Post Consumer Brands names Mediahub as U.S. media agency of record

Post Consumer Brands has named Mediahub as its U.S. media agency of record following a months-long pitch process.

Spark Foundry did not defend the account, according to a person close to the situation, and the agency was not immediately available for comment. It was unclear what other agencies took part in the pitch.

Mediahub, which is part of the Interpublic Group of Cos., will handle all of the breakfast cereal maker's brands, which include Pebbles, Raisin Bran and Honey Bunches of Oats. Mediahub will handle U.S. planning and buying with a creative media focus, the agency said. The operation will be led out of its Minneapolis office, which is also where Post Consumer Brands is headquartered.

One of the main reasons Post chose Mediahub was because of the agency's focus on data-driven planning, said Claudine Patel, chief marketing officer, Post Consumer Brands.

“How do you use data to (tell stories) for our brands? To inspire with a new and disruptive way, to stand out from the crowd and the clutter?” Patel said. “Some of the ideas that they brought to the table really stood out to us just in terms of their inventiveness behind using data to tell brands stories.”

Patel also said her team loves the idea of what it calls "fearless marketing,” and believes that Mediahub, whose other clients include Netflix and the NBA, will bring that to the table. 

Mediahub will be taking on the account with the help of the Radical and Disruptive Lab (R+L), the agency’s dedicated creative media team. R+L is "meant to take really deep insights and turn them into never-been-done-before ideas, help ideas, look at culture and bring them to life in a completely unexpected way to hopefully create impressions you can’t just buy,” says Melissa Schoenke, executive VP, executive director of Minneapolis, Mediahub.

Mediahub will also be leaning on its proprietary survey called Scout, which is “intended to uncover the most passionate points of someone’s media and technology experience,” Schoenke said. Scout is in place of third-party surveys and Mediahub feels Scout can turn data into informed targeting strategies.

This is the latest win for Mediahub, which in 2021 won media agency of record duties for Slack, Morgan Stanley and E-Trade and Hallmark Channel parent company Crown Media. The agency also launched an office in the metaverse that can serve as a virtual testing ground for its employees, a showcase for current and potential clients, and a recruiting tool.

Ad spending

Post Consumer Brands spent just over $7 million on U.S. advertising in 2021, according to Kantar data, significantly less than the $26.1 million spent in 2020 and the $35.8 million spent in 2019. However, Bill Daddi, a spokesman for Kantar, said that the $7 million figure does not capture paid search or social, indicating that the number could be higher than reported. 

For the upcoming year, media spending is looking to be from $25 million to $35 million, Schoenke said in an interview. 

Post Consumer Brands sales fell 1.7% to nearly $1.92 billion in fiscal year 2021, accounting for almost one-third of its parent Post Holdings’ net sales. The decrease followed a 3.9% increase in the unit's 2020 sales, aided by the pandemic. The surge in at-home dining benefited cereal makers including Post, General Mills Inc. and Kellogg Co.