2.6 min. read
Kellogg’s recently split into two separate business units – one for its cereals and another for just about everything else. Now the brand is embarking on a crusade to ‘save’ cereal as a concept in the face of challenges from the new ‘healthy’ movement…
Battle Creek, Michigan, is well known as the home and birthplace of the legend-ary, iconic corn flake. It’s the progenitor of all cold breakfast cereals, and a pillar of its community, both culturally and economically.
But did you know that arch-competitor Post Cereals also has a plant in Battle Creek? They almost stare at each other across the compact townscape set at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers.
But there’s a true battle waging in Battle Creek these days – the fight to ‘save’ Kellogg’s traditional cereal brands.
What’s happening?
It would be hard for anyone to have missed the trend, in recent years – most aggressively post COVID – to healthier eating. With it has come a demand for healthier processed foods, notably those that traditionally come burdened with heavy loads of sugar, salt and/or fat. Convenience-motivated consumers are also switching from products they have to prepare to formats such as breakfast bars they can munch on the go.
Thus have products such as Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes and Frosted Mini-Wheats come under heavy fire. And even classics such as Corn Flakes, Bran Flakes and the athletically-positioned Vector are being condemned as Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs). Sales among the younger generations, where these addictive crunchies have proven most popular in the past, have tanked.
Rather than abandon them, though, Kellogg’s has elected, bravely, to try and save them.
What they’re doing
“For years, [cereal companies] were kind of quiet. We didn’t talk about the category,” says Sarah Ludmer, WK Kellogg’s Chief Wellbeing and Sustainable Business Officer. “It wasn’t a priority to help people really understand the true impact [cereal] can have in their lives, whether for joy or health. We stepped back and said: ‘No, we’re cereal. We belong, and we’re going to talk about it.’ ”
So cereal division WK Kellogg is embarking on a multi-million-dollar campaign to improve both the image and quality of cereal, as a concept. The goal is to convince consumers to start pouring a bowl again, or at least snacking on a few handfulls through the day.
At stake is billions of dollars in revenue annually, primarily across the North American ‘home’ market.
Dollars and sense
One look at the numbers shows clearly what Kellogg’s is up against. Sales revenues have continued to edge up in recent years, driven largely by steep price increases which cereal die-hards have grudg-ingly paid. But sales volumes have plummeted. A break point is near where even cereal addicts will no longer stand for the prices Kellogg’s and other players in the cereal space have to charge to make a profit.
A recent Mintel survey found that Mintel found 36 percent of cereal consumers are interested in pro-ducts with functional health benefits such as protein and fibre. And 72 percent want cereal brands clearly explain their products’ health benefits on the package.
My take
I agree that it will take time to turn the cereal cruise ship away from the impending iceberg. However, Kellogg’s seems determined to stay the course.
I’m not sure kid-targeted, traditionally sugary brands such as Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes will survive the cereal revolution. They present a two-pronged challenge to Kellogg’s scientists: to get rid of the sugar AND erase as much as possible the stigma of cereal in general as an arch UPF.
The crusade to save cereal will take years – maybe even decades – to fully play out. And all the play-ers will be involved, fighting each other as well as the overarching issues of healthiness and main-taining cereal’s basic appeal to consumers. We’ll all be watching closely to see how the conflict resolves itself…
~ Maggie J.