Find Your Magic

1848 Marketing and Communications is comprised of an integrated team of six communication specialists. The close

connection we foster with our clients, combined with our team’s attention to detail, provides us with the insights to consistently

create campaign strategies that deliver exceptional results. Our team is tied together by the bond of our common alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which was founded in the

year 1848. Together we strive to deliver our clients with the most superior services to take your brand to the next level.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Situation Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10

Campaign Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-17

Creative Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-24

Media Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25-32

Public Relations & Promotions Plan . . . . . . . . . 33-40

SITUATION ANALYSIS

HISTORYIn 1866, General Mills opened as a flour mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company’s cereal first rose to prominence in the industry during the 1950s as the market for cereal began to grow in popularity. Breakfast favorites such as Trix and Cocoa Puffs were introduced in this era and still remain in circulation today.1

In 1963, product developer John Holahan - an employee of General Mills Inc. - created Lucky Charms. Holahan was inspired by both Cheerios and Circus Peanuts in his conception of the dually oat and marshmallow cereal. The original cereal featured four marshmallow shapes, or marbits, in the form of clovers, hearts, stars and moons. Today, only the heart marbit consistently remains in cereal bowls. In addition to the ever changing marbits, the cereal has also undergone multiple spin offs with the debut of both chocolate and berry Lucky Charms.2

Lucky Charms celebrates St. Patrick’s Day as both the cereal’s anniversary and the birthday of its mascot. Presented shortly after the brand’s introduction to the market, product mascot Lucky the Leprechaun was born in 1964. Lucky’s debut included advertisements in the Sunday comics, animated promotions and a spin-off of Lucky related products. The leprechaun’s unveiling remains one of the most expensive campaigns in history.

INDUSTRY TRENDSThe cereal market is driven by demand from supermarkets, grocery wholesaling, convenience stores and food service contractors.3 The industry has a revenue of 10.6 billion dollars and a profit of 574.3 million dollars. Cereal sales are falling as the product becomes less in demand. In fact, the annual growth for 2011-2016 was -2.1 percent and the projection for 2016-2021 is also negative, at -0.6 percent annual growth.4

Cereal is in the maturation stage of the product life cycle.5 According to Mintel, consumers are now looking for a product that balances personalization, convenient snacking on the move and health.6 The impact of this shift is consumers are turning away from the sugary cereals such as Lucky Charms. Currently, Lucky Charms ranks as the seventh largest cold cereal brand.7 However, when consumers are opting for cereal, they are selecting hot cereals over cold options.

Despite the threats to the cereal market, there remains a number of positive traits inherent to the industry. Of the 250 key successes IBISWorld defines for a business, the cereal industry’s most important factors include ability to adapt to change, ability to pass on cost increases, product differentiation, supply contracts for key inputs and economies of scale and scope.

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1 http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/general-mills/98669/2 http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2014/03/lucky-charms/?_ga=1.248524295.1682769624.14755936653 http://clients1.ibisworld.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/reports/us/industry/default.aspx?entid=2264 http://clients1.ibisworld.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/reports/us/industry/ataglance.aspx?entid=2265 http://clients1.ibisworld.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/reports/us/industry/industryoutlook.aspx?entid=2266 http://academic.mintel.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/display/716730/7 http://adage.com/article/news/lucky-charms-finds-gold-adult-fans/238551/

SITUATION ANALYSIS

COMPETITIVE ANALYSISCompetition in the cereal industry is high. General Mill’s rival brand is the Kellogg Company, the multinational corporation behind similarly nostalgic favorites such as Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies and Froot Loops.8 Kellogg’s current market share is 23.3 percent while General Mill’s share barely rises above the competition at 23.8 percent.9 Although Kellogg presents the main competition, Post Holdings Inc. and PepsiCo Inc. also challenge General Mills’ success in the industry.

CONSUMER ANALYSIS

1848 Marketing and Communication conducted a survey with 142 anonymous respondents. 71.01 percent of respondents were female, compared to 28.26% male and the 0.72% identifying as other.

1848 Marketing and Communication led a six person focus group designed to gain qualitative insights and testimony on Lucky Charms. When asked what comes to mind when you hear “Lucky Charms,”

All of the respondents associated the brand with feelings of “childhood nostalgia” and “feeling like a kid again.”

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Primary Research:

75%of respondents prefer to

travel by car

54%When asked to pick three

adjectives that describe them,

selected “caring” as one of their adjectives.

50%of respondents said of respondents said

33%“marshmallows” “childhood cereal”

8 https://www.kelloggs.com/content/NorthAmerica/kelloggs/en_US/pages/product-search-results.html#filter-gsaCatego-ry=Cereal&num=12&page=59 http://clients1.ibisworld.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/reports/us/industry/majorcompanies.aspx?entid=226

Lucky Charms is not strongly favored by a specific gender, race or region.10 The product spans age groups and has a particularly strong performance with adults ages 22-39. In fact, those 35-39 years old are 70 percent more likely to consume the cereal than the average individual.

Lucky Charms consumers are influenced by their families. Those who enjoy Lucky Charms are 105 percent more likely to have three children and 92 percent more likely to have four children. As with the larger consumer group, there is no strong pull towards a specific gender and the brand is popular amongst all ages of kids. Parents who purchase Lucky Charms are 40 percent more likely to identify with the statement “my children have a significant impact on the brands I choose.”

Lucky Charms’ consumers lead busy lifestyles. If they are not balancing their multiple children, they are focused on schoolwork or careers. The cereal’s fans are 76 percent more likely to be part time college students. Of respondents working in production, transport and material moving, 15.7 percent consume Lucky Charms. Therefore, it comes as no surprise the index of those who identify with the statement “fast food fits my busy lifestyle” is 147. In the midst of their busy days, health is not a large concern.

Social media plays a notable role in the lives of Lucky Charms’ consumers, both in personal and practical networks. While Lucky Charms consumers are 24 percent more likely to feel a sense of loneliness, 20 percent believe social networking sites help assuage larger feelings of isolation. For Lucky Charms consumers, social media is not just a place to connect with other individuals but brands as well. Those who purchase Lucky Charms are 33 percent more likely to follow their favorite brands or companies on social sharing/networking sites.

Lucky Charms purchasing and consumption is highest among 18-34 year old high school graduates with less than a year of higher education and an income between $20,000-24,999. Individuals of this income and education level are 43 percent more likely to agree with the statement “money is the best measure of success.” In fact, they are also 91 percent more likely to work at their current job for the money.

For full time college students ages 18-24, Lucky Charms consumption has potential for growth. Students of this age are 26 percent more likely to agree with the statement “I like to pursue a life of challenge.” In addition to their ambition, the empowered group also share a desire to explore the world - an index of 116 agree they “love the idea of traveling abroad.”

SITUATION ANALYSIS

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Secondary Research:

10 https://oneview-simmonsresearch-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/main/#

SITUATION ANALYSIS

BRAND ANALYSIS The Lucky Charms brand is associated with ideas of creativity, adventure, magic and playful fun. The most notable feature of the cereal is the marbits. Historically, the marbits are heavily featured in advertisements, packaging and storylines of campaigns. Limited edition marshmallows embody the playful nature of the brand, creating demand as kids grapple to get their hands on the more rare and time sensitive boxes. The Facebook page features nostalgic comments from adult consumers, looking back on pinnacle moments in the products ever revolving marshmallows.11 In 2015, the company offered a Lucky Charms promotion awarding a limited amount of marshmallow only cereals.

As a brand, Lucky Charms lacks consistency across platforms. Due to the vastly different audiences - adults and children - the message can appear at odds and thus confusing. The diverse set of color schemes, images and media presents a challenge when attempting to establish a cohesive brand image. In advertisements for adults, nostalgia is the main point while for children it is the exclusivity of the marshmallows. On the other hand, social media accounts focuses on the cereal’s versatility and features a more soft, mature color scheme. Meanwhile, for millennials takes on larger social stances. Finally, the website presents a departure from the aforementioned themes, centering instead on the cereal’s health benefits.

MEDIA USAGE ANALYSIS General Mills’ media is handled by Cossette Media, an integrated communications agency based in Canada.12 The media strategy is a national effort targeting adults and children. For each audience, a unique selling proposition is established.

