Finding the Cap'n

Last month I reported on an attempt by independent fans to bring Cap'n Crunch to social networks such as Twitter. Typically, many grassroots movements like this die after their initial burst of enthusiasm. But, Where's the Cap'n is growing with a concerted push by its creators, especially in recent days. Their goal of reaching 1000 followers on Twitter is being encouraged with the giving away of a FlipHD Cam once they reach the magic number, and every multiple thereafter.

This is getting serious. All from two guys, Michael Gutweiler and Corey Smale, who started this campaign because of their passion for Cap'n Crunch cereal and discovered that Quaker had no social networking presence for their hero. Gutweiler and Smale run "the Giant Steps", a Chicago-based marketing agency, and decided to start it themselves. They told me they are "having fun with it right now", but it certainly has the potential to bring greater exposure to their own business. But, they seem content to allow Quaker to respond by giving the Cap'n his own long overdue "official", online presence. But, so far the company has stated that they have no plans to do so, even though the Giant Steps has offered their help.

This is an interesting story as it shows the loyalty and passion that many consumers have for their favorite brands. Quaker is missing an incredible opportunity to capitalize on the love of Cap'n Crunch by a significant number of people. Will Quaker respond, or will they just let this party go on by itself? And, will other companies see the possibilities they might have to strengthen relationships through their brands? Some candidates could include Post with Fruity Pebbles; General Mills with Lucky, Trix, or the three monsters; and Kellogg with Tony.

This will be fun to watch!

Technorati Tags: cereal, Cap'n+Crunch, Quaker, Twitter, social+networking, breakfastbowl

Kellogg to introduce Gluten-free

Report out today that Kellogg this year will be introducing certified gluten-free varieties of some of its cereals. Rice Krispies and Corn Pops are early examples.

Gluten-free cereals are not new. Custom Choice Cereal offers them exclusively, and General Mills and some other companies have a few. But, for gluten-free alternatives of mainline brands to be offered is significant, especially for the many people who are needing and desiring this option.

(Source: Gluten Free Appetite)

Technorati Tags: cereal, Kellogg, gluten, breakfastbowl

Big and Small, no Middle?

Financial services company Credit Suisse, after analysis of the cereal industry, projected this week that the two leading cereal companies, Kellogg and General Mills, are expected to grow, mainly at the expense of Quaker Oats and Post. The latter companies "are facing structural challenges" that make them vulnerable to the much stronger corporations.

This seems to be an ongoing trend toward bifurcation, not only in the cereal industry but across a wide range of sectors. In other words, the future for cereal appears to be in the large corporations targeted in the mass market, and smaller, start-ups that can respond quickly to emerging trend and niches. The ones that will struggle are the companies in-between who do not have the same clout as the mega-companies or the innovation of the smaller ones. While Post (Ralcorp), Quaker, and Malt-O-Meal are all still in the game, within a shifting economy will they be able to find their place, not only in brand positioning but in their own financial sustainability?

I believe the next few years will reveal the answer.

(source: Barron's)

Technorati Tags: cereal, Kellogg, General+Mills, Post, Quaker, Malt-O-Meal, bifurcation, breakfastbowl

Cereal for your Valentine

Monday is Valentine's Day, the occasion to express your love to the very special person in your life. Chocolates, flowers, and jewelry will be popular gifts, but what about cereal?

Cereal is hardly ready to be the premiere choice for demonstrating one's affection, but at least some companies are hoping that some will see it as unique and special. Both major U.S. custom-cereal companies have special Valentine's promotions, ranging from Gift Certificates to a Valentine's Day Mix.

What's really significant about this is that the newer, startup companies can get away with this whereas the established cereal companies can't. No one would dare risk their relationship by giving an off-the-shelf box of Kellogg's or General Mills cereal for Valentine's. That could spell disaster, or a long sleep in the doghouse. But, giving something out of the ordinary could actually earn you points! All this reinforces the idea that newer, innovative brands have a higher perceived value. That's the challenge that the big companies are going to have to deal with more and more. How can they move their cereals from mere commodities to high value brands?

Technorati Tags: cereal, Valentine, me+and+goji, MixMyGranola, breakfastbowl

More global

This week General Mills and Nestle opened up their new innovation research center as part of their Cereal Partners Worldwide joint venture. This is not really news, as it first was announced back in 2009, although the joint venture began even 20 years before that.

