At Leo Burnett, I was the creative director for Kellogg's extensive portfolio of brands.
I was able to work with the Leo Burnett global team towards aligning brands like Special K and Mini-Wheats in Canada, America, South America, and the UK and Europe.
With a ridiculous amount of research, inter-agency politics, and clients all over the globe – the learning curve was steep. But we still managed to have some fun.
All Bran has an ongoing global campaign featuring different forest animals that like to talk about fibre. Yup.
Mini-Wheats needed to up-age its brand. So we developed new 'mature' characters and subject matter that was more adult-oriented, if you know what I mean. And I think you do.
NutriGrain snacks help you resist temptation, even if temptation calls out to you in the forms of trapped pastries. (spoiler alert) We worked with Jim Henson's company to develop the finest talking muffins and banana bread possible. Fun Fact: While I was sitting at a monitor watching the shoot, they had to block the street off in San Fransisco and stop people for each take. I realized that someone was standing behind me watching my monitor. It was Carlos Santana and his bodyguard. Carlos smiled at the talking muffins. Said nothing. And walked away.
He was two feet away from me...and he saw that this was my contribution to popular culture.
You win, Carlos Santana. By a long shot.
Here's a Special K ad that actually doesn't feature some generic woman twirling around mindlessly in a red dress. You'd be surprised how hard it was to get them away from that crap. This is not even a great ad. It's just ok. But it took years off our lives. Why? I don't know. Crazy, huh?
