Kelloggs, Cornelius and The ‘OG’ Campaign

Need a snapshot? Here’s the breakdown:

• When: Launched in December 2024
• Who: Led by Creative Agency: Leo Burnett UK
• What: ‘See you in the Morning’ to centralise Kelloggs as the ‘OG’ brand  and reinvigorate Kelloggs as a staple in people’s homes
• Why: Kellogg’s had decided that the brand needed to be recognised centrally as an OG brand, rather than using big campaigns for all their product brands

Any performance marketing agency will be able to break down for you how brands operate and importantly, explain how their marketing campaigns operate. However, in this blog, I aim to go beyond the surface by taking a deep dive into Kellogg’s latest campaign, the ‘OG’ campaign.

This campaign is focused on people’s morning routines, positioning Kellogg’s (the brand) as an essential part of the start of your day. By tapping into nostalgic brand recognition and the comfort of routine, Kellogg’s has been able to reinforce its identity as a household staple. The OG campaign interweaves storytelling with product placement, implying that Kellogg’s isn’t just a cereal brand but actually a part of your daily routine.

Kellogg’s is a brand everybody is familiar with, particularly in the UK let alone globally. You’ve rarely met someone who hasn’t tasted their iconic Special K, Frosties or any other of their well well-known products. Despite Kellogg’s already having a strong brand reputation, the launch of the OG campaign was a bold statement highlighting that they don’t take for granted that they are the number one brand for people’s morning routines. They confidently know they are. Showcasing Cornelius brought to life, their iconic mascot parading down city streets to Jurassic 5’s Jayou, it was Kellogg’s confidently owning that they know they are the number one brand for people’s morning routines.

‘See you in the Morning’

A new identity, compelling imagery and something to celebrate 117 years of a brand iconic within people’s homes. This was what was set out to achieve by Leo Burnett and the Kelloggs team when they launched their See you in the Morning campaign at the end of 2024.

Their iconic cockerel has been a flagship logo of the brand since 1958, the Kelloggs company has had a number of great mascots under its umbrella of brands, such as Tony the Tiger, Lucius Pringle & Coco the Monkey. But at the heart of Kellogg’s brand is the iconic Cornelius the Cockerel. A recognised symbol of the brand, Cornelius was brought to life during this campaign, where he could be seen strutting down city centre streets, reimagining what the brand stands for, supporting people’s mornings no matter their routine. We can see busy family homes, people running and capturing the imaginations of Children during the ad, showcasing that Kellogg’s is a staple of people’s mornings and their daily routines.

The Campaign itself was fully integrated across TV, digital, social and OOH estimated to reach over 150 million people across Europe. Take a look for yourself.

Kellogg's | See You in the Morning

The importance of brand evolution

Kellogg’s was first founded in 1906 with the product launch of cornflakes, the staple product of the brand. The rise of the popularity in the product then led to the brand evolving the mascot the cockerel in 1957 where he was first introduced.to audiences. A symbol of which people could get behind the brand inspired by Welsh harpist Nansi Richards.

A brand that has been able to develop over time and consistently react to different market placements over time, from its launch as a brand in 1906, Kellogg’s has ran a number of different highly productive campaigns that have allowed the brand to evolve with time

Timeline below:

1923 — The Kellogg Company made another bold move and became the first in the food industry to hire a dietitian. Mary Barber started the Kellogg’s Home Economics Department and began defining the roles different foods played in proper diets.

1940 — During World War II, you could only buy Kellogg’s products in the North and Midlands. Kellogg created Wheat Flakes and Wheat Krispies to help feed war-time Britain. Made of home-grown wheat because of import restrictions, both brands have now long gone.

1950s — Kellogg’s launches Special K and Kellogg’s Frosties.

1969 — The Kellogg Company was honoured to provide breakfast for the legendary Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins during their groundbreaking Apollo 11 trip to the moon

1980s – Kellogg’s introduces a range of new products to delight UK shoppers, including Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes

1997 — Opened the W.K. Kellogg Institute for Food and Nutrition Research, where food scientists, nutritionists and engineers transform wholesome grains and other ingredients into great-tasting and good-for-your-family foods.

2000 — Kellogg’s sets up breakfast clubs in British schools to help provide every child with a great start to the day. We begin our 10-year-long partnership with the Amateur Swimming Association to encourage more children to swim

2011 – Kellogg’s announces it will add vitamin D to all its kids’ cereals to help combat the rise of rickets

Over time the development of new marketing techniques, new technologies and the constant need to capture audiences’ imagination has been central to the brand in order for them to be central in people’s homes. Having evolved the brand over such a long period of time Kelloggs in their latest campaign the ‘OG’ campaign ‘See you in the morning’ they have solidified their place as the number one brand for people’s morning routine.

Jenn Carker, Vice-President at Kellogg’s cereal added: ‘The OG campaign celebrates everything that makes Kellogg’s iconic – our heritage, our assets, and of course Cornelius himself. By pairing vibrant creative with smart media placements, bringing Cornelius to the streets of Europe and waking up the nation to why Kellogg’s remains the original and best choice for breakfast’.

