2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

The cereal category in Canada has been in decline for years, with consumers fleeing toward
"healthier" and more varied breakfast options. In response, the category became an endless
parade of “new news”. Whether it was protein-boosting, sugar-slashing or trend-chasing, cereal
brands were rolling out one innovation after another.

In a category of constant change, Shreddies – unchanged since 1939 – was starting to lose the
battle for relevancy. While many Canadians still loved the brand, innovation-obsessed
competitors had managed to shove Shreddies out of the Top 5.

The mission was to save the brand from fading into the background – and to do it without the
crutch of product news. They needed to evolve Shreddies’ legacy in “goodness” and command
attention in a way that only this iconic square cereal could.

The turnaround began by taking a closer look at their core buyers: the 40+ Canadian
Cereal-eaters.

For this demographic, “new news” doesn't always mean progress – often, it’s just noise
accompanied by the notion of “fixing what wasn’t broken”. They have seen lots of their beloved
brands and products losing their magic or quality to unnecessary updates. Thus, they actively
seek out 'steadfast brands' – those with the confidence to leave a great product alone.

For the target audience, remaining consistent and predictable in a world obsessed with “new and shiny” isn't boring – often, it’s a sign of dependable goodness.

Shreddies has been the exact same staple breakfast since 1939. Same square, same whole
wheat, same goodness. What might have seemed boring, turned out to be exactly what the audience appreciates.

The leaned into the unchanging nature of the brand to position Shreddies as the symbol of unwavering goodness. From boring and predictable – to dependable, consistent and steadfast.

To celebrate Shreddies' unchanged, iconic shape, they launched a new brand campaign – "Here's To The Squares.” Through this campaign, they raised a spoon to the “Square” in all of us. The unsung heroes of the everyday. The predictably good. They quietly committed. The ones whose reliability makes the world a little better.

The people who write reviews like it's their job. The people who will email about the spelling mistake in an ad. The people who print out itineraries just in case devices won’t work. The people who use coasters all the time. The people who always show up early.

Because right now, being consistently good isn’t boring. It’s heroic.

To launch the new brand positioning, they pursued an integrated communication plan leveraging hero TV, Prime Video Ad and OLV spots, OOH (including a takeover of a Toronto hallmark mural) and Social assets.

They spread the word with a 30s launch spot – an ode to the morning routiners, the itinerary printers and the perpetually early. Every detail of the execution was deliberately, gloriously square. From the set design and propping to the film’s aspect ratio, square was at the root of it all.

In addition to their launch film, they created a series of OOH, social and digital content with playful headlines. The agency even took over Toronto's iconic “You’ve Changed” mural to let people know that
They most certainly have not.

With neatly squared-off storytelling, their rallying cry was loud and clear: consistently good squares make the world go round.

The planning contribution to the campaign was, first of all, going against the established category order. They identified that "new news" had become a category noise that our 40+ demographic actively distrusted. They realized that in a world of "fixing what wasn’t broken," Shreddies’ unchanged nature was not a weakness, but a unique strategic strength to be celebrated.

Secondly, the strategy redefined the brand’s traditional story of “goodness” by celebrating “squareness” – because consistent, dependable, reliable in their current world is as good as it gets. By aligning the consistency of the product with the behaviours and attitudes of their consumer, they transformed Shreddies from a "boring" staple into a heroic symbol of dependability.

Last but not least, strategy unlocked an opportunity to create territory that was squarely ownable and impossible for "innovation-obsessed" competitors to enter.

“Here’s to The Squares!” helped Shreddies outperform the innovation-obsessed category by unlocking a new opportunity in the brand’s unchanged-since-1939 nature. During the campaign period, Shreddies saw a positive shift across all tracked metrics.

The brand moved from 5th to 4th place in the category, by gaining 0.5 pts in $ Market Share. They saw household penetration increase by +0.7 pts, which is 2.3 times higher than our +0.3 pt target. At the same time, buy rate increased +3.7%, purchase frequency grew
+2.9%, and units per trip rose +2.8% – all driving a +16% increase in $ sales despite overall
category decline.

The most critical proof of this turnaround strategy was the Baseline $ Volume, which showed a
strong growth of +19.4% during the campaign period (Oct–Dec 2025) – significantly better than
the fiscal average of +5.8%. This confirms that the victory was driven by the strength of the
brand campaign and a genuine return to relevancy, rather than short-term price promotions.
Shreddies didn't just survive the innovation noise; it silenced it.

Credits

Diamond — Agency (Toronto, Canada)
Peter Ignazi — Chief Creative Officer
Anton Mwewa — Associate Creative Director, Art Director
Hayley McOstrich — Associate Creative Director, Writer
Lori Davison — Chief Strategy Officer
Lorri MacDonald — Chief Operating Officer
Rebecca Flaman — Executive Vice President, Client Partner
Colleen Kelly — VP, Group Account Director
Dimple Sahajwalla — Account Supervisor
Chloe MacAleese — Account Coordinator
Daniel Vink — Producer
Karlina Bear — VP, Strategy
Anna Petrova — Strategy Director
Mark Graham — Head of Production, Video & Content
Clarissa D'Costa — Production Designer
Post Foods Canada Inc. — Client (Toronto, Canada)
Mazen Sous — Senior Director, Commercial
Marilia D'Souza — Marketing Director, Canada
Amy Bernstein — Associate Marketing Director, Grocery
Dear Friend TV — Production Company (Toronto, Canada)
Anders Bundgaard — Director
Mark Chisholm — Partner, Executive Producer
Garth Collins — Partner, Managing Director
Saints Editorial — Editorial Company (Toronto, Canada)
Cam Lasovich — Editor
Aidan Mcguire — Assistant Editor
Emily Mckay — Executive Producer
Darling VFX — Visual Effects Company (Toronto, Canada)
Kassi Bellamy — Colour
Eric Kingsbury — Colour Assist
Steve McGregor — Online Artist
Lee Nisar — Online Assistant
Stephanie Hickman — Executive Producer
Faith Clark — Producer
Grayson Music — Sound Design Company (Toronto, Canada)
Lowell Sostomi — Music / VO Direction
Eric Hulme — Engineer
Mike Bisanti — Sound Design
Clay Cornelius — Music Supervision
Jeff Milutinovic — Composer (Sting Adaptation)
Sharon Yokoyama — Senior Producer
Mekanism — Media Agency (Toronto, Canada)
Edore Evuarherhe — Media Director
Usman Imtiaz — Media Planner