Hasta La Creative!

With the tagline “That Takes Grape Nuts,” Post Cereal has gone and targeted men in its latest campaign for the tooth-busting cereal. (It is interesting to note that the cereal contains neither grapes nor nuts, but is made of something much heartier: pebbles, bits of glass, and peach pits.) The campaign is based on fifty web “shows” playing on TheGuysManual.msn.com that depict scenes of men making mistakes and getting coached on how to get out of them. Tips include how to deal with beating your boss at golf, dealing with a co-worker/girlfriend’s success at work, and what to do when babysitting your boss’s kids. The advice could be seen as helpful, and somewhat funny, but it will never surpass the advice spewed by Jimmy and Adam on “The Man Show.” Grape Nuts, celebrating their 111th birthday as a mainstay of the Post brand, has lost market share year after year and now owns less than one percent. Post Cereal, owned by the likes of Phillip Morris and Kraft, landed at Ralcorp in 2008.

We need to bring it back to life in a relevant way,” says Kelley Peters, the “insights” director who charts Grape Nuts psychographics for Ralcorp’s $5 million resuscitation attempt. Her target: men 45 years-old and up. “Men aspire to it,” she says. “It’s strong and stern, the father figure of cereals.” Her marketing chief, Jennifer Marchant, points out: “It tends to break your teeth sometimes.”

If the campaign is successful, Grape Nuts will help to define a new breed of man…a man with grape-like nuts. Impressive. Now if they could only define a Grape Nut.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment or follow the links: linkedin.com or twitter.com.