• by Wayne Friedman , May 23, 2011

General Mills has returned as a sponsor of NBC Universal's second annual "Healthy Week."  

General Mills is focusing on its Yoplait brand, which will feature short messages and program content, as well as TV commercials. All will run on Oxygen, Style, USA Network and Bravo. There will also be interstitials programs on E! and segments on The Weather Channel.

A year ago, General Mills says its Cheerios brand -- featuring custom program vignettes -- had significant increases in brand perception and ad recall. There was a 40% increase in message recall and 58% increase in ad like-ability -- as compared to traditional Cheerios ads that ran outside of Healthy Week.

Healthy Week is part of the Healthy at NBCU initiative. It runs May 21 through May 27.

John Kelly, senior vice president, ad sales for the news networks and "Healthy at NBCU" for NBC Universal, stated about General Mills: "Their proven success demonstrates the power of advertising in a contextually relevant environment, and we hope to help them move the needle once again, inspiring consumers to live an active and healthy lifestyle."

Previously, NBC announced that Walgreens would be sponsoring a "Go Healthy Step-a-Thon" in New York City, which is free and open to the public from May 23-25. Located in Times Square, the installation encourages New Yorkers to climb up and around a maze of stairs.