First posted on Facebook on November 23rd, 2020
What a joke - Amma cheti (mother's recipe) Upma. Really Kellogg! This smacks of opportunism. And at a level, deeply thought-provoking too.
Kellogg came to India, chest-thumping and with a lot of swagger. They had conquered the world and India was supposed to be another notch on their gun, a conquest to be savoured.
Kellogg the market leader of breakfast food in the world thought that they would capture India just as easily as they conquered the US and Europe. Yes, the bland breakfast habits of the Europeans and the Americans were easy to break.
Basking in confidence Kellog made grand plans, it pooh-poohed the Indian breakfast menu. The promotion was clear "your breakfast is not good, not healthy, not nutritious and the positioning was 'ME ONLY"!
The Indian homemaker did not like the assault on their sanctum santorium -the kitchen. They royally snubbed the MNC!
Eating humble pie, Kellogg tried out Indian versions of the cornflakes and changed to a reconciliatory "ME TOO" positioning. Eat whatever you want but please eat Kellogg too!
Even that does not seem to have worked. So if you can't fight them, join them seems to be Kellogg's motto.
They have started selling Indian breakfast items and have zeroed in on the humble upma. Now the positioning is "Try me along with many others".
This is surprising. With all its efforts Kellogg would have created a hard-core loyal customer base (niche maybe).
There is a danger that even that customer base might shy away from Kellog. They bought Kellogg as it is an aspirational product. And Kellogg is selling Upma now. Appears Kellog is caught between a stone and a hard place.
Would amma believe that Kellogg makes better umpa than herself! I doubt it. Now Kellogg has to slug it out with Maggi, Yuppie noodles, MTR, Bambino, and even the humble cart seller at every street corner! What a fall Kellogg!
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