Cereal Characters

Tony the Tiger
The Lucky Charms Leprechaun
Toucan Sam
Cap'n Crunch
Count Chocula
Snap, Crackle, and Pop
Buzzbee the Bee

These are all very easily recognized characters. For the most part, cereal is a product associated with children's consumption. What better way to get their attention, than to create a colourful, fun, spunky character who relates to them? Better yet, make the advertisements all about trying to make a fun adventure out of getting to the cereal.
The best way to connect a brand to a person is to relate to the audience. Children are exposed to so many cartoons these days, that I feel they find a sense of trust and comfort in those animations. Brand Characters are a wonderful tool to create a personal connection with a brand or product.

The interesting thing I've found, is this: Most of the characters listed above were created in my childhood. I still associate those characters with each brand independently. I would be distraught if I walked down the cereal aisle and didn't see the leprechaun on my box of Lucky Charms. If Snap, Crackle and Pop disappeared from the box, they just wouldn't be REAL rice crispies any more. They would be "crispy rice" like the rest of the knock-offs. These characters make their brand unique from everyone else. They make the brand real. They were developed for children, and still work wonders in differentiating one cereal from another for adults today. Brilliant.

Cheers