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Dive Briefing:
- According to Marketing Dive, Life Cereal has brought back Mikey, the picky eater who first became famous in pop culture when he appeared in commercials in the early ’70s.
- The spokesperson stars in a new musical ad featuring a jingle inspired by the original “Mikey likes it” tagline. The creative, which depicts a hectic morning in a busy household, also features a new tagline: “I really love my life.”
- Available in 15- and 30-second cuts, the spot is running across streamers, social media, retail media and audio channels. Life is positioning the campaign as a brand refresh that focuses on messy mornings and how families can come together around breakfast.
Dive Insight:
Life’s Mikey character first appeared in the heyday of TV advertising and has become a fixture in the pop culture lexicon for decades, with a tagline that has since been a fixture in the lexicon. Life has searched for the “next Mikey” several times, including in 1997 and 2019 for a “Stand Off” campaign where the character was gender-swapped into a young girl.
Now, in a wave of marketing focused on consumer nostalgia, the Quaker-owned brand is bringing back the spokesperson as part of a larger refresh, with a few additions including a new tagline and musical cadence. PepsiCo’s in-house D3 creative agency is behind the effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U5SjqAnBJM
The ad, which debuted on September 12, features the new Mikey, played by Hudson Ubelhardt, singing and detailing his morning mishaps, including getting toothpaste stuck in his mom’s hair. The chaos subsides as his family gathers around the dinner table to recreate the iconic moment when the picky eater enjoys a bowl of Life, with his brothers chanting, “He loves it! Hey Mikey!” The ad ends with Mikey repeating, “I really love my life!”
Positive Advertising has a very strong digital media plan, running on Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Canela, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, Meta, and SiriusXM. Life is also leveraging retail media through Walmart Connect, the big-box store’s advertising arm that helps brands place messages near the point of sale with the help of first-party shopper data.
Many brands have recently been shedding old catchphrases, characters and jingles to make them feel familiar to consumers, modernizing these assets to recognize that our media consumption habits have shifted to smartphones and streaming. Maybelline New York earlier this month resurrected its 1991 tagline, “Maybe It’s Maybelline,” with a focus on TikTok and social media influencers.
PepsiCo, Quaker’s parent company, has been battling a decline in U.S. demand as consumers grapple with rising prices. Its Quaker Foods division saw a 17 percent drop in sales in North America in the second quarter, partly due to a product recall over salmonella contamination. Quaker has introduced other marketing initiatives to build consumer appeal. In February, Quaker’s core line launched its first global brand platform that highlights everyday heroes like parents.
