Monsters Cereal: A Retro-spook-tive

When fall leaves turn from green to gold and children’s heads are filled with thoughts of pumpkins, ghosts and trick-or-treating, you know those perennial Halloween favorites, Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo Berry, are lurking somewhere close by.

For nearly a decade now Ultra Creative has been trusted to give these Halloween icons new life each autumn. Before we could bring them forward though, we needed to look back at what made them such pop culture classics.

Launched in 1971, to the delight of children everywhere, Count Chocula and Frankenberry were introduced as the first chocolate and strawberry flavored cereals on the market. But it wasn’t just the sweet taste and marshmallow sweeties that won over kid’s hearts. Thanks to a series of clever commercials, kids fell in love with The Monsters themselves.

For decades the rivalry over who’s cereal was superior played out in 30-second cartoon shorts. At the end of each spot these boisterous fellows full of bravado were turned into fraidy cats and sent scurrying away by something as mundane as a bat in flight or a curious child.

Few cereal mascots have had such a deep emotional core and these human foibles are the key to their longevity.

 In 1972, Boo Berry cereal appeared on shelves and in commercials, creating the perfect foil for the original two monsters. Boo Berry is equally assured of his cereal’s greatness but has less of the yellow streak that plagues his two companions which often leaves him as the victor.

After nearly 50 years and dozens of commercials The Monsters never lost their charm or desire to prove their cereal was the best. In the mid 1990’s the monsters underwent their first makeover, with an update designed to feel more like the CGI animation prominence of the day.

Fifteen years later, around the time the cereals moved from being available year-round to a targeted Halloween seasonal offering, Ultra Creative was tasked with giving the cast of characters an update. The goal was to stay true to the original characters while bringing them into the modern era.

As lifelong fans of the trio, it was a privilege we did not take lightly. To honor their heritage, we approached the work with one eye on the past and one eye on the future. We studied the history of the monsters from their first commercial appearance to the release of their not-so-hit record, The Monsters Go Disco to ensure we understood the core of these characters before we ever put pen to paper.

We went through a deep character design exploration before landing on a look and feel that struck a balance between contemporary and classic.

Since the Monsters were no longer starring in their own commercials, we also needed to be sure a new generation of kids had the chance to get to know The Monsters the way we did. So, we created a series of comic strip back panels that acted as new takes on the classic Count Chocula and Frankenberry commercials of our youth.

A few years later, we used augmented reality to bring The Monsters to life for the first time in many years. On the front panel of each cereal box The Monsters sprang to life with their familiar catch phrases. On the back of the box fans were treated to a virtual trip down memory lane with classic packages, commercials and even a juke box spinning the limited-edition records found on boxes of Monsters cereal in the late 1970’s.

For the 2013 Halloween season, Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo Berry were joined by two surprise guests, Fruity Yummy Mummy and Frute Brute.

And this year, The Monsters are teaming up with another kooky and spooky group of classic Halloween characters, The Adams Family.

Their looks may have changed over time, but they’re still truly The Monsters we know and love. To hear more from the designers who gave life to The Monsters new look, listen to the podcast A Taste of General Mills. The conversation starts around the seventeen-minute mark.