Defining success

Naturally in any marketing campaign, worked on by any integrated marketing agency, campaign to conversion can be the most difficult part, as attribution is never linear. The ‘See you in the Morning’ campaign was deemed a success by industry standards, with strong brand recognition, positive feedback from consumers across the board.

The campaign had received a score of Good 3.8 star rating with System1’s test audience. Showing an above-average in the cereals category. Good Fluency rated it 88, recognising how much the brand had such a positive reaction following the campaign.

As a brand topic, Google Trends indicates that monthly searches were around 1.3m, and at the time of launch and just after this jumped to 1.6m searches. This indicates how much conversation was generated online following the launch of this campaign. When launching these types of integrated campaigns, it’s so important for marketers and business leaders to have access to tools that can support further justification and campaign impact into growing out more and more ideas like this one

Diversity in campaign messaging

The see you in the morning campaign was a campaign that got marketeers thinking about various marketing strategies agencies and brands use in order to solidify a brand message. Kelloggs has been synonymous with households for a number of years, this campaign promoted the individuality of breakfast routines and the iconic role a bowl of Kellogg’s plays in each person’s morning routine.

Over the years Kellogg’s have always been able to adapt new products and get them central in people’s mind, almost until they become second nature for people to purchase. Take Kelloggs Special K ‘special for a reason’ campaign, a campaign iconic due to their partnership with Molly Baz who was 39 weeks pregnant during the photoshoot and highlighted the benefits of adding Special K to her healthy recipes

https://www.instagram.com/mollybaz/?hl=en

Storytelling through brand ambassadors is so important to attack both the upper and lower funnel. If done correctly, the impact on revenue and brand awareness can be huge.

Impact on revenue

• Higher Trust Leads to Increased Sales: 92% of consumers are more likely to trust recommendations from individuals (even if they don’t know them personally) over direct brand messaging. This trust fostered by brand ambassadors directly influences purchasing decisions.
• Word-of-Mouth Drives Sales: Word-of-mouth marketing, a key activity of brand ambassadors, generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising. Ambassadors authentically sharing their positive experiences encourages their networks to try the brand.
• Increased Conversion Rates: Leads developed through employee social marketing (a form of brand ambassadorship) convert seven times more frequently than other leads. This highlights the effectiveness of authentic endorsements in driving action.
• Strong ROI on Influencer Marketing: Businesses can earn an average of $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, with top performers seeing returns as high as $20 or more. While not all ambassadors are “influencers” in the traditional sense, this demonstrates the strong financial potential of leveraging advocates.
• Higher Lifetime Value of Referred Customers: Customers referred by brand ambassadors have a 16% higher lifetime value compared to other customers. This indicates that ambassadors attract more loyal and engaged customers.

Impact on brand awareness

• Expanded Social Reach: Employees, as brand ambassadors, have a social reach ten times larger than their company’s brand channels. Activating employees significantly amplifies brand visibility.
• Increased Engagement: Content shared by employees receives eight times more engagement than content shared by brand channels. Ambassadors create more relatable and trustworthy content, leading to higher interaction rates and greater awareness.
• User-Generated Content Builds Trust and Awareness: 76% of people say they are more likely to trust content shared by “normal” people than by brands. Brand ambassadors often create user-generated content, which resonates authentically and increases brand visibility.
• Improved Brand Perception: 78% of consumers say that a brand’s social media presence affects their trust in the brand. Positive and consistent representation by brand ambassadors enhances brand credibility and awareness.

The round-up

As detailed out, Kellogg’s doesn’t rest on their laurels with the ‘See you in the morning’ and OG campaign, brought together to solidify the brand’s position as a staple in our households. Whilst it would be easy for Kellogg’s to take the product for granted, the collaborated, integrated work led by Leo Burnett and the creative expertise offered have allowed Kellogg’s to recapture people’s minds and reimagine what Kellogg’s means to them as the ‘OG’.

Using Cornelius as a symbol as he struts down city centre streets to Jurassic 5’s Jayou symbolises what Kelloggs is, and what they’re about and confidently represents it is the number one brand in supporting people’s breakfast routines.

Any marketing agency can stress about the need for brand advocacy, the need for revenue growth and the need for an integrated approach. What’s impressive about Kelloggs and their OG campaign is they’ve enabled a hero campaign for the brand to trickle down into their other brands targeting multiple different demographics that has a top down approach and solidify’s the brand and the products they sell as best in class, and truly as the ‘OG’.

Looking to find out how your marketing strategy can truly make an impact?

At Embryo, we specialise in creating and executing performance-driven marketing strategies that deliver measurable results and make a noticeable difference to your business. Our team of marketing experts will take the time to deeply understand your business, industry and audience so we can then curate tailored campaigns that drive results.

Whether you need support with increasing traffic, engagement, visibility or conversions, we have a team ready to help you. Every element of your strategy will be carefully considered and data-led to maximise performance.

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