Kellogg launches Q&A transparency campaign to drive cereal masterbrand strategy

Cereal creations: Froot Loop cupcakes from Kellogg

Hot on the heels of launching its cereal masterbrand campaign, Kellogg has kicked off a new initiative aimed at providing transparency around questions consumers have about its product range.

The ‘Open for Breakfast’ initiative sees the brand responding via a dedicated digital channel, www.openforbreakfast.com.au, to consumer queries about anything and everything relating to its cereal brands, a list that includes Special K, Corn Flakes, Rice Bubbles and Nutri-Grain.

The questions and responses will also be shared social channels, and not only include static content but also videos, infographics, images and vox pops.

Kellogg launch its digitally led ‘Amazing creations’ masterbrand campaign for cereal brands in March. The campaign revolves around a series of videos featuring YouTube icon, Zach King, which showcase fresh cereal-based breakfast creations. The videos are being supported by social, PR and in-store activity.

Communications director, Rebecca Boustead, told CMO the trigger for ‘Open for Breakfast’ was the growth in people wanting to know more about where their food comes from and what’s behind its production. She attributed this trend to the rise of cooking shows, a more foodie culture, and environmental and sustainability concerns around food production.

There’s also a need for brands to continue to build trust and authenticity with their audiences, she said.

“Rather than a static website, we will have consumer generated content on our website,” Boustead said. “This way, we’ll drive creative content that’s relevant and meaningful and lead with two-way engagement.”

Boustead labelled the digital Q&A format the “consumer services of the future”. The Kellogg campaign is much like that launched by the McDonalds 'Our foods, your questions' program which kicked off in Canada and has since gone globa.

“People used to ring a 1800 number or send an email. In a world of transparency, where we have nothing to hide, consumers will be able to ask questions online and we’ll answer,” she said.

‘Open for Breakfast’ officially went live last week after several weeks in soft launch, and includes responses to questions posed by consumers through the 20,000 calls Kellogg receives each year on its consumer hotline, as well as those from consumer research groups.

Kellogg said the most popular areas of interest are linked to nutrition, ingredients and special dietary requirements or needs, which account for 40 per cent of all enquiries received to date. Examples of questions already answered include the use of palm oil, as well as sugar content in certain cereal products.

Kellogg also produced a video of a factory tour attended by Everyday Gourmet’s Justine Schofield, who submitted questions about what makes a balanced breakfast, as well as how Rice Bubbles are produced. Responses are being crafted by subject matter experts within the business and then posted via the communications team.

With the ability to answer 55 questions per day via its consumer services phone line, Boustead was hopeful of dealing with as many online.

In addition to the online initiative, Kellogg has launched its own Pop-up café to give consumers a more experiential view of the diversity of its cereal products. To do this, the company has partnered with Sydney-based breakfast spot, Kawa café, to open a cereal café for one week from 19 April.

Boustead saw these efforts to extend consumer engagement to impacting its shopper marketing strategy, recipes offers, and the tips on Kellogg’s package materials.

All of these activities are about strengthening Kellogg’s masterbrand cereal strategy and approach and ultimately getting more consumers to eat cereal products, she said.

“There is a lot of latent equity in the Kellogg brand, so this is opportunity to demonstrate the range of foods we have,” she said. “We can often be known for just one or two brands, and what a number of people have forgotten is the breadth of cereal products we offer.

“We want to build that affinity with the brand to ultimately get people eating more cereal and to experience it again.”

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