Shreddies

Shreddies “Diamond Shreddies” revitalized the cereal brand, but Post needed to keep the sales coming. Ogilvy believed there was more fun to be had. Post’s pile of (genuine) complaint letters now made for some great comedic fodder. The other insight from the previous stage was that a relatively small investment in package design gave people another reason to reach for the box.

Ogilvy’s creative idea was to bring forward the “president” to present a solution that would appease people, sort of. A press release was sent to media, with a straight face. Quoting actual complaints, it drove people to Diamondshreddies.com/sneakpeek for a preview of videos and clues about the upcoming special initiative, the Combo Pack.

The pack itself encouraged Canadians to continue to vote for diamonds or squares, and was later followed by the appearance of “voter packs”: shoppers can still purchase a Diamonds box or Squares box, each purchase a vote for one or the other. The website put forward the real-time voting results, and featured the president’s messages to keep those votes coming.

The campaign kept momentum going for Shreddies. Sales tie tightly to advertising activity and the appearance of novelty packs on shelves. Site traffic tripled when the President’s messages launched in September compared to August, with most views from referrals on other sites – especially Digg.com and Facebook.