Ashley Killpack, Monica Myers, Brooke, Rodda, Allie Hopkins, Brett Richardson & Rob Johnson Group A “Champions on the go!” Prepared for: Sister Esplin Prepared by: Group A February 20, 2008 Wheaties.com Executive Summary History When Minneapolis health clinician accidently spilled wheat bran onto a hot stove, he had little idea what he had created. The result of the spill was a crunchy flake cereal known as Wheaties. But, the cereal in the orange box wasn’t always known as Wheaties. When the new cereal had been perfected by the head miller at the Washburn Crosby Company (now known as General Mills), George Cormack, it was first called Washburn’s Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes until an employee won a company contest and the name was changed to Wheaties. In 1933, Wheaties stepped into a place where no cereal had been before, the baseball field. When slogan “Breakfast of Champions” was imagined by Knox Reeves, of a Minneapolis-based advertising agency, Wheaties then got its start as the Wheaties we’ve grown to love. Other names that were suggested were “Nutties” and “Gold Medal Wheat Flakes”. As time went on, Wheaties displayed some of the most famous sports athletes since the 1930’s on the front of the big orange box. Testimonials from many famous athletes have built Wheaties reputation over the years. Wheaties philosophy now is to promote physical fitness, rather than only appealing to sports fans. Today, Wheaties features “fun facts” about each athlete and encourages its consumers to be physically fit. It is still widely known and loved by millions across the United States. SWOT Analysis Strengths General Mills has been around since the 1860’s and they are now one of the top leading brands for cereals and other name brand foods. The company has been most known for creating fruit snacks, yogurt, mini dinners, ice cream, and of course cereals. They now own about 30% of the shares for the cereal market. Wheaties has been the oldest brand for General Mills. Its “All American” theme has been placed into the homes of families due to the success it has had over the years with its slogan: “The Breakfast for Champions.” Hundreds of athletes have covered the famous orange box and many other accomplishers too. Now with the “On the Go” bar, Wheaties will provide not only a championship for General Mills but also a new innovation for those who want to eat healthy on the go. Wheaties “Champions on the go!” 1 Wheaties.com Weaknesses The only problem that General Mills has right now with the “On the Go” bar is com- petition. Kellogg’s is their main competitor right now. With gross sales of over 12.5 billion from just last year, Kellogg’s has outrun General Mills by a few billion. Not to mention that Kellogg’s offers a variety of healthy breakfast meals for people in a hurry. The last time that General Mills had passed Kellogg’s was around 2000-2001. The only problem Wheaties may have with sales is the age of the brand. Many peo- ple look at Wheaties as an older and duller brand. Not many people are attracted to the orange box or even the taste of the cereal. This is hard for Wheaties because they do not want to change their slogan and their style, but they need to change something in order to attract more people. Opportunities As a large innovative company, General Mills has produced a high standard to be followed by other food-based related companies. General Mills has created a vari- ety of different high-quality foods, which includes its first cereal, Wheaties. Though General Mills has expanded greatly since its birth, Wheaties has remained the clas- sic cereal that America has loved since 1930. With the current health craze that is sweeping the nation and the busy lifestyle of the average American, Wheaties would like to expand into not only “on-the-go” breakfast bar but form to the busy champion in us all. Wheaties feels that the “On-the Go” breakfast bar is only a start to the new line of breakfast foods that Wheaties could create. There are many op- tions to how Wheaties can remain the All-American breakfast food but appeal to the average person who lives a busy life. Wheaties would like to better emphasize a better, healthier, champion lifestyle by focusing on the mom trying to get her kids off to school or the business man who is stuck in traffic on his way to work. Wheaties looks forward, after many years of remaining the classic Wheaties cereal, expand their cereal, meeting their customers’ needs. Threats Wheaties set the bar for many cereals, being one of the first cereals to be as suc- cessful as it was. Today, Wheaties has many opponents. General Mills largest cereal/breakfast food opponent is Kellogg’s. Kellogg’s and