Quick dive:
- According to details shared with Marketing Dive, Life cereal brings back Mikey, a picky child who first appeared in commercials in the early 1970s and later rose to fame in pop culture.
- The spokesperson stars in a new music spot with a jingle that draws inspiration from the original tagline, “Mikey likes it.” The creative, which depicts a hectic morning in a busy family, also features a new tagline, “I really love my life.”
- The spot, available in 15- and 30-second cuts, is airing across streamers, social media, retail media and audio channels. Life is positioning the campaign as a brand refresh focused on messy mornings and how families can come together over breakfast.
Further information:
Mikey’s character in life first made headlines during the heyday of television advertisingbecoming a staple over the decades with a catchphrase that has entered the broader pop culture lexicon. Life has searched for its “next Mikey” on a few occasions, including in 1997 and 2019, when the character was gender reversed for a young girl in a campaign titled “Stand off”.
Now, amid a wave of consumer nostalgia-focused marketing, the Quaker-owned brand is bringing back the spokesperson as part of a broader revamp and with a few additions, including a new tagline and a musical twist. PepsiCo’s in-house creative agency D3 is behind the effort.
The spots, which launched on September 12, feature the newest Mikey, played by Hudson Uebelhardt, recounting in song a morning filled with unexpected events, like toothpaste getting caught in his mother’s hair. The turbulence subsides when his family gathers around the dinner table, recreating an iconic moment when the picky eater Mikey enjoys a bowl of Life, prompting his siblings to exclaim, “He loves it! Hey Mikey!” The spot closes with Mikey repeating, “I really love my life!”
The great commercials have a strong digital media plan, appearing on Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Canela, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, Meta and SiriusXM. Life is also tapping into retail media through Walmart Connect, the department store’s advertising arm that helps brands place messages near the point of sale with the help of first-party shopper data.
A spate of brands have recently dusted off old catchphrases, characters and jingles to tap into a sense of consumer familiarity, while also modernizing those assets to acknowledge that media consumption habits have shifted toward smartphones and streaming. Maybelline New York earlier this month resurrected “Maybe It’s Maybelline,” a tagline it debuted in 1991, with a focus on TikTok and social media influencers.
PepsiCo, Quaker’s parent company, had to deal with the collapse of US demand as consumers grapple with rising prices. The Quaker Foods division saw volumes fall 17% in Q2 in North America, a decline attributed to Product recalls due to salmonella contamination. Quaker has introduced other marketing initiatives to increase consumer acceptance. The Quaker mainline launched its first global brand platform in February, which highlights everyday heroes like parents.