The expanding Raisin Bran(d)

With the literally hundreds of cereal options available to consumers, manufacturers have a challenge keeping their brands from all the clutter. The trend in recent years is to build on already successful brands, instead of trying to launch out with something completely new. For this reason we now see super cereal brands like Honey Bunches of Oats, Cheerios, and Special K, each offering a myriad of flavor and nutrition variants in order to catch people's attention in the grocer's aisle. If you like a cereal such as regular Cheerios, it is not a big leap to venture out for some variety with flavors like chocolate, ancient grains, or honey nut.

The latest example of this strategy is Kellogg's Raisin Bran, one of the best selling cereals on the market. The Battle Creek company has been gradually adding new cereals to the Raisin Bran portfolio, including three quite recently: Crunch Apple Strawberry, Cranberry Almond Granola, and Raisin and Honey Granola. This now brings to seven the number of offerings with "two scoops of raisins" along with fiber-rich bran.

The new Crunch Apple Strawberry, in particular, looks real interesting, and something I definitely want to try. I suspect others will as well, and that is just the way Kellogg wants it.