Kashi taps Olympian Tessa Virtue for Instagram livestream on wellness

Brief:

Kashi, the organic breakfast cereal brand marketed by Kellogg, launched a multichannel campaign in Canada featuring Olympic figure skater Tessa Virtue. As part of the #FullOfLife effort, Virtue will host an Instagram livestream at her @tessavirtue17 account at 7 p.m. ET today, according to an announcement.
During the livestream, Virtue will offer tips "on leading a more mindful lifestyle and her personal recipe for success." She also will appear on in-store signage and on Kashi's social media channels as part of the broader #FullOfLife campaign that includes shoppable content, videos and a national public relations effort.
Kashi is asking Canadians to share their experiences with healthy eating on social channels and tag their posts with the #FullOfLife hashtag. The brand will roll out additional activities via the Kashi Canada accounts on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, along with its website.

Insight:

Kashi is angling to reach younger consumers who tend to be more health-conscious than older generations and who frequently gravitate to social media apps like Instagram to follow lifestyle influencers and athletes like Virtue for wellness advice. Through the livestreaming activation, the cereal brand can reach those consumers and urge them to share their own experiences with healthy eating.

The campaign comes as cereal brands see rapid changes in consumer habits spurred by the pandemic. While sales for the category surged during the summer months as people spent more time at home due to the health crisis, there are signs that the business is returning to normal trends.

Kashi's parent company Kellogg reported a 26% gain in North American cereal sales earlier in the year, but the increase narrowed to 0.6% in the third quarter as panic-buying of household staples subsided. With continued strength in other business areas, Kellogg raised its estimate for 2020 sales growth to 6% from 5% previously, per a quarterly announcement.

Kashi is among the breakfast brands that recently have launched social media campaigns to reach younger consumers who are more elusive on traditional media channels like linear TV. Kellogg's Special K cereal recently gave Twitter users a chance to win a "Special K Blursday Go-Away Kit" that featured people's favorite cereal flavors for each day of the week, as determined by their conversations on the app.

General Mills' Cinnamon Toast Crunch last month asked TikTok users to participate in its #CTCVoiceBox challenge that featured musical artists Jason Derulo, Bebe Rexha and several social media influencers in videos. Videos using the hashtag have been viewed more than 3.8 billion times. Before that, the company's Yoplait yogurt brand launched a dance challenge on Instagram Reels starring singer Jennifer Lopez that asked people to share videos using her new single.

Instagram Live also continues to gain traction as a means to reach homebound consumers. The livestreaming feature, which has seen adoption spike under the pandemic, is more frequently being used by brands to facilitate entertaining or educational content, along with events like Q&As with celebrities and influencers.