Honey Nut Cheerios Using LIVE Bees in its Sign

Honey Nut Cheerios Features a Living Billboard

The popular cereal brand Honey Nut Cheerios is celebrating the fact it uses real honey as an ingredient in its breakfast cereal and this celebration includes a three-story structure, filled with working bees, that spells out “Made with Real Honey.” This project featured ten beehives used to produce 25 gallons of honey – three of the hives are located on the third floor of the billboard with the other seven being housed in an area nearby, this according to PSFK.com.

The living, three story billboard structure was built at the Diamond P Farm Ranch, a property just outside of Orlando, Florida. The idea behind this active advertisement was to show consumers the taste of Honey Nut Cheerios is due in major part to the use of real honey. The honeybees used in the billboard were provided in partnership with Brent Dickson and members of his family who are Orlando-area beekeepers.

In a statement, senior associate of marketing at General Mills, Jared Pippin, said: “Honey is more than just an ingredient – it’s the flavor at the heart of Honey Nut Cheerios. And that’s why we thought there was no better way to explain just how real the honey is that goes into Honey Nut Cheerios than by physically showing it. We wanted to honor the honeybees and show our support for the dedicated beekeepers who love honey just as much as we do.”

The brand also worked with a local chef, Joseph Burnett, to help create custom recipes with real honey for the company’s special event and even handed out bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios to those guests who joined them for the unveiling. Chef Burnett shared his talents for taking local ingredients and infusing them into favorite, home-style dishes that attendees of the event enjoyed while viewing Honey Nut Cheerios’ installation of live bees.

The billboard was on full display at the event and the honey produced by the bees inside was used to make a small number of special edition boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios using the project’s honey. General Mills wanted the billboard to do more than just broadcast a message – it truly believes it was important to showcase the cereal’s main ingredient as well as the company’s commitment to “real” foods.