In 2012, Lucky Charms began to target adult customers aged 18-34 with television advertisements and a more “adult themed” Facebook page. Since the Facebook page’s makeover, a Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram page have also been introduced to Lucky Charms’ social media repertoire. The Instagram account features a colorful feed displaying the many ways Lucky Charms can be integrated into other dishes such as cakes, frozen yogurt and popcorn snacks. With 18.3 thousand followers, the account trails Lucky Charms’ 587.3 thousand Facebook likes and tops the brand’s 16.3 thousand followers on Twitter. More recently, in 2014, the brand further segmented the adult population and began to advertise to millennials as a separate audience, pushing the product as the ideal late night snack on digital platforms.13

In terms of placement tactics, Lucky Charms places advertisements on traditional, interactive and mobile media. Television advertisements target both children and adults while social media reaches the millennial audience with crowdsourced campaigns. For the smart phone users, mobile applications draw consumers into the world of Lucky Charms with games such as “Chase for the Charms” inspired by retro Lucky the Leprechaun commercials.

Lucky Charms consumers are 38 percent more likely to trust product information they get from social sharing/networking websites than other sources. Media usage outside of networking sites includes heavy viewership of humorous adult cartoons such as Bob’s Burgers and The Simpsons.

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11 http://adage.com/article/news/lucky-charms-finds-gold-adult-fans/238551/12 http://www.cossette.com/en13 http://strategyonline.ca/2016/08/04/lucky-charms-courts-midnight-millennial-snackers/

SITUATION ANALYSIS

CATEGORY CREATIVE ANALYSIS Lucky the Leprechaun has historically remained at the center of the cereal’s campaigns. Storylines such as “Chase For Charms” and “Where’s Lucky” characterize the leprechaun as a whimsical and magical personification of the brand. However, the recent #LuckyToBe and live action leprechaun campaigns have strayed away from the traditional characterization of the mascot.

The 2016 campaign features a more human portrayal of Lucky as adults continue to be heavily targeted by the brand. Lucky’s newfound realism combined with advertisements centered on grown up concepts such as The Bachelor to further embody Lucky Charm’s shift to a more adult-centric campaign.14 However, by still including Lucky, the advertisements continue to play on the brand’s heartwarming nostalgia factor. Since the cereal began targeting adults, users in the demographic have grown to 45 percent of Lucky Charms’ consumers.15

The general theme of Lucky Charms’ campaigns - a mischievous mascot attempting to snatch the cereal only to be outsmarted by a group of children - is similar to the advertisements of brand competitors. Trix’s commercials include a tricky rabbit dedicated to eating a bowl of the fruity cereal and the tagline “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids.” Similarly, Kellogg products such as Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes are personified by the colorful cartoon Toucan Sam and animated Tony the Tiger.

Another departure from tradition has been Lucky Charms’ socially conscious and progressive #LuckyToBe campaign. Launched in 2013 as an homage to Gay Pride Month, the brand used the hashtag #LuckyToBe to crowd source audience sentiments on self celebration and LGBTQ advocacy. The campaign - with its “be yourself” message - capitalized on the cereal’s colorful marshmallows as a jumping off point for an emotionally charged movement. With more than 125 million social impressions and 26 percent retweet rate of user content, the campaign continued across the subsequent two years.16

Although Lucky Charms has increased its attention on the adult population, children still make up 55 percent - the majority - of the brand’s consumers.17 In advertisements aimed at children, Lucky the Leprechaun is consistently cast within the role of the mischievous character. Across mediums, the children chasing Lucky are portrayed as being both more active and clever than the tricky leprechaun.18 The theme of activity is consistent across the consumer interaction platforms for children: in 1998, Lucky traveled around the world, offering children an opportunity to follow his adventures with the purchase of a Lucky Charms passport and travel kit.19 Furthermore, the brand offered a hands on magic set, inspired by the brand’s slogan, “Magically Delicious.”

On supermarket shelves, Lucky Charms can be recognized for their box themes: a red background, yellow font and jovial leprechaun. Over time, rainbows have also become a mainstay for the packaging as well as images of the celebrated marbits. More recently, the brand turned to a vintage design with retro fonts and the removal of the rainbow.

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14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt4WrJ-MSx815 http://adage.com/article/news/lucky-charms-finds-gold-adult-fans/238551/16 http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/lucky-charms-worlds-rainbowiest-cereal-comes-out-big-gay-pride-month-15820917 https://laurenerachel.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/lucky-charms-final.docx18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89321UOrhmk19 http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2014/03/lucky-charms/?_ga=1.248524295.1682769624.1475593665

SITUATION ANALYSIS

STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS Parent company General Mills is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has around 39,000 employees globally. Led by CEO Ken Powell since 2007, General Mills’ revenue is 17.63 billion dollars. In the 2014 fiscal year - two years after Lucky Charms’ began targeting adults - retail sales increased by 3 percent. Other stakeholders include retailers such as supermarkets and the consumer population.20

For the past 46 years, General Mills has released an annual report to stakeholders. The communication, titled the “Global Responsibility Report,” identifies and elaborates on five indicators of global responsibility: health and wellness, sourcing, environment, workplace and community.21

For cereal consumers, health and wellness is the foremost concern. According to Mintel, 21% of consumers are avoiding the consumption of heavily sweetened cereals such as Lucky Charms and Froot Loops. Mainly, the marbits’ artificial colors and flavors is a key point of conflict. In response to such distress, General Mills has moved forward in efforts to remove artificial coloring from its products.22

PUBLIC OPINIONRecently, Lucky Charms has faced challenges in the public sphere. Current public relations efforts balance the fun aspects of Lucky Charms while quietly addressing some of the concerns of their products. Mainly, public relations are focused on very subtly mitigating concern and outrage over ingredients, particularly in the famed marbits.

The most prevalent complaints are regarding the cereal’s health. Facebook comments heavily criticize the cereal for containing TriSodium Phosphate (TSP), a chemical used in wall cleaner.23 Furthermore, as more consumers favor healthy cereals, Lucky Charms has made greater efforts to push the cereal’s gluten free status into the forefront of their media presence.

Outside of the cereal itself, consumers are unhappy with the new Lucky on the box design, going so far as to call the packaging “creepy.” However, Lucky Charms still remains a nostalgic “go to” for both children, millennial students and busy parents.

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20 http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2014/09/14-facts-about-general-mills-in-2014/21 https://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/Overview22 http://fortune.com/2015/06/22/general-mills-artificial-flavors/23 https://www.generalmills.com/en/Brands/Cereals/lucky-charms

SITUATION ANALYSIS

SWOT ANALYSIS

KEY ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONSLucky Charms lacks cohesive branding across social platforms. Currently, Lucky Charms’ unique social platforms relay different messages to different audiences, creating hard to penetrate clutter.

The cereal industry is suffering as consumers become busier and seek out more on-the-go meals. As cereal fans are increasingly searching for satisfying snack options and Lucky Charms’ consumers are leading busier lives, Lucky Charms must keep up with a more on-the-move lifestyle.

Cereal consumers are increasingly more concerned with product healthiness. While the marbits are the most popular aspect of the cereal, they present a roadblock in the rise of health concerns.

Millennial consumers are experiencing feelings of loneliness and seeking out connection on social media. As heavy users of social media, Lucky Charms’ consumers already strongly depend on social networking for a sense of connectivity and information.

Lucky Charms’ marbits are a distinct and memorable element. The trend towards custom cereals has permeated the market. Because of Lucky Charms distinct marshmallows, the brand has struggled to adapt.

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S

TW

OStrong product loyalty across age demographics ranging from children to adults.

Recognizable mascot and marbits tap into nostalgic emotions.

Product is gluten-free.

Lack of brand consistency across media platforms.

Public awareness of unhealthy ingredients.

State of creative uncertainty as the brand does not commit to either vintage or modern designs.

Lucky Charms has begun to advertise as a late night snack & has potential to be adopted as an all day snack.

Strong social media presence on various platforms & through the #LuckyToBe campaign - key for social media dependent consumer.

Continue to promote the marbits as an exclusive & unique trait of Lucky Charms.

Decline of the cereal industry across companies and brands.

The colorful presence of the marbits remains a reminder of Lucky Charms’ high sugar content.

Struggle to adapt to other consumer preferences such as customization and hot cereal.

CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

TARGETING & BRAND PERSONALITY

The campaign strategy will lay out the framework 1848 Marketing and Communications will apply in our strategic plan for Lucky Charms. The framework provides information and reasoning on the consumer target, campaign strategy and creative brief. Through intensive research and analyzation of the our target consumer, industry trends, competitors, the Lucky Charms and General Mills brands as a whole, 1848 proposes an incentive for our client to embrace our campaign: “Find Your Magic”.

