General Mills Canada has selected Hunter Straker as its agency of record for brand and package design across the company’s entire product portfolio.
The appointment follows a competitive review as well as a prior project-based relationship. Last year, General Mills enlisted Hunter Straker to design the branding and packaging for Old El Paso Restaurante, a line of “restaurant-quality” Mexican foods it created for the Canadian market. (Read more about that in Marketing‘s Marketer of the Year profile of General Mills.)
According to General Mills Canada’s marketing vice-president Dale Storey, this work on the brand helped Hunter Straker secure the account as AOR. “We knew we wanted them as a partner on our business after their great work on the Old El Paso Restaurante launch,” Storey said in a release. “The new brand design, including the strong colours and amazing product shows, set the tone for the entire execution.”
In the first six months following its rollout last summer, the Restaurante brand managed to win over 3% share in the Mexican packaged-meals market – a business coup that caught the attention of other General Mills offices around the world. This spring, the company will launch the label in several international markets using Hunter Straker’s branding.
In a release, Hunter Straker Canada senior vice-president Matthew Diamond said, “From day one, General Mills has been an incredibly collaborative client. Their unique situation of having strong, talented marketers, with tremendous track records and autonomous brand building objectives gives them a great advantage to create winning programs in Canada.”
This marks the second major account change for General Mills in 2015. In February, the company moved its full media account to Cossette, having previously split the account between Cossette and ZenithOptimedia. Cossette also acts as its creative AOR.
