TORONTO -- With the Olympic Games less than 70 days away, Cheerios is rallying Canadians to ‘Be The Cheer’ and support Team Canada. A historic decision was made earlier this year when Canadian athletes learned that they would be competing without overseas spectators in the stands. Add a 13-hour (EST) time difference, and Team Canada is going to need our support more than ever. To ensure that our cheers get right to Team Canada when they need them most, Cheerios is bringing back its “Cheer” boxes. Canadians can handwrite heartfelt messages to Team Canada athletes as they go for gold. Get your Cheer Cards on boxes of Honey Nut, Multi-Grain and Yellow Box Cheerios, while supplies last.
To showcase the impact cheer can have, Cheerios is partnering with Team Canada athletes including Andre De Grasse (Athletics), Penny Oleksiak (Swimming), Rosie MacLennan (Trampoline), Matt Berger (Skateboarding) and Jennifer Abel (Diving).
“Cheer is a powerful thing – it’s why we created the Cheer Card program over 10 years ago,” says Emma Eriksson, VP Marketing at General Mills Canada. “We’ve seen the impact that they’ve had on athletes over the many years that we’ve been a proud supporter of Team Canada. It has been an extra-long road for them this year, and they need our support now more than ever. Research has shown that cheer from a crowd can be directly linked to the performance of an athlete*. With approximately 400 Team Canada athletes expected to be far from home and juggling new restrictions, we can make every single athlete feel our cheer from afar.”
Since the inception of the program, over 100,000 Cheer Cards have been delivered to athletes. This year, Cheerios is launching new advertisements and bold packaging in order to inspire Canadians to send the biggest delivery of Cheer Cards yet.
“There’s something magical about walking onto the track and hearing the cheers from our fans,” says track star Andre De Grasse. “We’ll be missing that in-person support this year, so every Cheer Card we receive is a win. They give us that energy we need and remind us that Canadians back home are rooting for us. Canada, keep those cheer cards coming!”
In four easy steps, Canadians can give a Team Canada athlete that extra bit of fire needed to compete.
To drive even more excitement as Olympians compete for the podium, Team Canada athletes will appear on Cheerios boxes throughout the Tokyo Olympic Games. Be sure to look out for these limited-edition boxes on shelves this June.
To learn more about the program, visit @CheeriosCA on Instagram or BeTheCheer.ca.
*NPR Short Wave. (2020, August 20). How The Lack of Fans Is Changing the Psychology of Sports.
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/903880928
Established in 1954, General Mills Canada Corporation is based in Mississauga, Ontario. General Mills purpose is to serve the world by making food people love. Its most popular products include CheeriosTM/MC and Honey Nut CheeriosTM/MC cereals, Nature ValleyTM/MC snacks, Yoplait® and Liberté® dairy products, and Old El PasoTM/MC Mexican products. General Mills Canada is a proud and long-time supporter of Team Canada, Concerned Children's Advertisers and United Way.
*Trademarks of General Mills or its affiliates
® Trademarks of YOPLAIT MARQUES S.N.C. (France) used under license.
General Mills makes food the world loves. The company is guided by its Accelerate strategy to drive shareholder value by boldly building its brands, relentlessly innovating, unleashing its scale and being a force for good. Its portfolio of beloved brands includes household names such as Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Annie’s, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2021 net sales of U.S. $18.1 billion. In addition, the company's share of non-consolidated joint venture net sales totaled U.S. $1.1 billion.