National Cereal Day: March 7th

Today is National Cereal Day.

Celebrate. Enjoy a bowl!

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Wheaties goes for Gold

Coming off the Winter Olympics General Mills has secured three popular gold medal athletes for the covers of upcoming Wheaties boxes: Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, and Seth Wescott. Apart from the obvious benefit of taking advantage of the recent Olympic fever this is significant in other ways as well. First, these are highly popular athletes, especially among the younger crowd. Could this mean a shift of focus to that demographic? And, this is on regular Wheaties boxes, not the new Wheaties FUEL. Obviously General Mills hasn't abandoned the core brand, and may be trying to breathe new life into it. In fact, notice the overall design changes to the box, representing a much bolder look. Will all these enhancements further revive Wheaties?

Technorati Tags: cereal, Wheaties, Shaun+White, Lindsay+Vonn, Seth+Wescott, breakfastbowl

Post builds on nostalgia

General Mills is not the only company taking advantage of cereal nostalgia right now. In a store I came across a new line of Post Toasties cereals that are actually being referred to as Post "Classics". (Will there be others?) Toasties was the name of Post's version of Corn Flakes, which was discontinued in 2006. The new Toasties, however, also come in Frosted Flakes, and wheat and barley O's varieties. This is not the first attempt for Post at tapping into nostalgia.

The new Toasties boxes are not truly vintage, but they do have the feel. Nevertheless, they are getting it right by going for the emotional attachment consumers have with cereal. Hopefully they will dig into their recipe archives even more.

By the way, on the topic of vintage cereals, be sure to visit the poll on our main page to indicate which cereals from the past you'd like to see.

Technorati Tags: cereal, Post, Toasties, breakfastbowl

Cereal - Milk Saturation

Not truly scientific, but check out this graph at Urban Cartography which depicts "Cereal - Milk Saturation Over Time". According to our past poll most people tend to prefer crunchy over soggy, but this fun graph is a good reminder of the quest we all have for the perfect timing. The chart says 3 minutes is ideal, but of course we all know it depends on the cereal!

Technorati Tags: cereal, milk, breakfastbowl

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Keep up with the latest on cereal, and join in the discussions, by following this blog on our new fan page!

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Cereal poll update

It's time for our next Breakfast Bowl poll. The last question was: "What do you think of custom cereals?"

Here are the results:

Love the ability to have the cereals I want! - 35%
Passing fad that won't survive - 30%
Store-bought brands are good enough for me - 22%
A good idea that might catch on - 14%

Not much enthusiasm yet for custom cereals, not surprising since most people haven't tried them yet.

Now for the next question. In light of my recent post calling for cereal companies to revive nostalgic brands from the past (even for a limited time), "Which of the following vintage cereals would you like to see and taste again?"

LINK TO POLL (see left column)

Technorati Tags: cereal, polls, breakfastbowl

General Mills nostalgia

For the third year in a row General Mills is selling limited edition vintage cereals through Target. This year's varieties include Trix, Honey Nut Cheerios, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms. This fits in well with other nostalgic marketing being done by other companies, such as Pepsi.

I continue to believe that this is a great marketing strategy, and one that should be expanded beyond just nostalgic boxes. Come on General Mills, Kellogg, and Post: Let's see some actual cereals from the past come back for a special treat. You'd sell tons of them!

(Source: Brandweek)

Technorati Tags: cereal, nostalgia, General+Mills, breakfastbowl

Holland America Swiss Muesli

I don't usually comment on matters of taste when it comes to cereal, as we all have our preferences and unique taste buds. But, a recent vacation on a Holland America Line cruise ship brought me into contact with a remarkable breakfast experience. Their Swiss Muesli was a favorite for many, and I even found some buzz about it since on the Internet. If you are looking for something different I'd encourage you to make a batch of this recipe. If you can, it is absolutely amazing with fresh berries.

I am no stranger to muesli, but this knock-off recipe is certainly much different than any packaged muesli you can buy in the store. It is a much more traditional recipe, more in keeping with what I have experienced in Europe.

The lesson in all this is that there are still tremendous surprises and opportunities when it comes to cereal. And, I'm sure there is a way to make money on it in the process.

Technorati Tags: cereal, recipes, muesli, Holland+America, breakfastbowl

From breakfast bowl to Super Bowl

It looks like new Wheaties FUEL could be scoring a touchdown this weekend with one of its endorsers a key figure in the Super Bowl. Indianapolis Colts Peyton Manning has been a prominent voice for the new cereal and is featured on one of its boxes. General Mills has been highlighting the big game connection in their social marketing, but I wonder how many of Sunday's fans will be aware of Manning's endorsement.

This would be a great occasion for a Wheaties FUEL TV commercial.

Technorati Tags: cereal, Wheaties, Peyton+Manning, Super+Bowl, breakfastbowl

Kellogg reducing salt in the U.K.

I was gone for a few weeks in January, but the cereal world continues to evolve...

Sugar has been a big culprit in many breakfast cereals, and most companies have been taking steps to reduce it. Now, word comes from the United Kingdom that Kellogg will be reducing salt in many of its cereals there by up to one third. On the one hand, this represents the overall trend toward a stronger nutrition focus in cereal. On the other hand, this particular announcement is also reflective of the evidence that British cereals may be higher in salt than their U.S. counterparts.

Nevertheless, we will watch to see if the reduction of salt expands across the ocean and to other companies.

(Source: Daily Mail)

Technorati Tags: cereal, Kellogg, nutrition, salt, breakfastbowl