Advertising Age magazine is reporting that Lucky Charms cereal, a favorite of children for most of its 48-year history, is now targeting adults in a new marketing campaign.
General Mills, the Golden Valley-based maker of the cereal, will launch a new campaign nationally sometime next year, the publication said. The marketing will focus on nostalgic adults who grew up with Lucky the Leprechaun, the cereal's mascot who made his debut in 1964.
Greg Pearson, General Mills' brand marketing manager, told Ad Age that 45 percent of Lucky Charms consumers are adults, and as a result, the brand posted its best volume year ever in fiscal 2012.
The adult campaign kicked off with a TV spot airing regionally showing a woman rediscovering Lucky Charms at her office. She is then transported for a brief moment to Lucky's magical forest, where the animated leprechaun delivers his famous line:
"You're always after me Lucky Charms."
Her response: "I forgot how good these taste."
The ad, by Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, made its debut in Buffalo, N.Y.; Kansas City; Louisville, Ky., and Syracuse, N.Y., and will go national in the next six to 12 months, Pearson said.
JANET MOORE
