Dive Brief:
- General Mills has released a slew of new products aimed to adapt to certain consumer trends, including "products made with simple ingredients, foods free from gluten, natural and organic foods, foods that deliver more fiber, more protein and more whole grain, and foods free from artificial ingredients," according to a press release.
- One new product, Yoplait Plenti, capitalizes on the current Greek yogurt craze that has upturned the yogurt industry.
- General Mills is also going after a "fun" angle to appeal to consumers via popular media, including Limited Edition Star Wars and Minions cereals and Frozen character-themed Yoplait Go-Gurt and kid yogurts.
Dive Insight:
These new products join a host of other recent U.S. product announcements from General Mills, including removing artificial colors and flavors from its line of cereals, converting Lucky Charms to gluten-free, and reducing sugar in Yoplait Original by 25%. This is just one example of a food company attempting to meet consumers' changing perceptions of what constitutes "healthy" foods today, which is less about weight loss and counting calories and more about reducing sugar, removing artificial ingredients, and being more nutritious.
At the end of June, Kellogg had a similar unveiling of more than 40 new products, many of which touched on these same trends. What Kellogg and other processed foods companies have discovered in this process is that while taking steps toward healthier foods is crucial to future success, some will have to do larger overhauls and invest more into product development if they want to truly capture the health-conscious consumer. Origins, for example, has simple ingredients, but the product still contains artificial ingredients.