Kellogg's Vegan Cereal

On the Bullseye, it looks like cereal giant Kellogg’s is focused on targeting the Zillennial - you know the “Zillennial”, that demographic cohort that sits on the cusp of Millenials and Gen Z - the group born between 1992 and 1998 - although some like to expand the range to those born up to 2000 or even 2002 - regardless, it seems that this group, depending on how the years are calculated represent between 30 to 48 million people. What’s interesting, and alluring to marketers, about this group is that they are more economically secure than Gen Z and have higher spending power than Millenials - surveys report that they have high brand loyalty and low price sensitivity - perhaps an ideal target. No one, yet at least, has tried to attach food trends and preferences to this group - it’s likely that there will be spill over from both millenials and Gen Z’s tastes and habits - but one thing is clear - they are certainly a digital generation that will have at the top of their food priorities, the impacts of the environment and climate change, an attachment to social causes and hopefully health & wellness. Which is what Kellogg’s new vegan brand, Eat Your Mouth Off, is hoping for. By the way I certainly hope they didn’t pay a lot of money - or any money - to a branding group to come up with this name. Eat Your Mouth Off is rolling out on grocers shelves right now - although I’ve checked at least a dozen different stores and didn’t find it but I did see it available online at Walmart, Kroger and Ralph’s. I haven’t tasted it, and frankly I find the package design amateurish and trying a bit too hard with its bowl depiction and symbolism of a smiling mouth. The cereal is 100% plant based with 22 grams of plant-based protein 0 grams of sugars and 2 grams of net carbs or less per 40 gram serving. The chocolate flavor ingredients are soy protein isolate, pea protein isolate, canola oil, lentil protein, modified tapioca starch, coca processed with alkali and then trace ingredients of oat fiber, sucralose, stevia leaf extract, natural flavors and BHT for freshness. I just love the brilliant marketer who added the asterisk showing a “trivial amount of sugar” - is that even legal? Kellogg’s is marketing the 7.5 oz box at $8.99, and while that might seem to be priced higher than most - taking a look at the rise in breakfast cereal prices from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023 on Amazon, compiled by Pattern Data Science, the average price for all breakfast cereals rose 13.6% - they site examples - again priced on Amazon - of Cap’N Crunch at $10.24 a box, Chex at $7.68 and Cheerios at $8. Their study did not compare the net weight per box. Let’s put the pricing on the sidelines -the question I have is if this sub generation, that clearly is an important group, which I predict will be the next marketers dream target, aligns with the values of the brand, it’s image, its ingredients and its 2 flavors of chocolate and fruity. Hey, we are talking about adults here - not the taste buds of a 6 year old. We certainly need a bit more food research about the Zillenials - but knowing that they care strongly about the environment and social causes, I would have at least expected Eat Your Mouth Off to highlight and contain no GMO ingredients - like soy and canola. The taste better be fantastic to overcome all these obstacles! I’ll take bets on how long this brand will be on the shelves. Might be a good idea - but totally misses the mark.

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