Kellanova expands partnership with Interpublic Group

IPG will lead creative duties for Kellanova's global and priority brands.

courtesy of Kellanova

Kellanova today announced it is expanding its partnership with Interpublic Group (IPG). The announcement comes after an extensive evaluation of Kellanova's global agency model to accelerate brand portfolio growth and support the company on its journey to be a global snacking powerhouse. The move advances Kellanova's Differentiate, Drive, and Deliver strategy and the growth ambitions the company has for its stable of brands.

As a result of the process:

For global and priority brands, including Pringles, IPG's FCB will lead on global creative duties and production and will partner with The Martin Agency and MullenLowe across all Kellanova regions.
Publicis and its agencies will continue to lead creative across some snack brands and international cereal in Europe and now Latin America, as well as media for all North America brands and creative for Pop Tarts.
In the U.S. for selected smaller brands, Kellanova is appointing Tombras as its lead creative and integrated marketing agency supporting shopper marketing and promotions, production, public relations, and influencer engagement. As Kellanova transitions, Rethink will continue its current engagement to support Rxbar.
Weber Shandwick will continue to oversee U.S. public relations and influencer engagement for priority brands.
Momentum will handle shopper marketing and promotions in North America.

"This decision is a strategic step towards driving enhanced creative prowess, strategic consistency, future-fit capabilities in our agency ecosystem," says Charisse Hughes, senior vice president & chief growth officer, Kellanova. "We focused on selecting ambitious agencies offering a digital-first approach, high levels of innovation, diverse resources and skills, operational excellence, and the creative firepower needed to supercharge brand growth. We look forward to working more extensively with IPG's agency teams to drive cultural relevance in all our markets around the world."

Kellanova initiated an agency review in early 2024. The agency appointments become effective today, with work for 2025 to begin in the next month.

Julie Bowerman, Kellanova North America's chief marketing officer, adds, "We're thrilled to expand our relationship with IPG which has produced some award-winning work. Our existing partnership with Weber Shandwick resulted in Pop-Tarts winning its first Grand Prix award at this year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, as well as Cheez-It being named one of Ad Age's 20 Hottest Brands in America. As marketers for iconic snack brands, we look forward to working with IPG to drive creative excellence, marketing effectiveness and agility for our brands."

Kellanova (formerly Kellogg’s) is on the current Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery “Top 50 Snack & Bakery Companies” list. Click here to view the current “Top 50” rankings.

Liz Parker Kuhn is the senior editor of Candy Industry and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, and has worked at BNP Media since 2012. She has written for CBS Detroit as well as for her own blogs. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. Liz can be contacted at (248) 839-7156 or at parkere@bnpmedia.com.

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