Case Study
Amazon Live partnered with General Mills to create a full funnel campaign with livestreams and brand-led content
Goals
- Position General Mills' suite of products as go-to's for parents as they’re getting their families back into a routine
- Drive portfolio sales during a key time period
Approach
- Offer customers value and inspiration during a time when they’re looking for savings
- Tap into relevant creator talent to position General Mills’ products in their personal guides to managing back-to-school like a superhero
- Intentionally distribute Amazon Live brand-led content across key Amazon Ad offerings, including a custom destination featuring livestreams, Alexa Home Screen, Sponsored Ads, OLV, and STV
Results
- +74% CTR for the overall campaign compared to the blended campaign CPG benchmark 1
- +14% ROAS for the overall campaign compared to the CPG benchmark 2
- +64% New-to-brand sales driven by the Alexa Home Screen content experience compared to the category benchmark 3
- +25% year-over-year sales lift on the products included in the promotion 4
Standing out in a key time period for busy parents
The back-to-school season is a cluttered and competitive time for grocery brands looking to capture the attention of busy parents. To stand out from the crowd, General Mills partnered with Amazon Ads, including Brand Innovation Lab and Amazon Live, to develop a comprehensive, creative campaign across the full range of Amazon Ads offerings. As any parent knows, the transition back-to-the school routine can be challenging, with families struggling to get organized before the first day of class. General Mills wanted to show their support, ultimately giving parents the tools to feel like superheroes tackling this hectic time of year.
Connecting with Relatable Talent to empower parents
It was important for General Mills to connect with their audience through authentic, relatable voices. The Amazon Live team sourced well-known family influencers and athletes, including Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, her husband Andrew East, and actress/creator, Melissa Fumero. As parents themselves, this talent was able to speak directly to the challenges of preparing for the new school year. Shawn and Andrew had recently returned from the Summer Olympics in Paris and were in full on "back-to-school mode" as they shared practical tips and insights during livestreams.
Family influencers and athletes, Shawn Johnson and Andrew East, in Back-to-School prep mode
Full funnel success, including content, commerce and connection for General Mills
Blending Brand and Utility
At the heart of the Amazon Ads campaign was the interactivity and engagement between fans and talent during the livestreams. Shawn, Andrew, and Melissa shared practical tips and meal ideas to simplify the back-to-school routine, while also weaving in General Mills' brand messaging. The dynamic chat allowed parents to engage directly, with Melissa opening up about the empowerment she feels as a "super mom". She shared, "I didn't know how much I was capable of doing all at once, while staying calm. When you get it all done, you literally do feel like a superhero."
Driving Savings and Engagement
Over two-thirds of American households with children entering K-12 in the fall of 2024 were expecting rising prices to impact them more this year compared to last year, according to Statista 5. General Mills helped create a strategy focused on value for the consumer by offering a stock up and save deal across their product portfolio of after school snacks and lunchbox favorites. A custom landing page created by the Brand Innovation Lab highlighted the savings opportunities, which drove a +25% increase sales year over year for the products that were being promoted.
Full-Funnel Success
By blending brand messaging with genuinely useful content, the campaign was able to capture the attention of distracted parents and position General Mills as a go-to resource. The creative content extended beyond the livestreams, appearing in Sponsored ads, DSP, OLV, STV, and even an Alexa homescreen activation featuring Melissa Fumero encouraging customers to embrace their inner "parent superhero".
As Jamie Needham, Sr. Manager of Customer Marketing & Ecommerce at General Mills, noted, "The Amazon Live team was able to differentially create an ownable concept to drive use cases of General Mills' portfolio across every occasion needed to win back-to-school with parents." The key was unifying the content with a creative throughline and tapping into relatable, recognizable talent to drive results.
1-4 Amazon Internal, U.S., July-Sept 2024
5 Statista, Impact of inflation on back-to-school shopping among parents, U.S., 2024