OVERVIEW

Our team would like to further engage one of Lucky Charms’ current key target markets: Millennials. Specifically, we found Lucky Charms is most successful with individuals between 22-39 years of age, however, we believe this consumer target is not reached as effectively or efficiently as possible, which provides room for improvement of the existing strategy . To better engage the Millennial consumer, we have identified two distinctive characteristics of our target audience, as illustrated and established as our primary and secondary target.

1848 Marketing and Communications understands our target consumer as optimistic, cheerful, adventurous, busy, on-the-go and cognizant of possibility. Typically, Millennials believe they can individually have an impact on and change the world. However, we also understand our target audience is stressed and overwhelmed. They often put their health in the backseat and favor the convenience and the hassle-free option of fast food. The busy and stressful lives of our consumers often results in their feelings of loneliness and isolation. To cope with these feelings, they often engage in heavy uses of social media for reassurement.24

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With this in mind, 1848 Marketing & Communications is proud to introduce our two new target consumers for Lucky Charms...

24 https://oneview-simmonsresearch-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/main/

CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Amanda is a 26-year-old who chose to jump right into the workforce since dropping out of college after her first year. She now works full-time as the store manager of a local clothing boutique, along with being a full-time mother of three. Amanda is married to her high school sweetheart, who also dropped out of college to begin a family together. Amanda and her husband work extensive hours and sacrifice seeing each other often in order to make ends meet to support their three young children. Amanda currently lives in the same small town in Missouri that she grew up in. Although she enjoys being close to family, she also remains ambitious and money driven as she aspires to someday open her own boutique store in a larger city. While Amanda occasionally day-dreams about the possibility of the future, she is kept preoccupied by the demands of balancing the pressure of work and being a mother of three young children. Amanda often gets caught-up in the day-to-day chaos and stress of kids, money and the future. She often forgets to follow a weekly meal plan, and occasionally opts for a fast food options for dinner instead to give herself a break. While she desires to create a healthy lifestyle for her family, she’s often too overwhelmed to care, and her children have a substantial influence on her buying decisions.

Lucky Charms serves as a helping hand for Amanda on her most hectic days. Amanda always keeps Lucky Charms on-hand just incase she needs a midday pick-me-up, night-time treat or something to end one of her children’s temper tantrums. Lucky Charms fits perfectly into her busy family-centric lifestyle.

Amanda was created based off our research that shows one of Lucky Charms’ most active consumers is between the ages of 18-34, graduated high school or less than year of further education and has an income between $20,000-24,999. Additionally, Lucky Charms’ consumers are 105 percent more likely to have three children and 92 percent more likely to have four children. Our primary target audience is busy, overwhelmed and are 40 percent more likely to identify with the statement “my children have a significant impact on the brands I choose.” Since Lucky Charms still spends a large portion of their advertising budget on children’s programming and children make-up 55 percent of the brand’s consumers, 1848 wants to make sure Amanda’s children grow up enjoying Lucky Charms just as much as she always did. Additionally, Amanda’s age presents great opportunity to create and instill brand loyalty amongst Lucky Charms’ consumers. As a young adult with a young family, Amanda is beginning to develop and create her own buying habits as the dominate for her family. Her sensitive and susceptible buying habits to marketing influences and persuasions creates a perfect niche for Lucky Charms to engage Amanda as our primary target.

PRIMARY TARGET: AmandaAge: 22-30Education: High School GraduateOccupation: Full-time worker & MotherGender: Female

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CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

SECONDARY TARGET: Kevin

Kevin is a 21-year-old junior in college majoring in History and Philosophy with a minor in Criminal Justice. He juggles the demands of a full-time student while also working part-time at his university’s public service center. Kevin is a male, but surrounds himself with racially diverse friends and classmates. Kevin is currently overly stressed trying to manage midterms while also actively searching for a summer internship in the D.C. area. Kevin is determined to find a competitive summer internship to increase his chances of being accepted into law school. He plans to apply and enroll in law school after taking a gap year to backpack SouthEast Asia with his friends from college.

Upon completing law school, Kevin hopes to someday move back closer to his family and give back to his community as a public defender in the Chicago area. Kevin shares liberal values with many of his friends and family, and often volunteers for local activists groups that address issues he cares about. Kevin embodies Lucky Charms’ secondary target in that he is young, busy, on-the-go, adventurous and ambitious, yet also uncertain about his future. Kevin is a risk taker, and he loves to constantly share new experience and learn with people of all different cultures. While Kevin lives a hectic and irregular schedule, he feels comfort in having some routine, such as enjoying Lucky Charms as a mid-day snack to remind him of his childhood.

Kevin came to be our secondary target for similar reasons as Amanda, Kevin is developing buying habits for the first time. He has an expendable income, like Amanda, but for different reason. Additionally, we currently see Kevin as a pathway to improve and strengthen the brand loyalty amongst college students. Currently, part-time students are 76 percent more likely to to consume Lucky Charms. 1848 sees this gap between part-time and full-time college students as a platform to improve Lucky Charms’ engagement with the college student demographic holistically.

Age: 18-24Education: College Enrolled/GraduatedOccupation: Part-time job on campusGender: Male or Female

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Key Takeaways:At 1848, we believe Amanda and Kevin complement each other well, allowing for our campaign strategy to reach a wide variety of people within the Millennial generation more effectively. While they are both creating buy habits for the first time and live busy lifestyles, there are important distinction between the two that will shape our overall strategy. The main difference between the two targets is how they will be using Lucky Charms. Amanda is more attracted to the convenience of Lucky Charms and it’s versatility as a snack to please her children’s wants. Kevin, also enjoys the convenience of using Lucky Charms as a snack, but is more drawn to the nostalgic aspect and social involvement of the brand as a whole. These distinctions will play a critical role in shaping our creative and public relations/promotions campaigns.

CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

CURRENT POSITIONING1848 Marketing and Communication’s ultimate goal is to create a strategic plan and creative campaign that enhances and improves upon the existing brand of Lucky Charms. This plan will further engage the Millennial target audience. As evident by Lucky Charms’ most recent campaign in 2016, the brand’s current position is moving away from their classic, childlike campaigns of the 90s25, and emphasizing an adult centric campaign. Consumers have negatively responded to the shift away from Lucky Charms’ traditional values, mascot and advertisements. The move away from emphasizing Lucky Charm’s traditional brand values, lost the nostalgic feeling many Millennial consumers desire from Lucky Charms.

More successfully, Lucky Charms has also increased their social media presence, in conjunction with their new advertisements, as part of their adult-centric campaign. Lucky Charms has engaged Millennial consumers through a variety of social media platforms and launched the socially conscious and progressive campaign, #LuckyToBe. The #LuckyToBe campaign was formed with the mission to celebrate and embrace the unique and diverse qualities of each individual. #LuckyToBe sought to target and unite a generation who values and respects people’s differences, while also creating an emotionally charged movement connected to the Lucky Charms brands. This campaign in particular, serves as a stepping stone to further engage and strengthen brand loyalty with consumers from being imagination-driven children to relating to the values they share as Millennials.

The current brand position lacks consistency across platforms. Each platform portrays a similar message, but fails to master a cohesive theme. The diverse set of color schemes, images and media, presents a challenge when attempting to establish a memorable and distinct brand image.

FUTURE POSITIONINGAfter researching and analyzing the current position of Lucky Charms’ brand, 1848 Marketing and Communications wants to enhance the strengths and improve the weaknesses of the current positioning to more effectively and efficiently captivate our target consumers.

The “Find Your Magic” campaign will combine the traditional characteristics of Lucky Charms our target consumer has grown up enjoying, with innovative ideas and values that relate to our consumer as an adult. We will strive to achieve a balance between keeping the security associated with the past, while also appealing to Millennial’s ambition for the future through the “Find Your Magic” campaign.

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25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt4WrJ-MSx8

CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Unique Selling Point: The Marbits We will execute our new position by characterizing the marbits as a tool for personalization and versatility. The trend towards custom cereals has permeated the market. By re-framing and creating an opportunity for consumers to customize their Lucky Charms cereal, which will highlight and emphasize its versatility, the cereal can maintain a competitive edge. Highlighting the marbit as an accessory to create the cereal into a fun and creative experience, will encourage our target audience to consumer Lucky Charms more frequently in non-traditional ways. For example, through utilizing social platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, ideas for personalization and versatility of Lucky Charms will be made available to our consumers through a virtual “cook book”.

We also want to create awareness that the marbits are a fun, gluten-free component within the cereal. While the marbits are the most popular aspect of the cereal, they often present a roadblock with the rise of health concerns within the cereal market. However, by advertising the marbits as gluten-free and accommodating to dietary restrictions, Lucky Charms can successfully balance the continued inclusion of the marbits and a more health conscious stance.

