Weber Shandwick wins first-ever, idea-led Grand Prix at Cannes for Kellanova’s Pop-Tarts: The First Edible Mascot 

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It’s a wrap at this year’s Cannes festival – and among our 35+ Lions – we’re thrilled to be honored with The Weber Shandwick Collective’s first-ever, idea-led Grand Prix for our work with client Kellanova, on The First Edible Mascot. This year’s top honor at the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity also marks the first time a PR agency has won the Grand Prix in the Brand Experience & Activation category. 

 

“Working with iconic brands, like Pop-Tarts, is a tremendous honor, but helping to create one of the most momentous, culture-defining experiences – and being recognized by the Cannes Lions for this breakthrough work – is beyond compare,” said Susan Howe, president, The Weber Shandwick Collective.  

 

The First Edible Mascot was a delicious, value-driven move, placing Pop-Tarts at the center of the broader snacking conversation and center of the 2024 college football bowl season. With mascots as the ultimate symbol of team spirit, the first edible mascot was born, then eaten – to wow the crowd of the Pop-Tarts Bowl.  The result was the biggest campaign in Kellanova’s brand history, leading to 21M more Pop-Tarts sold in the eight weeks after the game than in the comparable period before. Add to that, The New York Times said “the Pop-Tarts Bowl won the Internet.”

 

Kellanova’s CMO, Julie Bowerman, echoes Howe’s sentiment and deep gratitude for the prestigious award: “This Grand Prix honor is an unbelievable milestone for the Kellanova brand – and it’s emblematic of how our talented teams, both at Kellanova and with our agency partners – approach every brief with a sense of adventure, curiosity and with a belief that anything, and any activation, is achievable.”  

 

 

Cannes jury category president, Anselmo Ramos, describes the impactful work as “weird, bizarre, genius, uncomfortable” and adds, “it’s time for us as an industry to have more fun.” 

 

Watch how it all came to be in our “Behind the Creative” and read more here in Ad Age.