With New Media Agency Mediahub, Post Shakes Up Its Marketing

Post Consumer Goods—the company behind cereals like Fruity Pebbles and Honey Bunches of Oats—is ready to future-proof its media mix. The brand announced this week that IPG's Mediahub inherited media duties from Publicis' Spark Foundry and will manage its roughly $25 million to $35 million in paid media investments. Changes are ahead for Post, with plans to significantly reduce its linear TV spend, the brand's new CMO Claudine Patel told Adweek. The brand's media review began about four months ago, and Post managed the process internally. Spark Foundry declined to comment for this story, but those familiar with the review told Adweek that the incumbent did not defend the business. Patel declined to reveal which other agencies participated in the review, noting that there were between five and 10 participants and that the group included established holding companies and smaller boutique agencies. The agency will handle U.S. planning and buying with a focus on creative media. The Mediahub team is located just down the street from the client in Minneapolis, facilitating close in-person collaboration when possible. In-person visits to the Post office will happen soon, according to Melissa Schoenke, executive director at Mediahub Global. If it's not broke, why fix it? It's a common story. A company appoints a new CMO, and soon enough, there's a new agency lineup. In Post's case, it's also a story about how a legacy brand is working to stay relevant in 2022. Patel became CMO last May; about 10 months into her new role, she's made moves to expand Post's presence on channels beyond TV. "It was just a really good time coming out of Claudine joining Post and looking at everything that was changing to say, 'Let's bring a completely fresh perspective to the business and see what more we can do to modernize our approach to media,'" said Schoenke. Cereal brands (and other CPG brands, for that matter) have long presided over linear TV buys. Things are different now, and household brands like Post exist in a saturated market. They must differentiate from the multitude of cereal brands crowing the aisle. Doing that means meeting household decision makers—often parents—where they are. And younger generations don't watch TV as often as their parents did. Finding the new target audience Millennials have young children, and soon Gen Z will too. Shaking up its media mix is a means to future-proof the brand as its target audience spends more time on digital platforms. The brief focused on those demographics, asking, "'What did they look like? What motivates them?' And they built a nice pitch around that," said Patel. When it comes to digital buys, advanced segmentation is key to reaching the right people are the right time. "Why do they love their brands? How do they purchase? Where do they purchase? What else do they do in their spare time? Things like that we're working to unpack with Mediahub," said Patel. The agency showed Post a case study that highlighted how IPG's marketing technology firm Kinesso, which is powered by Acxiom data, can identify the growth segments Post wants to target. "On top of that, what really excited me was the innovation engine behind how we think about utilizing media," Patel said. "That was what sold the team, the fact that they move fast. The creative engine fueling the way we buy media and the data that helps to really drive efficiencies and effectiveness." That creative engine is Mediahub's Radical and Disruptive Lab (R+L), which dreams up creative media placements and identifies the activations that will work for clients across a range of platforms. The agency didn't limit the pitch to a conversation on food CPG. Instead, the agency pitched Patel on Mediahub's "diverse experience" working with its broad clientele and partners, from broadcast to food to QSR. "Creative can come from anywhere, I would say. So sometimes a media agency will lead, sometimes the creative agency will come with a big idea. We're working on something with a PR agency leading a big idea," Patel said. Edging away from linear The emphasis on meeting a younger set of consumers where they are means edging away from linear. Where linear used to comprise more than 90% of Post's marketing budget, today it makes up about 70%, according to Patel. "I would say everything else, we're trying different ways to go to market depending on the audience. One of the challenges I've tasked Mediahub to do is help me understand what their perspective is in terms of how we're buying media today to how we should be buying tomorrow," said Patel. TV will always be part of the marketing mix, said Patel, but what will fluctuate is the breakdown of spend across new channels such as streaming platforms. The money Post pulled out of linear will go toward expanding to other channels like TikTok as well as new brand partnerships. The brand is also thinking about where it fits in the metaverse. It's not just about the media itself, but the channels Post chooses to deliver its message, said Patel. "I don't just want to go into the metaverse and play there. I want to go and play there in unique, different compelling, meaningful ways where our brands have a right to do so," said Patel. The brand's recent partnership with Nike, which features LeBron James and a chance to win Fruity Pebbles-themed Nike sneakers, is one example of how it hopes to approach media more creatively. "There is nothing we will not do if it's a great idea. I like to move with speed," said Patel. What Topgolf Is Looking for From Mediahub, Its New Media Agency of Record