany.com/3029081/4reasons-why-sem-is-better-than-seo

PR PLAN SOURCES https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/22/the-real-reason-general-mills-is-cutting-fakeflavors-from-trix-lucky-charms-and-other-cereals/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/22/the-real-reason-general-mills-is-cutting-fakeflavors-from-trix-lucky-charms-and-other-cereals/ http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130423006248/en/Rabobank-Report-Cereal-Killers-â&#x20AC;&#x201C;-Trends-Revolutionizing http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/cereals-struggle-in-us-as-tastes-and-rituals-change.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/cereals-struggle-in-us-as-tastes-and-rituals-change.html https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/millennials-social-media/ https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/millennials-social-media/ viii https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sold/201303/product-placement-can-be-lot-more-powerful-we-realize http://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-neighborhood-maps-2015-2 x http://mashable.com/2013/01/21/ online-coupons-business/#946CuIz.mkqd http://www.yourtango.com/2015253960/10-life-quotes-amy-schumer http://thoughtcatalog.com/kim-quindlen/2015/04/26-amy-schumer-quotes-that-will-make-you-laugh-thinkand-feel-understood-all-at-the-same-time/ http://www.businessinsider.com/amy-schumer-career-biography-2015-7 xiv http://www.biography.com/people/amy-schumer-090915 xv http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2154960/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm