Dive Brief:
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Post is introducing two more sugary cereals based on well-known cookie brands — Chips Ahoy! and Nutter Butter — which will be sold exclusively at Walmart the day after Christmas, according to POPSUGAR.com.
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The two new products will join Post's Oreo O's, another member in the sugary-cereal lineup, which the company resurrected this past June after a decade off the shelves.
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The Chips Ahoy! and Nutter Butter products look exactly like miniature versions of those Mondelez-made cookies, so Post is essentially offering consumers the opportunity to enjoy cookies with milk for breakfast.
Dive Insight:
With these two new cereal products, Post is following up on the comeback of Oreo O's earlier this year. That cereal debuted in 1998 and was sold through 2007. The Oreo, Chips Ahoy! and Nutter Butter brands are owned by Mondelez.
As with the Oreo O's launch in June, Post is offering Chips Ahoy! and Nutter Butter cereals exclusively through Walmart stores and online for three months. It will expand to retailers nationwide after that. By picking retail giant Walmart, the company has a firm base to build momentum from the beginning, while the exclusivity gets consumers excited about finding the item only at a single retailer, at least temporarily.
Post may assume that the consumer's preference for less-sugary cereals no longer applies, or the company is relying on millennial nostalgia for childhood cereals and the indulgence trend to continue perking up what has been a generally weak breakfast cereal segment.
Along with tapping into the nostalgia and indulgence trends, Post is catering to the increasing snacking habit. A new study by Mintel revealed that 43% of U.S. cereal consumers eat it as a snack at home. It’s the second most common reason to have cereal, aside from breakfast — a meal at which 89% of people say they eat it.
Mintel’s research also shows millennials are more likely to have a bowl of cereal as a snack than other generations. In addition, what Mintel calls the "iGeneration," ages 18-22, is the most inclined to eat cereal on the go. In the case of Oreo O's, Chips Ahoy! and Nutter Butter cereals, the items could be munched on while the individual is on the go even if milk or a bowl are not available.
Mintel found that interest in healthy cereal is on the rise, but taste is ultimately the most important factor for consumers. This could be why high-sugar, indulgent cereals are making a comeback. General Mills recently announced it's bringing back the original recipe for Trix with artificial colors because shoppers didn’t like the reformulated, cleaner-label recipe. Consumers will now have the chance to buy the classic version or the cleaner label variety on grocery store shelves.
No doubt Post closely watches these trends, which is why it's not a huge gamble for the company to launch cereal products that are essentially cookies with milk served in a bowl. To be sure, the company comes in with a major advantage — Oreo O's, Chips Ahoy! and Nutter Butter are all well-known popular brands as a cookie first — so it won't be too much of a gamble for the shopper to try it in cereal form, provided they like cookies for breakfast.