General Mills picked three creative agencies as preferred agencies for U.S. projects, rounding out the group it plans to work with after selecting 72andSunny and Redscout as its primary U.S. creative agencies in October.
General Mills said Joan Creative, Erich & Kallman and The Community will work on projects across its portfolio of brands.
72andSunny with Redscout is focused on the company's larger brands, including Cheerios, Nature Valley and Yoplait.
"In looking to round-out our roster, we met with dozens of interesting agencies and were wildly impressed by the breadth of talent out there," Michael Fanuele, General Mills VP-chief creative officer, said in a statement. "The industry is teeming with small agencies of every variety doing really powerful work. We're very excited to work with these three agencies. We're confident they'll help us crack great creative work for our brands, and they'll do so with ambition and generosity."
General Mills also said its in-house creative agency, The Bellshop, would play a key role working with brands that need project-based support.
Joan was started earlier this year by former Wieden & Kennedy Executive Creative Director Jaime Robinson and former Refinery29 Chief Operating Officer Lisa Clunie, and had been doing project work for General Mills. Erich & Kallman was also started this year, by former Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Executive Creative Director Eric Kallman and former CP&B President Steven Erich. Erich & Kallman is the agency behind Chick-fil-A's cows-free chicken for breakfast campaign that began airing this summer.
The Community was named Ad Age's multicultural agency of the year in January.
The review was supported by Joanne Davis Consulting, General Mills said.
General Mills' U.S. advertising spending declined 13.4% to $709.2 million in 2015, according to the Ad Age Datacenter. Media spending declined on a number of brands last year, including Betty Crocker, Cheerios, Nature Valley and Progresso. However, media spending on Yoplait increased by 8.9% to $179.6 million, Ad Age data shows.