Finally, we will highlight and emphasize the emotional and nostalgic appeal consumers associate with the marbits of Lucky Charms. The marbits reminds the consumer of their childhood. The fun, bright and colorful characteristics of the marbits triggers cheerful, optimistic and joyful emotions. The marbits create an illusion of escape, the ability to relax and reminisce, during the hectic day for our target consumers. Even though Lucky Charms and its marbits may appear to be a “children’s” cereal, it has high consumption among adults, specifically Millennials. We believe this is due to the strong emotional relationship, which is why 1848 has decided to emphasize values of the marbits.

The marbits provides an advantage over Lucky Charms’ competitors. Not only do the marbit create an opportunity for consumers to use Lucky Charms in a variety of ways, the marbit also triggers an emotional connection. This combination fulfills two overall industry trends. Lucky Charms’ rival brand the Kellogg Company, including cereals such as Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops, also highlights similar feelings of nostalgia, but lack the appeal of versatility and customization.

Our identified USP is crucial to our campaign because they enable our consumers to recognize that there are moments everyday that are just as magical as the imaginary. Even though our consumers are no longer “carefree” young children, they are now adults seeking to create a magical life for themselves. The USP will allow our consumer to find the magic anytime, no matter their age or how busy and stressful life may be.

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CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

FUTURE POSITIONING OBJECTIVESIn collaboration with identifying Lucky Charms’ USP, 1848’s campaign strategy is committed to achieving the following business objectives:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Create awareness of cereal’s versatility.We will highlight the versatility of the cereal to be an “anytime” food by framing the cereal as an on-the-go snack for busy consumers. We want to increase the amount of times Lucky Charms is consumed throughout the day. While many of our competitors frame their cereal as a morning-exclusive meal, Lucky Charms’ is the perfect way to start your day, end your day, and give you a little boost. As cereal fans are increasingly searching for satisfying snack options and Lucky Charms’ consumers are leading busier lives, this will allow Lucky Charms to keep up with a more on-the-move lifestyle. Presenting Lucky Charms as an easy, portable snack can shift the cereal from a breakfast treat to an all hours of the day alternative. Our consumer is busy, and they often lack time to eat cereal at the breakfast table in the morning, and they are seeking an on-the-go option. By framing Lucky Charms as a customizable food and snack that can be eaten anytime and anywhere, we will fulfil a niche in the market and satisfy a want of our target consumer.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: Improve appreciation of the brand’s qualities.Second, we would like to create and establish a consistent and cohesive brand image among platforms. In order to position Lucky Charms so we are able to increase sales, customer engagement and brand loyalty among the millennial generation, we need to develop a unifying and consistent message to target our consumers. Currently, Lucky Charms social platforms relay different messages to different audiences, resulting in challenges for the consumer to penetrate clutter. Through creation of a more cohesive social media campaign, Lucky Charms can strengthen brand memorability and consumer appreciation of the brand’s qualities. As heavy users of social media, Lucky Charms’ consumers already strongly depend on social networking for a sense of connectivity and information. By creating an active online community of the cereal’s fans, the brand can tap into and relate to consumers in order build a long-standing customer relationship that will result in consistent buying habits. 1848 recognize that the success of #LuckyToBe rested in the utilization of social media, and we are eager to continue that success. In doing this, we hope to improve and activate our social media presence in a more mature way that will relate and connect with our target.

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CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

SCOPE: Timing, Location and AllocationWe plan to launch the “Find Your Magic” as a 12-month continuous campaign. It will launch at the beginning of the next calendar year and end at the close of the same calendar year. During this period, we will boost advertising throughout the season of autumn as well as the month of March.

The messaging will take the form of reminder announcements. This will allow us to target our consumer when they are most likely to consume or purchase Lucky Charms. The reminder announcements will target consumers every day throughout the week, and even moreso on Sundays, as our primary research shows this is the most popular day our consumers shops, as well as during afternoon and late-night snacking windows. Provided our target consumer lives by an irregular schedule, often staying up late into the night to finish work or household duties, we will focus on reaching our target late at night through nontraditional channels. For example, we will remind our secondary target when they’re cramming for exams to snack on Lucky Charms through mediums like Snapchat and Facebook.

Additionally, we’ll target our primary audience after they put the kids to bed to indulge on a late-night treat and binge watch their favorite TV shows with advertisements on Netflix. The messaging will emphasize and rely on the social media platform to deliver most of the campaign messaging to our target consumer. Our target consumer consistently has high social media usage, therefore, this platform will be the most efficient and effective medium to reach our consumer and engage them in our campaign. Lucky Charms’ social media platforms provide the most room for improvement and creativity amongst all their active mediums. By constantly being in their social media channels, we want to remind them of our brand, which will encourage buying our cereal based on impulse shopping.

The “Find Your Magic” campaign scope is national, but emphasizes 38 market areas where many Millennials live. These regional emphases will remain fixed season-to-season. Specifically, we will engage Kevin’s demographic at the 38 specific areas through promotional and social media tactics.

CREATIVE BRIEFThe “Find your Magic” is a campaign drawing on and improving the already successful aspects of Lucky Charms branding efforts. It’s the intersection between emphasizing what Lucky Charms’ values are, and merging it with the knowledge of our targets current lifestyle and personal values. “Find your Magic” will meet our target audience at the crossroad of creating a brand that fulfills their want for versatility and personalization, while also catalyzing a social movement they support and care about. 1848 Marketing and Communications will execute this plan to ensure that Lucky Charms is the cereal that is always part of everyone’s life journey, at anytime and anywhere.

Lucky Charms helps one find a little bit of magic in everyday life. Magic can bring excitement, energy, joy, new experiences, possibility or anything in between. Lucky Charms Marbits represent the individual meanings or significance that magic has to someone in the various stages and situations of their life.The creative will articulate to our consumers that magic isn’t limited to be felt at a specific time or place, and neither is when you can have Lucky Charms. We want the target audience to understand that Lucky Charms is more than just a breakfast cereal, it is the perfect anytime food that will create a social snack experience.

“Find your Magic” encompasses a two-part meaning that must be established and consistent through creative elements and messaging. The “find” aspect of the campaign involves the “when” and “how” people should consume Lucky Charms, which is anytime, anywhere and in a variety of ways. Our consumer will feel Involved, because they have control over the product’s future through customization. The “magic” aspect is geared toward the “where” it is being consumed and what type of feelings and emotions our consumer experiences from having Lucky Charms at that moment. Lucky Charms is a cereal that has been there for many generations and will continue to be there for our consumers.

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CREATIVE PLAN

This campaign reframes how and when Lucky Charms should be consumed. It alters the brand’s personality to appeal to a more mature market and creates strong brand loyalty. Our identified target audience ate Lucky Charms as a breakfast cereal during their childhood and it was advertised this way for decades, neglecting to focus on a cohesive all-inclusive message. Now, using transformational advertisement we will frame Lucky Charms’ brand to create a new image or mood to enhance the current consumption experience for our target consumers. Our creative messaging will illustrates how Lucky Charms helps our consumer find a little bit of magic in their everyday life.

In order to directly appeal to our proposed target market and develop a cohesive message, 1848 Marketing and Communications introduces the tagline, Find Your Magic. The “Find Your Magic” campaign relies on the fact that Lucky Charms is no longer just a cereal for kids eaten at breakfast. We are bringing marbits to the center stage as the source of magic in our consumers everyday lives. Lucky Charms have consistently been in America’s households for over 50 years. Now, we are bringing the magic back into the busy lives of young adults who grew up with the cereal. The creative plan will touch on Lucky Charms’ core themes: versatility, adventure, positivity and nostalgia while introducing a new, more cohesive campaign plan for the future.

CREATIVE CONCEPT

CAMPAIGN THEMEThe “Find Your Magic” campaign is derived directly from research that provided us with the conclusion that our new primary and secondary targets are busy, young adults who are either currently in college or starting young families. In the past, Lucky Charms’ commercials have involved cartoons of kids in some adventurous world chasing after Lucky the Leprechaun in order to get his Lucky Charms. The new campaign will differ slightly from Lucky Charms’ tradition-al advertisements but will retain effective elements that the brand has built over the years. We aim solely to enhance the positive qualities of the cereal’s past campaigns

In order to execute this plan, we will demonstrate the versatile and uplifting qualities of the marbits by inserting them into the life of a typical young adult. In each instance, the magically delicious marbits serve as a constant reminder of the magic that Lucky Charms brought them as kids and allows them to find the positivity in their everyday routine. While the cartoon advertisements of the past works well for children, for the purpose of this campaign we will use live action characters for our print and TV advertisements to connect with a new audience. We want our target market to envision themselves vividly gaining a positive response from the marbits and cereal throughout our advertising campaign.

