Breakfast, as we are repeatedly told, is the most important meal of the day, but it's a message many of us choose to ignore. Recent research by Kellogg found that 45 per cent of Britons, or 27 million people, regularly skip breakfast. Our on-the-go lifestyles may be in tune with today's 24/7 world, but that could mean we are missing out on valuable nutrition. This fact is at the heart of one of Kellogg's biggest ever marketing campaigns.
Sophie Colling, Kellogg consumer promotions assistant manager, says: "Some 27 million people are missing out on vital vitamins and minerals and it is impossible to catch up on those nutrients later in the day. The first meal keeps you going for the first couple of hours."
Kellogg flagged up the issue in April with its Mind the Gap report. The survey gave the company an opportunity to create an umbrella theme that would be strong enough to serve as a promotional hook for all of its brands. At a time when Kellogg has turned its back on character licensing as a hook for promotions, this move is not to be underestimated.
"Kellogg's brands have always carried nutritional information, but this is the first time we have been able to carry the message across the entire portfolio - fromkids' to family favourites and adult brands," says Robert White, client services director at Blue Chip Marketing, which devised the campaign.
THREE-PRONGED ATTACK
Kellogg approached the Manchester agency to devise a theme that conveyed the importance of eating a proper breakfast to achieve three goals that hit home with its target market: avoiding obesity; helping children be more attentive, and the importance of a balanced diet.
The result is Wake Up to Breakfast, the strapline for an integrated campaign that features TV, press, digital media, in-store activity and Kellogg's biggest ever door drop. A hundred million packs will carry the Wake Up to Breakfast message.
Stewart Hilton, creative director at Blue Chip, says: "Kellogg was clear in its brief that there was a serious awareness job to be done and that it was a platform that could go across the brands. It's a great example of how below-the-line agencies can work strategically."
Wake Up to Breakfast will run for sixmonths, as opposed to the usual 12-week campaign. It broke on-pack in late Julywhen the activity was introduced viathree celebrity ambassadors: ex-footballer Ian Wright, Supernanny Jo Foster, and former Tomorrow's World presenter Philippa Forrester. Each will promote one of three main messages: people who eat breakfast are less likely to become overweight (Wright); children who eat breakfast will be more attentive at school (Foster), and breakfast contains essential nutrients for a balanced diet (Forrester). As well as appearing together, the three celebrities will also take part in separate treatments for each Kellogg brand.
White says: "It's a compelling message that is easy to tailor to specific brands. The activity is integrated, enabling us to deliver the right type of message to the right media."
The approach also allows each brand to produce its own activity under the Wake Up to Breakfast umbrella. Several brands are running a free cyclometer promotion, for example.
The three spokespeople were chosen as experts in the field that they would represent. Wright has a strong interest in obesity through his Channel 4 show Unfit Kids; Foster focuses on behavioural issues in her own Channel 4 programme, while Forrester does the science bit and carries the nutritional message.
Kellogg's own nutrition department did a lot of work to back up any claims the company made. But the company rejects suggestions that, with sugary breakfast cereals dragged into the junk food debate, Wake Up is an attempt to regain the moral high ground. It points out that 40 per cent of milk is consumed at breakfast with cereal, so it makes a valuable contribution to a balanced diet.
The fourth quarter is a key time, as it is the back-to-school period when parents are most likely to adopt new behaviours for themselves and their children. Kellogg this month undertakes its biggest ever door drop with 4.4 million leaflets. "This is getting to people who do not usually go down the cereal aisle by targeting them in their home," says Colling.
Blue Chip spent months testing leaflet distribution routes and money-off vouchers to ensure Kellogg's biggest spend on a door drop is not wasted. The resulting leaflet is being targeted through Newshare and offers four 30p money-off coupons across the Kellogg portfolio with a bias towards new products that consumers may be unfamiliar with.
On top of that, 10 million packs of adult health brands are offering 'A week's free cereal', with seven coupons on each pack encouraging consumers to 'kick start a healthier you'.Each coupon gives 25-35p off a selection of brands, equating to a free portion. Support is through a TV ad featuring Wright. "It's the first time we have run a promotion in this way," says Colling. "Brand and on-pack activity are usually separate."
Wright has also been on Talk Sport radio speaking about the key messages of the campaign and Forrester has appeared in a two-week sponsored editorial strand on GMTV extolling nutritional benefits.
INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN
Digital media is an important part of the campaign. A dedicated website includes tips from the celebrities. Kellogg e-mailed 500,000 people on its database alerting them to the site and received 1,000 messages of support. Consumers can win a digital radio by sending in tips for making breakfast healthier and tastier.
At the retail coalface, the trade has got fully behind the promotion, says Hilton. In-store activity aims to promote breakfast as a big event and shelf barkers in the lead-up to Wake Up to Breakfast have teamed up with Cravendale milk.
With gondola ends in major stores and additional space front of store, the campaign will have plenty of visibility. The activity should be good news for Kellogg, but it is also an example of category leadership where everybody should benefit ifthe message gets across. "The main message is that you need to be having breakfast," says Colling.
Unusually for a promotion, sales uplift was not the primary objective. "It's all about education and awareness," says Hilton. "The brief did not mention sales, but there is an understanding that that will take care of itself if we establish the importance of breakfast."
IN MY VIEW
I'd been waiting for this opportunity for some time - my chance to stick the boot into the breakfast cereals sector. Or rather to the people who traditionally refer to "sales promotions", the widget shifters, the (pre-legislation) licence junkies - in essence the very people who, for years, have been holding back the claims of below-the-line marketing to be the genuine brand-building tool that it is. So, when I was asked to review the latest Kellogg's campaign, I was excitedly preparing to give it a good kicking. Wake Up to Breakfast? No doubt I'd be reviewing the mother of all alarm clock promotions.
How wrong could I have been? I really like Wake Up to Breakfast. Sure, it's not going to win any creative awards, but it is inspired from a strategic point of view and its execution is spot on. In a world totally preoccupied with health and wellbeing from an ingredients perspective, Kellogg's has shifted the angle of attack by championing the importance of breakfast per se. By clearly articulating the benefits of eating breakfast, Kellogg's positions itself as the true authority in the minds of the consumer. And what a story to take to the trade - stimulating interest in the breakfast category as a whole.
The choice of TV celebrity spokespeople not only provides cut-through, but really helps to add weight and authority to the specific breakfast benefits of anti-obesity (Ian Wright - Unfit Kids), concentration (JoFrost - Supernanny) and nutrition (Philippa Forrester - Tomorrow's World).
As marketers, we are all sometimes guilty of resorting to rather large doses of post-rationalisation in order to link a campaign back to its original desired consumer response. None is required here. The simplicity and clarity of the message, through all media channels, is there for all to see.
Finally, due to its generic (though nonetheless compelling message) Wake Up to Breakfast also allows each individual Kellogg's brand, within its enormous range, to live and breathe in its own space. I've read that the campaign is intended to have a six-month life, but as a masterbrand platformI'm sure that it will have a much longer effective life-span.
- John Geers, director, Euro RSCG KLP.