VERSUS
In September of 2006 Stephanie Thompson reported for the Advertising Age magazine on how General Mills planned on competing with its competitior, Kellogg's.
In this year General Mills decided to try and take a stab at Fruit Loops $142 million franchise by creating their own fruity O's and attaching that to their brand name Cheerios.
Cheerios has been a well respected brand with General Mills for over 50 years and they thought that if they put the trustworthy name of Cheerios with the fruity look they could steal some customers. And how do you think they went about doing that?! They hit Kellogg’s where it hurt, and advertised on the milk cartons.
Since 70% of all decisions on food are made at the store General Mills thought that there could be no better way to advertise than to post their new product with its favorite companion, Milk! The ads had $1 off coupons for the cereal and displayed the new Fruity Cheerios logo.
After this battle began, Fruit Loops dropped in sales 2.2 percent which is a pretty big margin for how much they were making. So, even though General Mills products never reached the same level of income and stature as Fruit Loops, it did show what can be accomplished from smart advertising.
I personally think this is a genius idea. Because honestly the idea of Fruity Cheerios sounds really gross to me but if they were being advertised with milk I would be more likely to change my mind.
The only problem General Mills ran into was wearing the Cheerios brand name to thin.
“Moreover, there's a danger in overextension. Although "Cheerios is their crown jewel, an extraordinary franchise that's almost impenetrable," an executive close to the category said, continually extending the franchise may strip away its equity.”
This article is an interesting look at the inner workings and sort of battles between the companies. It’s interesting to see what they will do to take some of the others profits. So even though General Mills portrays themselves as an innocent and helpful company, we all know that no company really likes its competitor and friendly competition keeps the product quality higher and better for us as the consumer!
Since 70% of all decisions on food are made at the store General Mills thought that there could be no better way to advertise than to post their new product with its favorite companion, Milk! The ads had $1 off coupons for the cereal and displayed the new Fruity Cheerios logo.
After this battle began, Fruit Loops dropped in sales 2.2 percent which is a pretty big margin for how much they were making. So, even though General Mills products never reached the same level of income and stature as Fruit Loops, it did show what can be accomplished from smart advertising.
I personally think this is a genius idea. Because honestly the idea of Fruity Cheerios sounds really gross to me but if they were being advertised with milk I would be more likely to change my mind.
The only problem General Mills ran into was wearing the Cheerios brand name to thin.
“Moreover, there's a danger in overextension. Although "Cheerios is their crown jewel, an extraordinary franchise that's almost impenetrable," an executive close to the category said, continually extending the franchise may strip away its equity.”
This article is an interesting look at the inner workings and sort of battles between the companies. It’s interesting to see what they will do to take some of the others profits. So even though General Mills portrays themselves as an innocent and helpful company, we all know that no company really likes its competitor and friendly competition keeps the product quality higher and better for us as the consumer!
Wow, you know I really never looked at the side of corporations like that before. Not until this class. I do agree with you about how companys really dislike competitors. Also, advertising with milk is also one that gets me wanting the cereal as well. I'm very interested in your particular topic about this company.
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