Kellogg's Segments the Breakfast Market

Here's a rear view of the Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereal package currently on local store shelves. It features a promo for Kellogg's to Go products, including ready-to-drink breakfast shakes and ready-to-mix breakfast shake powder.

Kellogg's is battling to regain its momentum in an evolving market where packaged cereals continue to lose ground, a problem for the industry overall. Marketing on the basis of health and nutrition is helping some Kellogg products, including Raisin Bran, to hold their own. Still, many consumers see breakfast bars, smoothies, yogurts, and other items as more convenient and speedier to eat than sitting down to a big bowl of cereal and milk.

The CEO points out that a good-sized segment of the market craves protein--and milk (in cereal or a breakfast shake) can satisfy that need. Another segmentation variable is lifestyle. As a result, the company's "to go" product slogan is "Rise and shine. In no time." The positioning is fast and easy and nutritious (need-satisfaction/benefit orientation), just right for today's on-the-go lifestyle (lifestyle orientation).

Kellogg's uses marketing research to segment the consumer market for breakfast by understanding what people eat, when, where, with whom, and why/why not eat. "Segments created in this way often tend to be far more insightful than just clustering consumers or their needs," says Kellogg's director of insights and planning for Asia Pacific/S.S. Africa. What other breakfast segments and niches can the company identify and target to fuel future growth?

Mobilizing Mobile Marketing

Calling all marketers: Think creatively about how to engage customers through mobile marketing. For instance, Kellogg has brand fans in Britain and Ireland using their cell phones to participate in its "Big Bake" program.

Kellogg invites customers to Bake (a recipe of your choice, using a Kellogg cereal) + Snap (photograph yourself with your baked item) = Ta Da (send the photo via cell phone or e-mail to Kellogg and your creation could star in a future Kellogg TV commercial or print ad). In addition, Kellogg posts submitted photos of customer-baked goods on its Big Bake site, the way Jones Soda displays customer-submitted label designs on its Web site.

Ring up a few other mobile marketing campaigns at the Yahoo! mobile marketing awards. Be sure to read this thought-provoking MyCustomer.com post about pitfalls of mobile marketing before you start dialing for dollars (or pounds sterling).

Hydrox Hits 100

Hydrox vs. Oreo? Hydrox sandwich cookies disappeared for some time but Kellogg recently brought them back with special marketing support (and an updated, healthier recipe). A quote from Kellogg's news release:

"Limited Edition 100th Anniversary Hydrox cookies will follow the original, beloved Hydrox cookie recipe, though they will contain zero grams trans fat per serving."

Not all repackaging projects turn out well. In this case, the new anniversary packaging is a good way to call attention to an old product. Instead of "new, improved" or "new packaging, same great taste," the message is "celebrate 100 years of Hydrox." Why not?