Thursday, June 29, 2006

Dora the Explorer cereal


Yet another cereal based on a popular kid's character or theme. This time it's Dora the Explorer, a popular animated character that is especially among young girls. It's made by General Mills.

Dora the Explorer cereal differs from others in this genre by actually being quite healthy. Only 6 grams of sugar (per 27g serving) and 3g of fibre. It looks like cereal companies are getting the message from parents and health groups.

Press release HERE







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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Superman Cereal

Quaker has partnered with the makers of the Superman Returns movie to promote the film on several of its cereals. Most notably they have issued a special edition of Life with a Superman Shields shapes and a sharp, Limited Edition box. There is also a special Superman Cap'n Crunch cereal, but that relationship doesn't seem as strong to me.

 


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Friday, June 23, 2006

Special K diet and nutrition line

In recent years Kellogg has positioned Special K as a health-conscious cereal, especially concerned about weight. Building on this position, Kellogg will now be extending the Speical K brand to a new line of diet and nutrition products, all protein-fortified. These will part of its new Health & Wellness division. These new Special K products will be comprised of protein wafers and meal bars.
 
 

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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Cereal in Tetra Paks

The Europeans appear to be innovating on cereal, an American invention. Earlier this week I highlighted the Cerealtop lid gadget for boxes. And, now comes word that the traditional liner-in-box packaging that has been the mainstay of cereal for decades may be about to change.
 
Packaging company Tetra Pak has developed a carton designed for breakfast cereal, and is launching it in France. They tout the new product as convenient and simpler than traditional packaging. Plus, it could help preserve freshness.
 
Innovative, yes. But will consumers go for it? In France, probably, especially since breakfast cereal is not as ubiqutous. Although it's innovation may be enough to get attention in North America and win consumers.
 
Read the article at FoodNavigator-USA.
 

Monday, June 19, 2006

Cerealtop makes pouring easier

One of the most frustrating aspects of eating cereal is pouring it from the box and its flimsly inner bag. Sure, there are plastic containers available to which one can transfer the cereal, but then you lose the joy of reading the box at breakfast! Finally, a European invention is about to change that. Cerealtop is an adjustable lid gadget that can be easily fitted on virtually any box and provides a convenient way to pour cereal and to keep it fresh while in the box.
 
Cerealtop is currently available only in Europe, but is about to enter the U.S. market at a price of $3.95.
 
 
 

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Sunday, June 11, 2006

Cereal and bloggers

Notable blog postings on cereal from the past two weeks:
 
Iateapie.net reviews, but is not impressed with, Frosted Flakes with 1/3 less sugar
 
BeNjAmIn is disappointed with the latest formulation of Coco Puffs.
 
Stream of Consciousness reflects on the Trix Rabbit
 
what's in the big bag? is passionate about cereal and offers tips to enjoy it more.
 
Yellowstag rants on the problems with sugared cereals
 
Mike reminisces on monster cereals.
 

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Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Cereal better than sex?

Much has been written recently about Cereality, and their lead in creating cereal restaurants. Another good one can be read at IOL. But, what caught my attention was this T-shirt caption:
 
"95 percent of Americans like cereal; 57 percent like sex"
 

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Sunday, June 04, 2006

New trend in nutrition labelling?

Food companies have been under much pressure lately to provide healthier products, or at minimum provide consumers nutritional information so that they can make responsible choices. The cereal industry is a prime example, especially since many of the cereals are high in sugar, while targeted to children.
 
Kellogg Australia announced that they will start putting nutrition information on the FRONT of the package, instead of the side or back. It will be interesting to see if this trend spreads elsewhere. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald .
 
I just hope that this extra clutter doesn't impact the creation of creative cereal boxes!
 

 

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Frosted Flakes go military

Kellogg has begun shipping special boxes of Frosted Flakes to military commissaries, featuring five military community volunteers. (Read more at AirForceTimes)
 
These boxes are only available in commissaries so for cereal box collectors these will be desirable boxes to obtain.
 
Nice touch Kellogg!
 
(This illustrates what I've been saying for awhile now: Cereal companies could generate significant buzz by coming up with more of these customized boxes for local and targeted situations).