Green Giant brand gets £5.2m backing

The activity is being spearheaded by heavy-weight TV advertising ensuring the brand is on air for eight months of the year.

Other marketing activity includes PR, in-store and website activity all of which is being introduced by General Mills to create major consumer awareness for Green Giant this year.

“Green Giant just keeps exceeding expectations,” General Mills UK Sales Director, Andy Foweather, says. ”The quality of the product keeps it popular with consumers and its continued sales performance makes it a must-stock for retailers. It’s going to be an exciting 12 months for Green Giant which is why we’re backing it so heavily.”

Green Giant has a heritage spanning 80 years, and ongoing product development has kept it relevant to consumers through the decades – it is still growing at 7.6% annually and now accounts for almost two-thirds of sweet corn category value. The ‘one of your five-a-day’ message is particularly important for ever more health conscious consumers.

Foweather adds: “The message for retailers has to be to tap into the health trend and continue to provide shoppers with products, such as Green Giant sweet corn, that offer taste, versatility, convenience and, most importantly, one of their five-a-day. We are urging our trade customers to ‘watch this space’ for further exciting brand news in the coming months.”

The national TV advertising will air at the beginning of June. The campaign sees the return of the memorable ‘Grow Up’ commercial featuring two young boys sitting at a kitchen table discussing the role of food in their lives and the fact that ‘you are what you eat’.

The ad implies that Green Giant will help them grow ‘big and strong’ and ends with the ‘one of your five-a-day’ message delivered by the iconic Green Giant character.

Linda Hipkiss, Marketing Director at General Mills UK, says: “The commercial underlines the health benefits of Green Giant in a way that parents and children can relate to. The motivating message helps to maximise consumer awareness by highlighting the fact that Green Giant sweet corn has a key role in a healthy diet, as part of the recommended five-a-day intake of fruit and vegetables.

“What’s more, sweet corn is one of the vegetables that kids actually enjoy eating, whether as part of a salad, mixed in with pasta or simply on its own. The convenience and versatility of the brand, coupled with its uncompromising product quality, means that Green Giant is a great way to give the whole family one of their five daily servings of fruit or vegetables.”