Furthermore, marbits create the magic necessary for the “Find Your Magic” campaign. We want to ensure they are visible throughout every advertising execution. Ads and images will feature colors similar to that of the marbits them-selves but in a real-world context. The adventurous nature of past advertisements find their way into this campaign by displaying the actors’ lives as as a journey towards their goals.

The campaign will enhance the current positioning of Lucky Charms in the cereal market by focusing on its versatility and uniqueness, as well as transform our ability to appeal to a new target market that grew up with Lucky Charms but may have forgotten about it. Since Lucky Charms doesn’t appeal to only a certain region, the “Find Your Magic” campaign should find national success. We believe an effective creative execution of the “Find Your Magic” campaign will allow Lucky Charms to develop their future advertising under the umbrella of this campaign. Above all, “Find Your Magic” is about creating the awareness that Lucky Charms has been and always will be there to bring positivity to anyone who needs it.

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CREATIVE PLAN

CAMPAIGN EXECUTIONS

BROADCAST

The “Find Your Magic” campaign will have consistent themes including visible positivity resulting in consuming Lucky Charms and the versatility of the cereal past being solely a breakfast item.

Our broadcast ads include three television ads that will appeal directly to our primary and secondary targets. The first two television ads will display Amanda and Kevin’s respective daily lives as a sort of adventure in the modern world. We want to create feelings of connectedness amongst the characters featured in the television ads and themselves by showing the marbits instantly transforming the overall mood/atmosphere of their life after consumption. Also, a third ad will hit on the nostalgic nature of Lucky Charms by visually displaying the legacy Lucky Charms has created in its many decades of existence. Overall, feelings of positivity and magic brought to life will be prevalent and visible throughout the television ads.

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CREATIVE PLAN

TELEVISION Ad #1: A Day in the Life (Amanda)Setting: Setting: Small suburban town outside of Missouri. Displays her duplex house as well as work as a receptionist at a local brand of an insurance company.Music: The Quantic Soul Orchestra - Pushin’ On (0:00- 0:45) Duration: 45 Seconds

Scene 1: 5 secondsBegins with alarm going off around 5:00 AM in the morning. Music fades in background. Amanda finds a clover hat marbit at the edge of her night stand. She picks it up, looks at it for a second, confused, and then eats it and smiles.

Scene 2: 10 secondsAmanda is struggling to get her kids ready for school. The kids are running in the kitchen, screaming while playing a game of keep away from the youngest sibling. Fran-tically, Amanda grabs the kids backpacks while attempting to get them to slow down. After a few seconds of struggle she gets them out the door. She sighs, looks down at a heart marbit on the table and eats it, confused again but then smiles.

Scene 3: 10 secondsAmanda is at work answering calls and frantically trying to file a mound of papers. Her boss walks in angrily. He shouts at the employees, “Why didn’t you people have this done today? I am sick and tired of the lack of effort around this office!” The shouting is in the background of the song. She is stressed, but looks down to find a rainbow marbit on a stack of papers, looks at it, smiles and happily eats it.

Scene 4: 10 secondsNext, she picks her kids up from school, Amanda notices that her youngest son is upset. Maybe he didn’t do well on a test or was picked on at recess. When entering their home, she looks at the Lucky Charms box on top of the fridge. She grabs the box and begins playfully baking Lucky Charms bars with her children. Their moods are instantly uplifted as they eat the fun snack.

Scene 5: 10 secondsWhile they are baking a cartoon Lucky is in the background sitting on top of the fridge smiling with marbits magically floating in his hand. The camera pans in to Lucky. He throws the marbits into the air and they transform into the words “Find Your Magic” and then the Lucky Charms logo appears below. Music fades out.

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CREATIVE PLAN

TELEVISION AD #2: A Day in the Life (Kevin)Setting: Setting: Large college town with various university buildings, classrooms and libraries as well as Kevin’s apartment. Music: Iggy Pop - Lust for Life (1:45 - 2:30)Duration: 45 Seconds

Scene 1: 5 secondsKevin wakes up after having fell asleep in the library the night prior. Music fades in. There are papers and books stacked around him. He rubs his eyes. Then, he notices an hourglass marbit sitting on top of his textbook. He looks at it, confused, then eats it and smiles. Kevin looks at his watch and suddenly realizes he is late for work.

Scene 2: 10 secondsKevin is running through campus and dashes into the office where he works. His boss, points to his watch and says, “Barely made it, you’re one lucky guy.” He goes to his small desk amongst many others and finds a heart marbit directly at the center. He looks at it, confused again, then eats it and smiles.

Scene 3: 10 secondsLater that night, Kevin goes out with his racially diverse group of friends. A girl is with them that Kevin does not recognize. He goes into the bathroom to make sure he looks good. Outside the bathroom is a table with mints, amongst the mints is a horseshoe marbit. He smiles, eats it and immediately returns to his friends. He sits next to the new girl and talks with her.

Scene 4: 10 secondsThe last scene fasts forward to the next day. Kevin is looking for a midday snack before heading to a test with friends. He sees a Lucky Charms box and immediately grabs it as he heads out the door. He shares the box with his friends as they walk to the classroom.

Scene 5: 10 secondsThe ad ends with the students leave the classroom and give each other high fives. They all know they did well on the test. As the students walk down the hall with their backs to the camera, it pans away. Lucky is leaning against the wall with marbits magically floating in his hands. He throws them into the air to form the words “Find Your Magic” and then the Lucky Charms logo appears below. Music fades out. 21

CREATIVE PLAN

TELEVISION AD #3: Through the Years

The third television ad touches on nostalgia and aims to remind those who grew up with Lucky Charms should revisit the product they grew up loving and share it with their young family now.

The ad begins in the 1960s, but the box design, clothing, home decor and other features are constantly changing to match each decade until the present is shown. The actions of the actors follow a fluid motion, only the surroundings change similar to a flipbook matching the beat of the song.

Scene 1: 10 secondsThe scene opens to a woman in a kitchen pulling a a box of Lucky Charms out of the cupboard and setting it on the counter. Her husband walks into through the kitchen and kisses her on the cheek. The music is slow at first but building The camera follows him to the living room where the couple’s two young kids are playing with toys.

Scene 2: 12 secondsThe camera pans back to the woman as she pulls four bowls out of the cupboard and places them on the breakfast bar. Then, she reaches into the fridge for milk. The music is rapidly building. As the woman goes to pour the cereal into the bowl, she stops, pauses and then returns the bowls to the cupboard.

Scene 3: 23 secondsIt is now present day and remains so for the rest of the ad. The song climaxes. The woman then pulls out ingredients to bake a cake featuring Lucky Charms. Her family joins her to in the kitchen and have fun helping finish decorating the cake with marbits as they snack on the cereal.

As the ad comes to a close and the music fades out a voice over says: “Lucky Charms have been in homes for over 50 years, now let Lucky Charms elevate the adventure that is your life. Find Your Magic with Lucky Charms.”

Setting: Typical American home and family of 4, beginning with the 1960s spanning to the presentMusic: Rudimental - Feel the Love ft John Newman (2:50 - 3:35)Duration: 45 seconds

RADIO ADScript: Still believe Lucky Charms is just for breakfast? Think again. Lucky Charms is more than just a breakfast cereal. It is an extraordinary snack that can bring a little magic to any moment of your life. Find Your Magic with Lucky Charms.

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CREATIVE PLAN

PRINT ADSThe print ads for the “Find Your Magic” campaign are merely an extension of the “Day in the Life” television ads. Since we are slightly deterring from their traditional ads, we felt that a reinforcement through these print ads was necessary for developing a cohesive campaign. The print ads depict our primary and secondary target markets in ordinary surroundings with visual magic literally spouting from various forms of the cereal. Display-ing various forms of Lucky Charms will act as a testament to the cereals versatility. Above all, the print ads will reinforce our main concept, that Lucky Charms bring magic to everyday life.

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CREATIVE PLAN

INTERACTIVE/ONLINE ADS

This interactive, comprehensive cookbook will be displayed on the Lucky Charms website. Complete with videos of how to transform lucky charms into other snacks and desserts. Tutorial videos will be shared on Lucky Charms Social Media accounts.

Create the Magic Online Cookbook:

Spotify/Pandora/Soundcloud Ad:This ad especially targets our secondary market who frequently use music streaming websites, according to our primary research. The ad will play in between songs. Clicking on the ad will direct users to Lucky Charms own “Find Your Music” playlist made up of various upbeat songs that will appeal to Millenials.

