Marketing lessons from Kellogg Positioning strategy correction

Kellogg strategy correction: Kellogg very quickly realized that it made a mistake by taking the traditional Indian breakfast head on. It was too much of a risk and a Himalayan task of overcoming eating habits inculcated over the centuries. Kellogg took a leaf from the marketing strategy of Nestlé’s Maggi two minute noodles.

The USP of the Maggi noodles is that it is fast, convenient and a fun product. It is convenient for the mother to prepare and it is very attractive to the child to consume. At the same time the mother is very careful about what her child eats. Maggi noodle is positioned as the ideal snack between the time the child comes home and dinner. It is given to the child as a hunger quencher when the child comes home. The child’s hunger is satiated but only till the dinner time. Maggie’s strategy was brilliant and it paid off.

Kellogg did a quick re think. It latched onto the supplement positioning. It came out with a campaign which stated that Kellogg corn flakes come in where the Indian breakfast stops. In other words if the Indian breakfast gives the child 85% nutrients the rest of the nutrients can come from Kellogg. The positioning of the food supplement was taken by Kellogg. It was saying to the Indian consumers “eat whatever breakfast you want to eat but to get that extra nutrition have Kellogg”. 

Definitely a climb down for Kellogg. Its advertisement says that it. The advertisement shows a small child eating the traditional Indian breakfast and the ticker quickly adds and shows 85%. That is the amount of nutrients that the child had received. The next shot show the child on his tricycle going to a mock petrol station and he gets a fill of the rest of the 15% nutrients from his smiling mother, courtesy Kellogg. 85% of nutrients from Indian breakfast and the rest 15% of the nutrients come from Kellogg.

Over the next few years Indian cereal buyers were introduced to Kellogg’s Wheat Flakes, Frosties, Rice Flakes, Honey Crunch, All Bran, Special K and Chocos Chocolate Puffs – none of which have proved to be very popular.

Kellogg India also attempted to indianize its range. Its Mazza branded series of fusion cereals, with flavors such as mango, coconut and rose, met with lukewarm response. It also introduced less priced packs priced at Rs10/-. This strategy might work in a price conscious market place like India.

Recently Kellogg has decided that it would take the route of repositioning. It has now come out with a campaign that says that its corn flakes are very good for people who want to lose weight. Its has  repositioned its corn flakes as diet food and according to Kellogg consuming its cornflakes for two weeks could lead to a weight loss of 2.5 kgs! (watch the advertisement).

Marketing lessons from Kellogg’s Indian experience

Kellogg’s is a name to reckon throughout the world. It is the company that introduced the concept of Corn flakes as a breakfast item throughout the world. They have taken on markets where corn flakes has never been very popular as breakfast and converted them into corn flake eating nations over a long period of time. They are experts in changing breakfast eating habits of customers’ across the world.

In the early nineties Kellogg came to India with lots of hope and confidence. The Indian organized breakfast market sector was expected to roll over and die. After all Kellogg’s annual turnover was so big that the Indian organized breakfast sector was written off even before the skirmishes started.

Kellogg did lot of home work and launched its products in India. They had the best products, packaging and their marketing strategy was excellent. The advertising campaign was handled by a leading Indian advertising agency.

Kellogg did not do as well as expected. The witch doctors (read marketing research firms) were called in. The research findings were very surprising. The areas where Kellogg went wrong include: 

1.   Kellogg pitched itself as an alternative to the regularly consumed breakfast. The Indian breakfast is heavy and there is a feeling of fullness at the end of an Indian breakfast. What with oily Parantas, Puris and Dosas, the feeling of fullness is real and not imagined. Kellogg’s Corn flake breakfast does not give that feeling of fullness and that went against the grain of having a total breakfast. In short after having a corn flake based breakfast the Indian consumers were still hungry. 

2.   Indian breakfast is known for its variety. There can be 30 types of Dosas (there is a restaurant in Hyderabad that offers 99 types of Dosas!) or Idlis, Parantas or other types of native Indian breakfast items. Indians are used to a variety and one item that is eaten will not be on offer for the next two or three weeks. Asking Indians to have the same type of corn flake based breakfast was too much of a cultural change for the Indians to accept.

  3.   Indians have spicy and hot food for breakfast. To ask them to eat the sweet tasting and cold corn flake breakfast was too much of a sweet breakfast for the Indians to digest. 

4.   Kellogg in its advertising campaigns hinted that the Indian breakfast was not nutritious and that Indian breakfast was not very good for health. This deeply hurt the sentiments of the home maker. The home makers said to themselves “We have eaten and served the Indian breakfast for decades and centuries. My family is doing fine”. Once the home maker’s ego was hurt they psychologically turned themselves against the concept of corn flake based breakfast. 

  5.   Kellogg corn Flakes have to be consumed with cold milk. Indians have be taught right from their childhood that milk has to be consumed every day and that milk should always be consumed hot. In a tropical country that is very logical. If the milk is bad once it is heated it will become undrinkable. So for the Indian family eating corn flakes with cold milk was unbearable. So hot milk was poured over the corn flakes. Once hot milk is poured the corn flakes become soggy and there are no longer tasty and edible.