• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 25, 2023

NASHVILLE -- As far as media planning KPIs go, joy is a pretty ambitious lift, but that's what General Mills' Thomas Donovan is going for.

"We're hear to bring them food in a joyful way," Donovan told MediaPost's TV & Video Insider Summit attendees this morning, sharing GM's joyful planning flowchart (see below) and presenting a series of hilarious and touching spots for a wide cross-section of the food marketer's brands.

The common thread, he said, was understanding each brand's consumer, and integrating creative with the media placements in a joyous way.

Case in point, was an especially funny spot his team placed in NFL coverage -- including the season premiere of "Thursday Night Football" on Amazon Prime, in which Del Taco's "TacoBoy" (a.k.a. T.J. Watt) tackles a weiner-costumed Hot Dog Man (see spot below).