Wheaties, together, Wheaties “Champions on the go!” 2 Wheaties.com share 33% of the breakfast food regime. The major threat that Kellogg’s opposes on us is their advancement of “on-the-go” breakfast food that began with Pop- Tarts. From then on, they have expanded “on-the-go breakfast food.” Another threat could possibly be Kashi, the organic, health food bar. They appeal to the health- conscious mothers in our demographic who enjoy a healthy “to-go” break- fast. Our advantage over many of these companies is the reputation that Wheaties has earned since its birth. The “Breakfast of Champions” is now to go. The original classic cereal that America loves is keeping its same great taste and classic flakes and creating an easier and faster way to eat Wheaties. Our Target Demographic Who? Age 18-49 Women 18-49 Education: Graduated college plus Education: Post graduate Occupation: Professional and related occupations HHI: $75+ Marital Status: Now married Child age: <17 Home Value: $200-499,000 Race: White Where? Media Habits Network FitTV Style VH-1 Magazines Child Cosmopolitan Wheaties “Champions on the go!” 3 Wheaties.com First for Women Good Housekeeping Parents’ magazine People Online Cbs.com Disney.com WebMD.com CBSsportsline.com Our Champion Plan Situation Analysis Wheaties has created a new Breakfast Bar and wants to promote their product to active adults with a busy lifestyle. Objectives Help others live a healthier lifestyle and make having breakfast everyday a reality. Make Wheaties Breakfast Bar “for Champions on the go” a household name taking a 3% increase in market share. Strategies Magazine, Billboard and Transit advertising Marathon sponsorships Free T-shirt giveaways to every marathon runner Free breakfast bars in Wheaties cereal boxes Tactics Target people who are on-the-go by placing all advertisements in prime locations and publications, mainly targeting women. The vehicles will include, magazines, outdoor, transit and bus skins. Co-sponsor three marathons: Boston, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. Give away 3,000 t-shirts to all participants Free Breakfast Bar at each race and included in Wheaties cereal Wheaties “Champions on the go!” 4 Wheaties.com Chosen Media The three magazine vehicles that we have chosen are as follows, Cosmopolitan To increase sales we say that it is very important to focus on those who are both very busy and very concerned about health and image. Also as we are including a younger demographic we think that the Cosmopolitan magazine would be a great choice. With an average readership being 16,969,000 including 12,440,000 female readers with children who have a median income of $55,401 living in A/B counties, we see that this is a perfect publication that will hit our demographic very well. Also Cosmopolitan is the most read magazine for women both employed (10,210,000) and attending college on any U.S. campus reaching approx. 2,406,000 readers. Good Housekeeping We understand that the female market is very important to the Wheaties brand and that our primary focus should be on mothers who want healthy alternative snacks for themselves and their families. The Good Housekeeping magazine seems to be a natural choice when considering magazines, as the total female readership is 22,565,000. With 13,418,000 being employed and 14,366,000 being married we think that they include a heavy portion of our target demographic. The readership in our target demographic is 11,589,000. Wheaties “Champions on the go!” 5 Wheaties.com People Magazine Again with this publication we target women from the ages of 18-44. The people magazine attracts 28,960,000 readers within our target demographic. They have 6 special metro editions that could be a good possibility however we would suggest targeting these top state markets. California (466,566), Florida (222,357), N.Y. (385,949) and Texas (220,423). Others to consider would be, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Our rationale behind Wheaties billboard locations Its no mistake that we have chosen some of the largest cities in America. Thats because our target demographic are closely associated with inner city areas. They go to work here, they drop the kids of to school here, they catch the metro here and more often than not they shop till they drop here. Inner city life breeds a busy lifestyle and Wheaties breakfast bar is the answer to their quick nutritious snack needs. The location of each billboard will be set near office buildings, city parks (where people like to exercise) or on prominent routes to and from work and school. The following page shows the locations that we have chosen including the distribution amount of billboards in each city.