Grape-Nuts Leverages Hillary's Everest Climb in Facebook Promo

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary taking Grape-Nuts with him on his ascent of Mount Everest, as well as the launch of Grape-Nuts Fit cereal, the brand is asking its Facebook fans to define their own mountains.

Targeting active adults, the digital initiative – What’s Your Mountain – launched in January. It includes an overall marketing campaign, as well as two promotions: one by the same name, which launched March 11 and is live until April 21; and another, Do Something Extraordinary, which recently wrapped up and announced a winner.

According to a Grape-Nuts rep, Do Something Extraordinary received more than 500 submissions. So far, What’s Your Mountain has about 300.

Asking fans to think about what Grape-Nuts can do for them if it had the power to propel Hillary to the top of Everest, Grape-Nuts says it wants to hear about fans’ so-called mountains – anything from completing a half marathon to losing five pounds or living a healthier lifestyle – in the most recent What’s Your Mountain promotion.

In order to enter, consumers must like Grape-Nuts on Facebook and allow the app to post on their walls. Then, they select the type of goal from a drop-down menu and explain their goal in 140 characters.

The prior initiative, Do Something Extraordinary, showcased four people doing “extraordinary” things and asked fans to share a project they’d like to kick off to become extraordinary in their own lives. The winner, Nicole A., told Grape-Nuts, “My extraordinary goal is to go mountain climbing in the Alps despite having asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.”

Grape-Nuts says she will receive $5,000 to help make her project a reality.

Similarly, once a winner has been selected in the What’s Your Mountain promotion, Grape-Nuts will evaluate the goal to determine what tools are necessary to help achieve it. This personalized prize will have a value of $5,000.

Grape-Nuts says What’s Your Mountain will also engage consumers in ski resorts, state parks, and “Everest-like skyscrapers” before culminating with celebratory activities on the actual anniversary of Hillary’s climb in May.

Promotion includes Everest-themed TV commercials, digital advertising, and sampling efforts. Digital advertising includes Rodale’s online properties like Men’s Health, as well as Patch.com newsletters, says Mangala D’Sa, director of marketing for healthy brands at Post Foods.

Grape-Nuts has 131,000 Facebook fans. Its Twitter handle, @GrapeNutsCereal, has just 26 followers.