Dive Brief:

• Post Consumer Brands' cereal brand Honey Bunches of Oats debuted a new campaign, "Rhymes with Delicious," that features a cameo by Diana Hunter, a former employee who starred in many of the brand's ads until retiring in 2017, according to a news release provided to Marketing Dive. 
• The newest spot features Hunter and another employee creating rhymes about the cereal brand while at work, according to US Magazine. Lyrics include: "Crispy, crunchy bunches, for breakfast, brunch and lunch, to fill your bags and totes, with Honey Bunches of Oats." 
• The campaign, created with the cereal brand's agency of record Argonaut, also features people in different settings, including a dad with twin daughters under a breakfast fort and a woman taking a break from her desk job, who break into song. "Rhymes with Delicious" includes several 15- and 30-second TV spots. The campaign will also include audio-based media like Pandora, with genre-targeted ads featuring rhymes that build on the ones featured in the TV spots while a social campaign features karaoke-inspired clips.  

Dive Insight:

Honey Bunches of Oats' new lighthearted campaign featuring catchy rhymes and a familiar face is the brand's effort to connect with fans in an authentic way and build brand loyalty. By tailoring the rhyming approach to different platforms, the cereal brand is striving to provide unique experiences with each consumer interaction. Bringing back Diana Hunter, who began working for the company in 1976 and appeared in her first cereal ad in 2002, underscores how real-life personalities, whether they're influencers, celebrities or an employee, are perceived as more authentic by consumers. 

Cereal sales have been in a consistent decline over the past few years, with sales dropping 2.3% from 2016 to 2017, according to Food Dive. Across many packaged foods brands, evolving consumer behaviors can be blamed for a decline in sales, as people are looking for healthier options. Millennials have especially shown little interest in cereal, finding it inconvenient because of the cleanup involved after eating. 

Honey Bunches of Oats has remained one of the top-selling cereal brands and has out-spent other brands in marketing to retain its place in the market. The company spent $27.2 million in U.S. measured media in 2017, according to Kantar Media data cited by Ad Age. The brand tapped agency of record Argonaut in July. 

Other brands have seen success in resurrecting mascots or spokespeople. KFC, most notably, brought back its iconic Colonel Sanders into its marketing in 2015, and consumers have responded positively. The fast food chain has featured different iterations of the Colonel, most recently the Colonel Bear. The fast food chain has seen continuous growth, which analysts have attributed to its marketing and the ability to resonate with younger consumers.