Honey Nut Cheerios’ Mascot Disappears In A Save The Bees Campaign

Honey Nut Cheerios, a cereal brand with a bee mascot, has removed its bee from its packaging to drive awareness about the declining global bee population.

The removal of “Buzz” the mascot from its packaging is a big move for an established brand. “This is the first time in the brand’s history that we’ve taken ‘Buzz’ off the box,” Emma Eriksson, director of Marketing for General Mills Canada (company behind Honey Nut) told Adweek.

“One-third of the foods we depend on for our survival are made possible by the natural pollination work that bees provide. With ongoing losses in bee populations being reported across Canada, we wanted to leverage our packaging to draw attention to this important cause and issue a call to action to Canadians to help plant 35 million wildflowers—one for every person in Canada.”

The campaign created by Canadian creative agency Cossette features a TVC showing people rescuing wildlife who are in danger:

Cossette chief creative officer, Peter Ignazi, praised General Mills’ commitment to the campaign: “General Mills’ decision to draw attention to the issue of declining bee populations marks the continuation of its commitment to purpose-based marketing, which means brands will go beyond traditional statements such as product benefit in order to align with what’s really important to consumers.

“By taking the bold step of removing a well-established brand symbol from its packaging, General Mills is further challenging marketing’s conventional thinking to underscore its point.”

The BringBackTheBees campaign will run from March to July.

CREDITS
Advertising Agency: Cossette, Canada
Chief Creative Officers / Creative Directors: Carlos Moreno, Peter Ignazi
Associate Creative Director / Art Director: Yusong Zhang
Associate Creative Director / Copywriter: Dhaval Bhatt
Interactive Designers: Derek Sharpe, Gustavo Oregel
Box Design: Hunter Straker
Editorial House Producer: Mina Jang
Account Executives: Jennifer Self, Isabelle Morin
Account Directors: Jessica DeSantis, Paula Badran
Group Account Director: Wendy Morgado
Chief Strategy Officer: Jason Chaney
Director of Strategy: Kevin McHugh
VP, National Brand Leader: Janis Lindenbergs
Production House: SammyB Productions
Producer: Sam Benson
Editors: Nicole Lawr, Gerrit Van Dyke
Editorial House: Soda
Transfer & Online: The Vanity
Colorist: Andrew Exworth
Online Artist: Michael Medeiros
Retoucher: Trevor Gauthier
Audio House: RMW
Music Search and License: David Hayman / Supergroup
Media: Cossette Media
PR: Veritas
Published: March 2016

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