Kellogg is the world's largest cereal producer and its All-Bran brand is very strong. Kellogg researched ways to extend the life cycle of All-Bran by creating a "powerbrand structure" of linked bran products under the All-Bran name. Market research found consumers wanted healthier and tastier options, so Kellogg developed products like "Bran Flakes Yoghurty" to build on the brand. SWOT analysis revealed the brand was still strong but needed promotion to address weaknesses like its image of keeping people "regular" and appeal to growing demographics. Kellogg launched a "Feel Great in a Fortnight" challenge to change the brand message and extend All

1. KELLOGGGS - BRIEFCASE
27/5/05
8:50 AM
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Building a brand in order to sustain its life cycle
Introduction
Research
Kellogg is the world’s largest producer of cereal products. One of its
main brands is ‘All-Bran’. This is such a strong brand that it decided to
link other bran products to the All-Bran name. This creates a family of
brands called a powerbrand structure.
All products have a life
cycle. This shows the
Life Cycle
Sales
stages they pass through.
Maturity
Decline
The normal stages begin
with the launch of the
Growth
product. It then grows and
becomes a more mature
Introduction
product. As competition
grows, the market could
Time
become full (saturated). It
may then decline and die. If a product is a success, a business can decide
to support it to extend its life cycle. Kellogg had to decide whether to do
this with All-Bran.
Kellogg also carried out
market research with
consumers. Qualitative
research worked in detail
with small numbers of
people.
Quantitative
research used surveys
with a lot of consumers.
The research helped
Kellogg to decide how to
market the brand. It
chose to build on the
strong brand and to bring
out more tasty products.
One of these is ‘Bran Flakes Yoghurty’. The research also helped
Kellogg decide how to promote the brand.
◗ Each product was labelled with the Powerbrand name ("All-Bran").
◗ Each packet told the buyer about all the brands in the ‘family’.
◗ Consumers need to know that wholesome ingredients have been
used. These are shown on each packet.
SWOT
Feel Great in a Fortnight
Kellogg wanted to be sure that the product was worth supporting. To find
out they studied the market using SWOT analysis. What they found was:
◗ Strengths. The brand was still very strong.
◗ Weaknesses. The brand was not as well known as before as it had
not been promoted recently. The market is narrow. The idea that a
‘fibre cereal keeps you regular’ no longer appeals.
◗ Opportunities. Demand for more healthy foods and the over 55s age
group who mainly bought the product were both growing.
◗ Threats. Smaller brands were growing. People wanted more tasty
cereals.
This challenge was used as part of the promotion. It was to see if you
feel better and more healthy by trying the brand for a fortnight. It was
designed to change the message about All-Bran from ‘keeps you
regular’ to ‘makes you feel great’.
Product life cycle
Conclusion
Kellogg’s saw one of its strong brands could have an extended life
cycle. It used careful research to help it decide what to do
Briefcase