• by Masha Geller , July 8, 2003

"Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids," is a tagline well known to just about everyone. The breakfast cereal's status was once close to iconic, thanks to the ad campaign, but the company recently decided it was time to create more buzz around the Trix brand, to encourage repeat product purchase, and to re-ignite Trix's "gotta have it" status with kids.

And they've chosen the Internet to do just that.

Semaphore Partners, Publicis' interactive services division, on Tuesday launched The Trix® Great Train Robbery, their latest effort in marketing to kids online.

Adrianne Belk, who manages Semaphore Partners' relationship with General Mills, said the client and their traditional agency, Saatchi&Saatchi, wanted to increase cross purchase or the Trix yogurt and cereal, and were definitely interested in adding the Internet to the mix, but weren't sure in what way.

The Semaphore Partners-designed site, www.sillyrabbit.com, represents the online component of a multi-product, cross-media campaign that centers on the brand's equity character the Trix® Rabbit, and taps into children's timeless fascination with mysteries.

Online, kids become detectives on the case of missing fruity Trix cereal and two-colored Trix yogurt, swiped by an unknown culprit while on a train bound for New York City. The integrated television, packaging and online effort brings the Trix brand to life for both kids and adults. Clues found on Trix cereal boxes and Trix yogurt lids are combined with those on www.sillyrabbit.com to allow the young detectives to solve the case on their own.

"We hoped to include a viral component," Belk said, "but they weren't ready to take that step yet."

Semaphore Partners drew on their kids' expertise to develop a fun and immersive website. Using Microsoft .NET and Macromedia FLASH, Semaphore Partners created a playful and engaging experience that empowers children to solve the Great Train mystery on their own. Using clues, suspect bios, pictures from the scene-of-the-crime and other detective tools, kids interact with the story and characters on a deeper level, with more sustained involvement, reinforcing the Trix brand.

"We devised this campaign to cross-promote the Trix family of products," said Mike Burns, managing partner at Saatchi & Saatchi. "Semaphore Partners' understanding of how kids behave in the interactive space enabled us to extend the campaign online with targeted activities to further engage children with the Trix brand."

Bryan Russiano, Semaphore MD, said the agency's previous work has been "contained," and not necessarily tied so closely to the offline components. Semaphore Partners often works in concert with Saatchi, but this is the first time Semaphore has worked "so close in conjunction with the offline agency."

Russiano declined to comment on how much of the Trix budget was spent online, but he guessed the General Mills invested a higher percentage in the Internet component than in the past.

Belk said the key to that was "working with Saatchi & Saatchi from the beginning to approach GM with this whole event, rather than have them looking at the online piece as a separate component."

Russiano says that over the last 9 months of planning this campaign, it became apparent to General Mills that while TV is the number one medium with kids, it is followed closely by the Internet. "As far as kids are concerned, it's either television or the internet. If TV is going to drive awareness," Russiano said, "the next step is going to be the Internet."

The Great Train Robbery mystery is live at http://www.sillyrabbit.com, where the online excitement continues throughout the summer. Clues are hidden in Great Train Robbery-themed packaging which hit the shelves in late May, with TV spots that began mid June. The Trix website will provide mystery details for the kid detectives on the Great Train Robbery case, that will culminate with the TV announcement of 'who dunnit' on August 4.