General Mills: Google Ads Click for Nature Valley

As marketers question the effectiveness of display ads and their ROI value, General Mills is telling a different story. The packaged goods giant today revealed the results of a partnership with Google's Content Network and YouTube, where consumers were exposed to display ads for a Nature Valley contest that ran Dec. 24, 2007 to May 25, 2008. The ads resulted in a 52 percent sales lift and delivered more than 830 million impressions for the Nature Valley brand, per the company.

"The key takeaway is, when we gave folks who care about Nature Valley an easy and fun way to talk about and share their experiences about the brand, they jumped into it with both feet," said Kevin Kells, Google's national industry director for packaged goods.

General Mills said more digital campaigns are in the works following this success. Nature Valley granola bars accounted for $136 million in food, drug and mass merchandise sales for 52 weeks ending Nov. 30, per IRI. Overall granola bar sales reached $890 million during the same period.

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