Script: Sometimes all we need is a little magic to get us through the day. Lucky for you us at Lucky Charms live to brighten your mood whether it be with our magically delicious cereal or our hand-picked playlist. Find Your Magic. Find Your Music with Lucky Charms.

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MEDIA PLAN

MEDIA OBJECTIVEOur media objective is to reach and engage our target market as effectively and efficiently as possible in order to increase sales and brand loyalty, specifically among Millenials. To do this, we will brand Lucky Charms consistently across media platforms as a versatile cereal with memorable connotations to adventure, positivity and nostalgia.

TIMING/DURATION“Find Your Magic” is a 12-month continuous campaign that will launch at the beginning of the next calendar year and end at the close of the same calendar year. During this period, we will boost advertising throughout the season of autumn as well as the month of March.

We chose a continuous campaign based on a lack of evidence to support a relationship between sales trends and season. Boosting advertisements in autumn will take advantage of the hectic back-to-school period that both our primary and secondary targets face as busy, young adults who may either still be in college or are caregivers to their own young families. The hectic autumn season is a cardinal opportunity to frame Lucky Charms as an on-the-go snack convenient for all times of the day as well as for creating a social snack experience. We will boost advertising again throughout March and especially on March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day), because Lucky Charms celebrates St. Patrick’s Day as both the cereal’s anniversary and the birthday of its mascot. This presents a prime window for Lucky Charms to capitalize on the celebration of Irish culture.

We will employ the pulsing strategy, using light advertising all year round with the exceptions of two peak selling periods during which we will switch to heavy advertising: 1. September through November and 2. March. Our messaging will take the form of reminder announcements that will target consumers every day throughout the week, and even moreso on Sundays as well as during afternoon and late-night snacking windows.

We identified pulsing as our ideal frequency strategy because Lucky charms are sold year round, but have the potential to experience surges in sales during the intermittent time periods identified above. Our primary research identifies Sunday as the day our target consistently grocery shops/is most likely to purchase Lucky Charms, and snack-time windows are when they are susceptible to reminders to consume the cereal.

The “Find Your Magic” campaign scope is national, but emphasizes market areas where many Millennials live, in densely populated college-town regions as well as residential suburbs. These regional emphases will remain fixed season-to-season. Our situation analysis cites that Lucky Charms is not strongly favored by a specific region.

FREQUENCY

SCOPE

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MEDIA PLAN

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Media Planning Spreadsheet

Total Budget Total on Impact Contingency Remainder

$12,000,000.00 $6,724,650.00 $300,000.00 $4,975,350.00 7,024,650.00

$12,000,000.00

IMPACT MEDIA

MEDIA CATEGORIES UNIT ALLOC.COST PER UNIT$ ALLOCATION NOTESBillboards 76 $35,000 $2,660,000 38 markets/3 months

Grocery Carts 38 $75,000 $2,850,000 38 markets/ 1 month

Sponsorships 3 $17,550 $52,650 3units

Celebrity Endorsements 1 $250,000 $250,000 per person

Banner Ads 152 $6,000 $912,000 38 markets/4 months

SUM TOTAL $6,724,650

CONVENTIONAL MEDIA

MEDIA CATEGORIES % ALLOCATION CPP TOTAL $ ALLOCATION GRPSNational Cable TV 14.00% $19,227 $696,549.00 36

Local TV 5.00% $12,071 $248,767.50 21

Radio 2.00% $4,240 $99,507.00 23

National Magazines - Men 2.00% $28,618 $99,507.00 3

National Magazines - Women 2.00% $21,240 $99,507.00 5

SEM Keywords 5.00% $18.50 $248,767.50 13447

Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest - standard unit

10.00% $15,000 $497,535.00 33

Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest - rich media

10.00% $22,000 $497,535.00 23

Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest - extra rich media

10.00% $37,000 $497,535.00 13

HULU 10.00% $55,000 $497,535.00 9

Spotify 10.00% $9,250 $497,535.00 54

MEDIA SELECTIONOur decision to emphasize media that will reach millennials over every other consumer demographic follows strategically from our situation analysis and campaign strategy, both of which highlight opportunity in the relatively untapped consumer potential of adults. Our situation analysis shows that Lucky Charms’ retail sales increased by 3 percent in the 2014 fiscal year, two years after Lucky Charms began to target adults. Our media plan is designed to further amplify this upward trajectory.

BROADCASTNational Cable TV:Buy $696,549 of ads for humorous adult cartoons on primetime TV, such as Bob’s Burgers and The Simpsons, because our situation analysis shows that Lucky Charms consumers are heavy viewers of these programs. We will also place ads on children’s’ channels like Cartoon Network and Disney Channel because children account for 55 percent of Lucky Charms’ current consumers and we would like to maintain their loyalty even as we focus primarily on the millennial demographic. We chose primetime slots to reach current Lucky Charms consumers and spur repeat purchases because our primary research indicates that they mainly watch TV in the evening and nighttime. Commercials on national cable TV have the following advantages: Video ad form allows extra creativity for our special time periods of boosted advertising (autumn and March), live-action presents good platform for our campaign’s uplifting emotional appeals, it provides mass coverage ideal for our national campaign scope, has a low CPM, allows for content-based targeting, has high impact and its brevity is compatible with our low involvement target market and product.

Our busy target consumer lives by an irregular schedule, often staying up late into the night to finish work or household duties. Thus, the target is most receptive to reminders to eat Lucky Charms late at night through nontraditional channels such as social media. Additionally, since our target is so often on the go, the ideal time to remind them purchase Lucky Charms is when they are near stores that sell Lucky Charms. Place media is the best method to reach the target during these windows in which they are in purchase mode and susceptible to impulse buying.

APERTURE MOMENTS

Local TV:Buy $248,767 of ads for local news channels in the morningtime, because our primary research shows that while our target audiences do not tune into local TV as much as cable TV, they do tune into the news. Local TV has advantages similar to national TV and has lower CPMs. Additionally, it allows us to geographically target our 38 market areas.

MEDIA PLAN

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MEDIA PLAN

Radio: Buy $99,507 of spot ads during evening drive segments, because they will reach our targets in the aperture moments they are travelling to or near stores that sell Lucky Charms. Radio has the following advantages: reaches about 70 percent of people ages 18 to 49 per day on average, reaches captive, specialized audiences, is compatible with emotional appeals and has low media and productions costs.

PRINTNational Magazines: Buy $99,507 of ads for men’s magazines such as Car and Driver, and $99,507 for women’s magazines such as Glamour, because our situation analysis identifies these publications as the magazines read by our target markets. Magazines have the following advantages: high color reproduction quality complements our campaign’s vibrant creative design, long lead times compatible with our 12-month continuous campaign, high credibility, they are permanent/user-paced and readers pass them around.

Billboards: PLACE MEDIA

Grocery Carts:

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Buy $2,660,000 of ads on billboards placed along the roads surrounding grocery stores in our emphasized market areas (see scope). Billboards have the following advantages: long lead times are compatible with our 12-month con-tinuous campaign, geographic flexibility that allows us to place advertisements close to point-of-purchase and spur impulse buying, targets will see billboards from their cars (which our primary research identified as their main mode of transportation to grocery stores), high frequency to help break through other ad clutter, low cost per exposure and a fleeting message window compatible with our low investment product.

Buy $2,850,000 of ads (using mobile advertising cost). Grocery carts are vital to our low investment product because they are close to point-of-purchase for impulse buying and will reach adults as well as children.

MEDIA PLAN

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Search Enging Marketing (SEM) Keywords:

INTERNET

Spend $248,767 on the following keywords and phrases: “Lucky Charms,” “snacks,” “best cheap snacks,” “gluten free snacks,” “afternoon snacks,” “late night snacks,” “on the go snacks,” and “gluten free breakfast.” These keywords will raise general public awareness of Lucky Charms’ versatility and new gluten free status, and reinforce its affordability. “Snack” and “gluten free” are the bulk of the keywords because they are attributes that consumers do not current-ly associate with Lucky Charms but we would like them to. Additionally, we will focus on the keyword “snack” over the word “breakfast” because the concept of cereal for breakfast is well-worn to consumers. The keyword “cheap” is included because our campaign strategy shows that Lucky Charms’ most active consumers have an annual income between $20,000-24,999, and thus highly value product affordability.

Search Enging Optimization (SEO):

Banner Ads:

Sponsorship:

Our ten keywords are Lucky Charms, cereal, marshmallows, snack, breakfast, adventure, magic, delicious and affordable. These keywords are free to embed on Lucky Charms’ website and will drive search traffic in. These are based not just on how we want the brand to be perceived but also on what we believe consumers are most likely to put in search engines.

