Judy Yeh/Starcom Worldwide/SVP, Media DirectorAmy Hume/Starcom Worldwide/Assistant Media DirectorMike Anderson/Starcom Worldwide/Media SupervisorNicole Labadie/Starcom Worldwide/Media Associate The primary goal of the Corn Pops media plan was to build further brand equity for the client among its target teen audience. At the same time, though, the client’s budget was limited, precluding a large media blitz in traditional outlets. Once the team focused in on the Web as the vehicle for the client’s communications that offered the highest frequency for the lowest cost, the question became, how best to create a rich online experience that reaches the target audience and deepens their relationship with the Corn Pops brand? And what was the best way to connect the brand’s offline creative message with the online experience it hoped to offer its audience? The “Strange Animation” campaign coupled with an entertainment-driven microsite proved the ideal answer to all those questions. Three individual 60-second webisodes were produced, each featuring a cutting-edge animation style and each following a script used in Corn Pops’ existing radio advertisements. The webisodes, titled “Accident,” The Widow,” and “Camping,” were then dubbed “Strange Animation” and placed on a microsite (www. gottahavemypops.com) at sony.com. A number of sites with large teen demographic and passionate entertainment followers – sony.com, shockwave.com, launch.com, mtv.com, ea.com and mplayer.com – were selected to host “Strange Animation” promotional materials, including eight-second mini-clips, Flash pop-ups, teasers and banner ads. From those starting points, viewers were directed to the Corn Pops mircosite to view the full-length versions. Users were able to view and review any of the webisodes as often as they wished. Upon leaving the site, viewers were offered the opportunity to vote for a favorite webisode and to enter a music-related sweepstakes.To connect the offline creative message with the online brand experience, Corn Pops partnered with Millward Brown IntelliQuest to develop an online campaign to test the effectiveness of the Corn Pops advertising sitelet. This 30-day study compared Corn Pops’ brand awareness among a control group that was not exposed to the webisodes and a test group that had viewed the clips. The research showed that unaided brand awareness increased 42% from 13% to 55% among the test group, while aided advertising awareness increased 58%. What’s more, purchase intent among the test group skyrocketed nearly 33%. Hip, entertainment mad, internet savvy teens with money to spend. Sounds like a dream consumer for the right brand. Perfect fit for most action flicks, state-of-the-art video games, trendy sportswear and cereal. Cereal? Not necessary a match made in heaven or in this case cyberspace.The Starcom IP team was presented with the challenge of helping to drive Corn Pops brand identity using a notoriously fickle medium for this product category. Right from the start, the team knew that no simple banner ad, wallpaper, coupon or corporate website site would do. The solution needed to be as creative, innovative and hip as the consumers the brand needed to reach. With the medium and the message so intrinsically tied, the media team led the strategic process from ideation to results measurement.

Leveraging the brand value of sony.com, the Starcom IP team created a microsite (www.gottahavemypops.com) where teens can get info on movies and music and enter to win a concert getaway sweepstakes. One of the main creative features of the site was three: 60 "webisodes" or animated Corn Pops shorts. Based on radio scripts, it was at the direction of the media team that the Flash-animated Web-based shorts dubbed “Strange Animation” were brought to life online. “Strange Animation” was a huge hit with teens, generating remarkable results for the client for a fraction of the cost of more traditional media. Realizing that cereals are not at the forefront of typical teens’ thoughts, the Starcom IP team devised an online effort to leverage the entertainment passion of the target consumers to build brand affinity for Corn Pops. While creating a mircosite isn’t a completely untested concept, the development of animated shorts to anchor the site and support an entertainment-driven experience makes this submission unique. Corn Pops’ “Strange Animation” campaign introduced teens to webisodes, three animated, 60-seconds spots that mirrored the popular storylines first introduced in the client’s radio advertisements. The webisodes were a significant creative move for four reasons: first, they were a still novel (and inexpensive) form of media; second, they represented a break from traditional Web-based promotions offering wallpaper downloads, coupons, branded newsletters, etc.; third, by adapting existing creative, they allowed the brand to extend a continuous message across multiple contact points while minimizing the production budget; fourth, they capitalized on the current popularity of cutting edge, almost surrealist, animation among teens. (Note the large teen audiences for offbeat animated shows such as "Johnny Bravo," "Samurai Jack," and "Courage the Cowardly Dog"). Leveraging banners, buttons and teasers on teen sites (MTV, MPlayer, Atom/Shockwave, Sony and EA.com) hand-picked for their ability to deliver an engaged teenaged demographic, the campaign received a remarkable grassroots response. In fact, data from the research showed dramatic lifts in top-of-mind awareness, associated positive brand attributes, and strong purchase consideration – even among the audience who most often eat other cereals.

Hip, entertainment mad, internet savvy teens with money to spend. Sounds like a dream consumer for the right brand. Perfect fit for most action flicks, state-of-the-art video games, trendy sportswear and cereal. Cereal? Not necessary a match made in heaven or in this case cyberspace.The Starcom IP team was presented with the challenge of helping to drive Corn Pops brand identity using a notoriously fickle medium for this product category. Right from the start, the team knew that no simple banner ad, wallpaper, coupon or corporate website site would do. The solution needed to be as creative, innovative and hip as the consumers the brand needed to reach. With the medium and the message so intrinsically tied, the media team led the strategic process from ideation to results measurement.

Leveraging the brand value of sony.com, the Starcom IP team created a microsite (www.gottahavemypops.com) where teens can get info on movies and music and enter to win a concert getaway sweepstakes. One of the main creative features of the site was three: 60 "webisodes" or animated Corn Pops shorts. Based on radio scripts, it was at the direction of the media team that the Flash-animated Web-based shorts dubbed “Strange Animation” were brought to life online. “Strange Animation” was a huge hit with teens, generating remarkable results for the client for a fraction of the cost of more traditional media.