Weekly Poll Update

The results from our latest Breakfast Bowl poll are in. My last question was: "When do you commonly eat cereal?"

Here are the results:

Breakfast - 72%
Lunch - 23%
Dinner - 33%
Snack - 58%
(more than one reponse was permitted)

My take on the above results: No real surprises, except I would have expected breakfast to have been a little higher and lunch lower. Nevertheless, cereal is truly a versatile food in our culture.

Here's the question for this week:

Now it's time for our next question. With all the controversial of marketing unhealthy cereals targeted at children, "Should cereal companies be restricted in marketing to children?"

LINK TO POLL

Cereal and blogging

Here are some noteworthy posts regarding cereal from the past few weeks:

The World, The Flesh and The Devil ponders dating from the perspective of a bowl of Lucky Charms

Full Flavour Behaviour! rants on the nutrition marketing on British Cheerios boxes

Cereal blogger shares the reason Rice Krispies snap, crackle and pop

You ain't my friend, Palooka proposes "Unlucky" Charms

Emerald City writes a treatise on Crunch and Chocula

Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Myself to Death reviews the new Special K Chocolatey Delight

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Technorati Tags: cereal, blogs, breakfastbowl

NEW Bamm-Bamm Berry Pebbles

Innovation is essential for keeping a brand fresh and growing. According to The Retroist, Post has recently released Bamm-Bamm Berry Pebbles, a new variety of the Pebbles line. Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles have never been favorites of mine, but you can't fault Post for tapping into Flintstones nostalgia with this entire line.

Just plain fun.

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Technorati Tags: cereal, Post, Pebbles, breakfastbowl, BreakfastBowl, The Breakfast Bowl

Kellogg's Hot Wheels cereal

Kellogg is on to something. Last week I reported on the Barbie Fairytopia cereal hitting markets. Now I've discovered Hot Wheels, a new cereal obviously targeted to boys. As you can see from the photo, there are at least three design versions of the box. The back features cut-out collector cards.

There are several interesting aspects to these new cereals:

1. Kellogg is recognizing the time-tested value that cereal marketing is done best when it highlights pop culture.

2. Kellogg has partnered with Mattel on these new cereals. A good partnership, and certainly a good replacement for its loss of Disney.

3. Hot Wheels and Barbie are resurrections of previous cereals from 2 decades ago. Hopefully other cereals from the past will find new life for a new generation!

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Technorati Tags: cereal, Kellogg, Hot+Wheels, Mattel, marketing, BreakfastBowl

Barbie Fairytopia cereal

Although I haven't seen it yet and it is not yet promoted on the Kellogg website, indications from ebay auctions and other bloggers is that there is a new Barbie Fairytopia cereal hitting the market. It's been many years (30?) since Ralston's Barbie cereal, so it's fun to see this new modern version introduced.

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Technorati Tags: cereal, Barbie, Kellogg, BreakfastBowl

The passsion of cereal box collecting

Cereal box collecting is a growing hobby for those fascinated with the expressions of pop culture in these marketing containers. I am an avid collector myself, but it's always interesting to read of the passion of serious collectors of cereal boxes. The Roanoke Times recently ran a story that included the story of Bob Konrad, a Michigan collector with over 2000 boxes in his collection.

What's scary is that I can identify with Bob's obsession.

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Technorati Tags: cereal, boxes, collecting, BreakfastBowl

Weekly Poll Update

The results from our latest Breakfast Bowl poll are in. My last question was: "Who is your favorite current cereal character? (FINAL PLAYOFF)"

Here are the results:

Tony the Tiger - 43%
Cap'n Crunch & Trix (tie) - 14%
Sugar Bear - 11%
Dig'Em & Fred Flintstone and Barney (tie) - 7%
Sonny the Cuckoo Bird - 4%

NOTE: Technically, Dig 'Em received the highest number of votes, but it was apparent that despite the features preventing it, someone spammed my poll on Sunday with 28 votes. I've disregarded 27 of them.

My take on the above results: No surprise. It was no concept. Without question Tony is the most popular cereal character today and ever. Case closed.

Here's the question for this week:

Now it's time for our next question. Cereal is more than breakfast food for many people. So, to confirm this assertion, "When do you commonly eat cereal?"

LINK TO POLL

Cereal as dessert

Cereal has long been a snack favorite at any time of the day, and there are hundreds of dessert recipes incorporating cereal as a primary ingredient. But, now cereal could become even more popular for those with a sweet tooth.

The Cereal Bowl restaurant chain has recently introduced a new line of menu item featuring cereal as a "wonderful new dessert experience". For example, there is Strawberry Cheesecake Oatmeal, "A delicious combination of old fashioned oatmeal, Strawberries, and The Cereal Bowl’s own proprietary Graham Bites and Cheesecake recipes".

Sounds delicious!

Certainly the recent development of cereal restaurants will promote and increase cereal consumption at various times of the day and occasions, but this recent development is a much more blatant step that truly recognizes the true versatility of cereal.

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Technorati Tags: cereal, The+Cereal+Bowl, restaurants, dessert, BreakfastBowl

Where's the fruit?

Today's San Francisco Chronicle has an article reporting on a study released by the The Prevention Institute and the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments (who comes up with these titles?). The report reveals that more than half of children's foods purported to contain fruit actually have little or no fruit in them. They did not consider real fruit flavoring or less than 10% fruit juice as qualifying as containing fruit (So even some of the newer cereals claiming to be more natural, such as Fruity Cheerios, are in their eyes no big deal). Of course, this matter is not just limited to cereals.

The topic raises a number of issues, ranging from truth-in-advertising to marketing to children to nutrition. Not the first time that cereal has been implicated.

By the way, here are the cereals that made their "no fruit" list: Berry Berry Kix, Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries, Froot Loops, Fruity Cheerios, Fruity Pebbles, and Trix.

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Technorati Tags: cereal, marketing, nutrition, fruit, BreakfastBowl

Cereal and bloggers

Here are some noteworthy blog postings concerning cereal from the past few weeks:

Finding Salihah shares a mother's experience resulting from the cut-out hole as part of a free book promotion recently in Cheerios.

V^3 ponders the merits of cereal as a late night snack.

The Chicagoist doesn't get the new chocolate flavored cereals.

Cereal Buzz's latest review: Cocoa Krispies Choconilla

danxishere is frustrated with General Mills tampering with the shapes and colors in Trix and Lucky Charms

aghrivaine proposes a cereal version of the "beer helmet"

Ed South waxes nostalgic on some obscure cereals of the past, and then offers his opinions on the new Disney cereals.

Bactroid.net tries to create a popcorn cereal.

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Technorati Tags: cereal, blogs, breakfastbowl