But, the real story here is that it comes at a time when both research and global trends in cereal are in the news, as I pointed out in the last few weeks with Kellogg. Again, big cereal companies recognize that status quo is not acceptable, and that more has to be done to innovate. Also, there are tremendous growth opportunities in global markets, many of which are not yet real big in breakfast cereal.

As the Wall Street Journal points out, this latest effort between General Mills and Nestle actually attempts to take on both. It will probably take more than a research center to make this all happen, but it certainly will have an impact.

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

Toys!

For many of us, memories of our childhood include getting toys in our favorite cereal boxes!

Unfortunately, in recent years the use of premiums has become virtually non-existent. Certainly, many of the toys we desired were just plain junk. But, it made the whole cereal experience much more fun than the more serious tones today.

Well, word is out this week that Mattell has partnered with General Mills to give away custom-designed Hot Wheel racers in five cereals. To add even more excitement, each box will have a promotional code that can be used on the Hot Wheels Racing Circuit website to race against other players online.

This is not the first time that Hot Wheels have been given away with cereal. Hopefully, it will spark a new trend toward more premiums, and more breakfast fun!

Technorati Tags: cereal, General+Mills, Mattell, Hot+Wheels, toys, breakfastbowl

Cereal leftovers

As January comes to a close it's time to clear out a collection of recent cereal related items that caught my attention but didn't make the cut for a full blog post:

GoodGuide has conducted one of the largest evaluations of 519 cereals and rated them according to health, environment and society

The New York Times has an interesting article on Kellogg's marketing to adults on taste with their new Crunchy Nut cereals.

Technorati Tags: cereal, breakfastbowl

Fake ingredients

Several stories in the last couple of weeks have revealed that what you expect in your cereal is not always what you get.

Most notable is the revelation by "Health Ranger" Mike Adams that several foods purporting to contain blueberries actually do not contain actual, whole blueberries. For example, Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats really only contains "blueberry flavored crunchlets" made from sugar, soybean oil, red #40, and blue #2. General Mills' Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal is a double whammy: apparently no actual blueberries or pomegranates. This has been getting considerable attention in the media and among health advocates, both attacking various food manufacturers and the FDA for having loose regulations that allow for the loopholes. This also does not help the already negative public relations that Kellogg and General Mills have received in recent years over their labeling practices and nutritional quality.

Competitors have been quick to point out that use actual blueberries. Me & Goji tweeted Thursday that "While the cereal giants use fake blueberries, ours are all natural from Bar Harbor, Maine". This is certainly an opportunity for the upstarts and natural cereal companies to differentiate themselves.

In a related story, Post recently released a press release highlighting the fact that they "say 'no' to fake fibers that are often found in so-called “healthy” competitive cereals", and that Post uses only whole grain fibers, not the highly processed, novel fibers that other companies use.

It's getting nasty out there, all playing on the growing health concerns of consumers.

Technorati Tags: cereal, blueberries, fiber, Kellogg, General+Mills, Post, breakfastbowl

#awfulcereal

If you're not yet convinced of the power of social networking as it relates to cereal, you probably didn't see what was happening Wednesday in the Twittersphere. Like many random things that happen in Twitter, thousands of people started using the hashtag #awfulcereal sharing their opinion as to what cereals they didn't like. Although many responses were weak attempts at humor and even in bad taste, a wide range of legitimate tweets were made. For awhile #awfulcereal was one of the trending topics on Twitter, a true mark of significant traffic.

While this was a short-lived burst of nonsense, it should remind cereal companies that there are millions of people out there ready to talk about cereal through social networking. Hopefully, for their sakes the next topic will be #greatcereal.

Technorati Tags: cereal, Twitter, breakfastbowl

Going global

One of the most fascinating part of traveling is seeing the differences in things familiar from country to country. Cereal is a great example of this. Looking at cereal boxes from other countries is a fun experience as even among some of the big companies, like Kellogg, some dramatic differences are obvious. It could be in the name, mascot, promotions or the cereals themselves. Some of these cereals look great, others potentially disgusting.

Food is more than just another commodity. It is closely linked to culture, and therefore is expressed and experienced in unique ways from location to location. This obviously must be challenging for large global food corporations as they try to balance local preferences with large scale efficiencies.

But, we are also living in a global community that is, in many ways, shrinking before our eyes. Global brands are becoming more prominent across the board, and this includes food. For this reason, Kellogg is in the process of re-examining its  global marketing strategies, which have been largely decentralized to this point. The result could be stronger cereal brands that have a much great global recognition and appeal. This could be a tremendous growth opportunity for cereal companies.

Technorati Tags: cereal, marketing, Kellogg, global, breakfastbowl