Dive Brief:
- With more than 40 new products slated for an early 2016 release, Kellogg is embracing trends like healthy eating, on-the-go, and bold flavors in categories that include cereal and breakfast foods and snacking, two segments the company has been struggling with.
- In the cereal category, Special K Nourish includes ingredients like cranberries, almonds, and coconut paired with multi-grain quinoa flakes, while Mini Wheats Harvest Delights are made with red wheat in varieties like Cranberry with Yogurt Drizzle and Blueberry with Vanilla Drizzle. In addition to healthy ingredients, Kellogg appeals to consumers looking for on-the-go breakfast and snacking options with Kellogg's To Go Breakfast Mix, which doesn't need milk and combines larger cereal pieces and nuts for easy grabbing, all in a resealable package that fits in a car's cup holder.
- New snack products feature bold flavors, including Pringles in Tortilla Chili Cheese, Cheez-It snack mixes in Sriracha, and Cheez-it Grooves in Hot & Spicy Cheddar.
Dive Insight:
Kellogg is offering still more new cereals and breakfast foods in the new year, including bringing back Kellogg's Smorz cereal by popular demand and introducing Kellogg's JIF PB&J cereal; new, limited, and seasonal flavors of Pop-Tarts; and limited edition Kellogg's cereals with more marketing appeal, featuring films like Marvel's Captain America Civil War, Disney's Finding Dory, and Disney's Frozen. Kellogg is also offering other convenient cereal options like grab-n-go cups with expanded varieties.
The company's morning foods segment, which includes cereal, has seen consistent decreases in revenue, including a 2.6% decline last quarter. Consumers are testing out other breakfast options, including Greek yogurt, though Kellogg CEO John Bryant remains positive about a cereal resurgence.
The snacks category hasn't performed much better, as it too has seen falling sales for the past three quarters, including a 1.5% drop in the latest quarter. With this new lineup of snack products, Kellogg is appealing to those looking for bolder flavors rather than healthy snackers, though the latter is currently the largest category of snackers, according to a FoodThink report.