Annie's Homegrown hops online with a campaign featuring bunnies. So many bunnies.
Created by the Bell Shop, in-house agency for Annie's parent General Mills, the Facebook and Instagram push consists of cottony tales anchored by 30 seconds of mind-melting adorbs.
Here's the anthem spot:
It can't be hygienic to set those cuddly critters loose all over the aisles like that, can it? And the punny tagline, "Organic for Everybunny"—suggesting the range and affordability of Annie's product line—is enough to curl your whiskers.
"We built the campaign to be newsworthy, enjoyably quirky and memorable," says client marketing director Dan Stangler. "Bunnies have been at the heart of our brand identity since we were founded back in 1989. We have been sharing bunny content on our social channels for years, and it continues to be some of our most popular content."
Annie's stamps a cartoon "Rabbit of Approval" named Bernie on its packaging, and some of its products are shaped like rabbits. These include the cheddar pasta in the "Chewdown" clip below, which features a bunny facing off against a cute kid (a human kid, not a young goat).
Ah well, the bunny tried its best. Maybe the leporidae will fare better with granola bars:
Humanity wins again! (By a hare's breadth, so to speak.)
Finally, folks don rabbit ears because, well, that's just how they wanna roll:
"We hope consumers take away the fact that Annie's is bringing organic versions of foods their families love to more places in the store—it's not just in the Mac & Cheese and snack aisle," says Stangler. "We're now bringing the goodness of Annie's to the dairy aisle, the cereal aisle and even the frozen aisle in categories kids love, and parents loved when they were kids."
For the lead spot, shot after hours in a Minneapolis market, "30 'show bunnies' were brought in from a local handler who typically enters bunnies in pageants—this was their first commercial," Stangler says. (Yes, bunny beauty pageants are a thing.)
Predictably, the cute cast members had a few issues taking direction.
"Bunnies aren't exactly the easiest animals to work with," Stangler says. "They definitely kept us on our toes during the all-night shoot. We had to do numerous takes because, well, let's just say that bunnies were trying to 'multiply' on set. They are frisky little animals."
Hey, rabbits—get a room!
CREDITS Client: Annie's
Marketing Director, Annie's: Dan Strangler
Agency: The Bell Shop
Chief Creative Officer: Michael Fanuele
Creative Director: Carol Henderson
Writers: Robb McNeill, Tony Libera
Director: Jonathan Nowak
Senior Producer: Amanda Bastian
Producer: Barth Ward
Production Company: Rain&Shine at Pixel Farm
Post Production: Pixel Farm