Spend $912,000 on banner ads placed on niche websites where our target markets hang out: Youtube, BuzzFeed, Elite Daily and Amazon. According to data26 gathered by the millennial consumer and marketing trends website Millennial Marketing in 2015, these are the most popular millennial websites. Banners will be emphasized during promotional periods so our target can be sent directly to the promotion without doing work to find it.

$520,650 for three sponsorships: two from Tasty featuring Lucky Charms in recipe videos, and one from Target featuring Lucky Charms in their college freshmen direct mail campaign. Tasty videos are popular among the millennial demographic and often go viral on social networking sites, and Target has a strong relationship with millennials and is a national retail chain.

26 http://www.inc.com/ryan-jenkins/top-5-millennial-brands-cities-apps-2015.html

MEDIA PLAN

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Facebook: Spend $373,151 on ads emphasized from 6 to 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. According to Pew research27, 82 percent of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook and 76 percent of users visit the site daily, making it the most popular social media platform amongst our target audience. Specific time windows are based on our primary research showing that our target visits social media networking sites primarily when they wake up in the morning and before they go to sleep at night. Additionally, since Facebook is highly interactive, it is a great platform to play marbits up to consumers as a tool for personalization in congruence with our campaign strategy.

SOCIAL MEDIA & NETWORKING

Instagram:Spend $373,151 on ads emphasized from 6 to 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. As 59 percent of online adults ages 18-29 use Instagram and 51 percent of Instagram users visit the site daily, Instagram is

Pinterest:Spend $373,151 on Pinterest ads emphasized from 6 to 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. As 36 percent of online adults ages 18-29 use Pinterest, it is the third most popular social media platform amongst

Twitter:Spend $373,151 on Twitter ads emphasized from 6 to 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. As 26 percent of online adults ages 18-29 use Twitter, it is the third most popular social media platform amongst

27 http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/

MEDIA PLAN

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Hulu:MISCELLANEOUS

Product Placement (celebrity endorsements):

Spend $497,535 on Hulu ads, because our primary research shows that our target markets frequently stream movies and TV shows.

Pay young, adventurous individuals with large online followings to post on all their platforms a photo of themselves with Lucky Charms and mention the word “snack” in the caption, because they have influence on their followers who look up to them.

Spotify/Pandora/Soundcloud:

Contingency:

Spend $1,492,605 total on these three platforms and $497,535 for each individual platform. Spotify, Pandora and Soundcloud target our secondary market who frequently use music streaming websites.

Leave $300,000 as contingency for unplanned opportunities that might present themselves during the calendar year.

MEDIA PLAN

MEDIA EXPENDITURES SUMMARYTraditional:

Interactive:

With the understanding that our target market is often busy and on the go, and that Lucky Charms is a low investment product, we will use place advertising near and inside grocery stores to encourage impulse buying. These ads have the potential to reach our entire target market, including our busy primary and secondary targets who are engaged with school, families and careers, and children as well (who our research shows have great buying influence over their parents) when they are out-and-about with their caregivers.

We will emphasize and rely on digital platforms as the most efficient and effective medium to reach our consumer and engage them in our campaign. Millennials consistently have high social media usage, using these platforms to connect with brands (relevant our goal of strengthening brand loyalty), and trusting product information they get from social sharing/networking more than other sources (another campaign goal is to promote connectivity and conversation amongst users), as shown in our situation analysis. By creating an active online community of Lucky Charms fans and with the live-action characters in our digital advertisements, the brand can also tap into feelings of loneliness and connect emotionally with our target market, which will help ensure that they associate our cereal with the magic of finding happiness in the little things in their day-to-day lives.

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IMPACT MEDIAMEDIA CATEGORIES JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC TOTAL

Billboards 1,330,000 1,330,000 $ 2,660,000

Grocery Carts 225,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 375,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 $ 2,625,000

Sponsorships 17,550 35,100 $ 52,650

Celebrity Endorsements 250,000 $ 250,000

Banner Ads 228,000 228,000 228,000 228,000 $ 912,000

SUM TOTAL 475,000 225,000 1,800,550 225,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 1,968,100 453,000 453,000 225,000

NON-IMPACT MEDIAMEDIA CATEGORIES JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC TOTAL

National Cable TV $ 174,137 $ 174,137 $ 174,137 $ 174,137 $ 696,549

Local TV $ 82,923 $ 82,923 $ 82,923 $ 248,768

Radio $ 16,585 $ 16,585 $ 16,585 $ 16,585 $ 16,585 $ 16,585 $ 99,507

National Magazines - Men $ 99,507 $ 99,507

National Magazines - Women $ 99,507 $ 99,507

SEM Keywords $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 20,731 $ 248,769

Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest - standard unit

$ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 497,535

Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest - rich media

$ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 497,535

Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest - extra rich media

$ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 497,535

HULU $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 497,535

Spotify $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 497,535

Pandora $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 497,535

Soundcloud $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 41,461 $ 497,535

SUM TOTAL $ 501,681 $ 269,498 $ 369,005 $ 443,636 $ 286,083 $ 352,421 $ 460,220 $ 369,005 $ 369,005 $ 543,143 $ 286,083 $ 269,498 $ 4,975,352

PR & PROMOTIONS PLAN

The purpose of this public relations and promotions plan is to lay out a simple, concise modus operandi for success in creating a strong, positive brand image for Lucky Charms. In order to do this, 1848 Marketing and Communications investigated potential PR strategies for the future, as well as possible media outlets Lucky Charms could use to spread our message. In addition, 1848 Marketing and Communications came up with what we believe are incisive, realistic and fun PR tactics and promotional activities for the near future. We are confident that with this plan, Lucky Charms and all of their current and future customers can find their magic.

OVERVIEW

PR STRATEGY After conducting our own primary research through opinion polling, interviews and focus groups in order to gauge a better understanding of the public perception of Lucky Charms, we have found that there are several minor concerns potential Lucky Charms consumers have. In some cases, we will continue to address issues Lucky Charms is already aware of by reinvigorating current campaigns. In other cases, addressing concerns of the general public will require entirely new projects, campaigns and PR tactics to qualm any unease with our product:

Ingredients in Lucky Charms:In order to deal with concerns over the ingredients in Lucky Charms, we propose staying on course with current plans to promote previously established moves by General Mills and Lucky Charms to remove all artificial colors and flavors from our cereal. Lucky Charms will need to send out Press Releases as every positive change is made to the cereal and as every step in the right direction is made. In addition, Lucky Charms products should continue to advertise on their boxes and in commercials and online the positive changes being made to the product in order to have current buyers reassured in their decision.

Health of Lucky Charms:Dealing with the health is more difficult than simply changing ingredients, especially if we want to maintain the same great taste our customers know and love. In order to influence and manage opinion around the health of Lucky Charms, we need to continue pushing the new “gluten free” aspect of Lucky Charms, as well as pointing out the healthy aspects of the cereal. Lucky Charms contains only 110 calories per serving (150 calories with skim milk), no saturated or trans fats and it contains solid doses of over a dozen essential vitamins and minerals. If issues over sugar content rises, we could even point out that Lucky Charms is meant to get you “a boost” in your day, so the sugar content is a good source of energy.

Design and look of Lucky Charms products:One of the most prominent commentaries on social media has been agitation over the new look of the Lucky Charms boxes and other products. Some have gone so far as to even call the design “ugly.” In order to deal with this, we simply remind customers that we at Lucky Charms are proud of our cereal’s history and heritage. We felt that in order to honor that history, we should go back to how the cereal looked in decades past. After we are done with the current design in coming years, we can redesign the boxes to reflect the #FindYourMagic campaign, incorporating positive messages and ideas.

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MEDIA RELATIONS STRATEGY & TARGET VEHICLE SELECTIONGetting media coverage for a breakfast cereal is difficult. Even if Lucky Charms perceives something as “news,” there is a decent chance that many outlets will not. In order to get media to cover our events, we need to ensure we foster relationships with broadcast, print, and online media sources through advertising buys and by making our news more appealing to them. One possible way to get media more interested in covering Lucky Charms would be to bring in a top tier spokesperson for our cereal.

Though expensive to do so ($2 million for a top-tier talent), bringing in someone influential and incredibly famous (think Taylor Swift, Lebron James, J.J. Watt) could result in media taking a much greater interest in the positive aspects of Lucky Charms and all of the good we hope to do. If the major spokesperson were an athlete, there is potential that this could also help with convincing the public that Lucky Charms in a fairly healthy option.

By first fostering relationships with media outlets across the country, then having someone extremely influential tout our product, we could likely see an uptick in media coverage at events and from our releases.

MEDIA CONTACTSEvery reporter on the list below works for a nationally respected and widely read newspaper. In some cases, the media outlet they work at is actually a nationally or globally read news source. In every other case, the outlets selected coverage a good portion of the continental United Stated states, including areas with large college campuses and major metropolitan areas. Since our research doesn’t show any correlation between specific regions and Lucky Charms popularity, we want to involve every region with our product. The goal of reaching out to these specific outlets is to get as much press coverage as possible for everything we do or say.

Vanessa WongBuzzfeed News reporter on the Food Industryvenessa.wong@buzzfeed.com

Roberto FerdmanVICE news business reporterroberto.ferdman@vice.com

Barry Adams Wisconsin State Journal Regional Editorbadams@madison.com

Goerge StanleyMilwaukee Journal Sentinel editorgeorge.stanley@jrn.com

Doug StanglinUSA Today business reporterdstanglin@usatoday.com

Ralph Blumenthal New York Times culture reporterralphb@nytimes.com

Jeffrey Cane New York Times assistant news editorcane@nytimes.com

Ryan KnutsonWall Street Journal news reporterryan.knutson@wsj.com

Jenn Harris, LA Times deputy food editorjenn.harris@latimes.com

Alexia Elejaldo-RuizChicago Tribunebusiness reporteraelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com

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James MadoreNewsday business reportermadore@newsday.com

Alexander KaufmanHuffington Post senior business editoralexander.kaufman@huffingtonpost.com

Dan AdamsBoston Globe business reporterdaniel.adams@globe.com

Kelly HwangArizona Republic features & entertainment reporter kellie.hwang@arizonarepublic.com

Al LewisHouston Chronicle business reporteral.lewis@chron.com

Matthew BrownBaltimore Sun enterprise reportermatbrown@baltsun.com

Michael HinkelmanPhiladelphia Enquirer business reporterhinkelm@phillynews.com

Mike RogowayThe Oregonian business reporter mrogoway@oregonian.com

Josie KlemaierDenver Post business reporterjklemaier@denverpost.com

Thomas LeeSan Fransisco Chronicle business reporterbusiness@sfchronicle.com

Lisa GibbsMiami Herald executive business editorlgibbs@miamiherald.com

MEDIA CONTACTS cont.

PR TACTICSGetting media coverage for a breakfast cereal is difficult. Even if Lucky Charms perceives something as “news,” there is a decent chance that many outlets will not. In order to get media to cover our events, we need to ensure we foster relationships with broadcast, print, and online media sources through advertising buys and by making our news more appealing to them. One possible way to get media more interested in covering Lucky Charms would be to bring in a top tier spokesperson for our cereal.

Though expensive to do so ($2 million for a top-tier talent), bringing in someone influential and incredibly famous (think Taylor Swift, Lebron James, J.J. Watt) could result in media taking a much greater interest in the positive aspects of Lucky Charms and all of the good we hope to do. If the major spokesperson were an athlete, there is potential that this could also help with convincing the public that Lucky Charms in a fairly healthy option.

By first fostering relationships with media outlets across the country, then having someone extremely influential tout our product, we could likely see an uptick in media coverage at events and from our releases.

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Partnership with the American Cancer Society at Relay for Life events A partnership with the American Cancer Society where Lucky Charms set up a booth to give out free cereal for those participating in these relays would be effective and reinforce our core message and brand position in that we care about our customers and people as a whole. Everyone knows someone affected by cancer. Not only do we gain positive publicity, we also do something genuinely good for communities across the country.

#FindYourMagicThe #FindYourMagic campaign will encourage anyone and everyone to find something magic in their everyday lives and tell us about it through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media outlet. It can be a picture of a rainbow, a video of your dog doing a trick, or just something that made you smile walking down the street. Whatever it is, Lucky Charms wants you to #FindYourMagic.

This tactic uses the core from our new “movement” and campaign to accentuate our brand position as a positive part of people’s everyday lives. This is about more than our cereal, it’s about a way of living everyday life, we think this will resonate with consumers of all ages. We want to begin this campaign sometime During September, October, November, or March to coincide with pushes being made in media buying. Use of social media and Twitter creates possibility of this going viral and creating a buzz quickly (if you see your friends doing it, you will too), especially in a time where we could use positivity once in awhile.

Partnership with the American Heart AssociationSome percentage of every box of Lucky Charms sold is donated to the AHA. This tactic promotes the healthy side of our cereal and reaffirms our attempts to let people know Lucky Charms is a good choice for an active on the go lifestyle. As one of the major charities in America, a partnership where we donated money without any obvious gain to us except positive publicity would be tremendous for our public image. We would budget 5 million dollars for the whole promotion, but would likely not hit that mark if we only donated half the proceeds from every box to the AHA over a 6 month span.

Student Scholarship fund Since our secondary target market is college-aged students, giving out a scholarship would directly reinforce the message that we care about them and show us to be in touch with Millennials. It says “we know life is tough right now, Lucky Charms is here to help.” The scholarship $10,000 would be awarded to two college students from every state who send in an essay detailing why they deserve the scholarship, a resume, 2 letters of recommendation, and 250 words on what “Find Your Magic” means to them.

Find Your Magic

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KEY PROMOTIONAL EFFORTSFind Your Magic Nationwide TourPart of the #FindYourMagic campaign is to be spontaneous and celebrate the little things that make everyday life great. Even something as simple as giving out a free bowl of cereal. This tour utilizes guerrilla marketing by going from city to city, giving away boxes of Lucky Charms and prizes if customers interact with us on social media.

We will use post hints on our social media in order to promote the location we will be in during that time period. This would boost our social media presence. We would use this on college campuses to promote our secondary target market. Similar to Red Bull, the word spreads quickly in densely populated areas if something free is out there. People will flock to our product and they will wonder where to find us next.

This tour would include cities across the country, but focusing on mostly big college towns such as: Madison, Ann Arbor, College Station Texas, Columbus, Norman OK, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Berkeley, Eugene, Seattle etc.

Student Scholarship Essay CompetitionAs mentioned previously, this would show college students we care by giving them the opportunity to earn a scholarship while also pushing the positive lifestyle we want associated with Lucky Charms. We would encourage scholarship contestants to share their essays on what “Find Your Magic” means to them on socia media. Lucky Charms could then interact with the contestants posts and announce the scholarship winners on social media.

Child-care ContestIn order to get in touch with our primary target, we will hold a competition to give out free child-care for a year to 20 lucky winners. All who wish to enter must submit their name, information and a 5 minute video detailing how their family finds their “magic” in everyday life and why they deserve the child care. Lucky Charms will then randomly pick 20 contestants to receive $20,000 per child who needs child-care. The winners of the competition will have the videos they submitted posted on Lucky Charms social media as well as a follow up video discussing how the contest helped their family find a little magic.

BOGO CouponsThis promotion is fairly simple but targets our primary target. Our primary research shows this market (and others) are susceptible to coupons and good deals, so the idea is to get them to buy one box and then realize how great it is and want more. Coupons will be distributed through freestanding inserts in National Newspapers, likely USA Today.This promotion will cost is $250,000 for insert minus $2,000,000 for cost of lost cereal profit.

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PR & PROMOTIONS COST

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SAMPLE PRESS RELEASES

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IMAGE SOURCES

All images were created by either Lucky Charms or1848 Marketing and Communications unless noted below.

http://www.hfuw.org/united-way-at-work-help-me-grow-helps-families-handle-developmental-delays/young-moth-er-with-her-one-years-old-little-son-dressed-in-pajamas-are-posing-mom-with-son-taking-selfie-on-her-smartphone-or-action-camera-in-the-bedroom-selective-focus-casual-lifestyle-photo/

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/12/31/study-warns-of-looming-mental-health-crisis-for-black-col-lege-students

http://www.femside.com/life-love/family/how-to-have-fun-indoors-during-the-wintertime/3/

http://www.anyacsavar.com/blog/page/4/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blake-boles/give-high-school-students_b_6354654.html

http://startupdope.com/heyyymeetnewpeople/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/255579347581172525/

http://aveloilla.net/college-student-backpacks-john-peters-new-york/

http://ranawaqasrockstar.blogspot.com/2012/05/rainbows-and-rainbow-colour-like.html

http://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1127293-stock-footage-female-college-student-sitting-on-floor-in-library-reading-book-and-taking-notes.html

https://remoteforever.com/agile-remote-work-meant-together/