Kellogg Crunchy Nut: Taste As #1 Message

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How does a new product differentiate itself in the extremely crowded cereal category?

With its U.S. launch of Crunchy Nut -- which has been a favorite in the U.K. for three decades -- Kellogg is betting that adults bored with hearing about various nutrient and weight-control benefits will respond to messaging stressing tastiness.

The campaign for Kellogg's Crunchy Nut, launching this week, is taglined "It's Morning Somewhere" -- the point being that adults will love the cereal's taste so much that they'll be looking for excuses to eat it not just for breakfast, but throughout the day.

"We're kind of debunking the notion that only children want great-tasting cereal," says Derek Sherman, executive creative director for Kellogg's long-time creative agency, Leo Burnett. "This is definitely an adult, non-decadent breakfast cereal, but our message is that it's a joyful experience. We looked for a humorous way of conveying this to an adult audience that also fits with Kellogg's well-established positive, optimistic brand voice. Our solution was to poke fun at adults' guilt about eating cereal as a snack or dessert or meal other than breakfast -- a behavior that's quite common -- by giving them the 'It's Morning Somewhere' excuse."

For instance, 30- and 60-second versions of a first television spot, to begin airing nationally later this week, show a young adult clearly craving Crunchy Nut while working in his apartment, but feeling uncomfortable about it because it's nighttime. He grabs the cereal box, takes a plane to an exotic destination, piggybacks on a motorcycle driven by a native to get over mountains and arrives at a beach in time to see the sun rising. As he eats his Crunchy Nut, he sees another guy who looks much like himself, in pajama bottoms, about to enjoy his own surfside bowl of Crunchy Nut.

Another element in what Kellogg terms an "enormous" awareness-building campaign offers smartphone users the ability to snap QR codes on the cereal's packaging and, at any time of the day or night, see a video of a region where it's currently morning. Online and in-store advertising and a branded site and Facebook page are also in the mix.

The campaign kicked off over this past weekend with a live, 24-hour event on Los Angeles's Hollywood Blvd. featuring the world's largest working cuckoo clock (Kellogg had an official Guinness World Records official there to verify).

As each hour chimed and the cuckoo crowed, an actor emerged from the clock-each time dressed in a different costume reflecting the region where it was now morning, and each time delivering a humorous performance about what morning is like in that region. The event was hosted by celebrity Nick Cannon, and the script was written by Matt Walsh, co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe.

The scale of the clock was also meant to symbolize the scale of the campaign, notes Yuvraj Arora, senior director, adult ready-to-eat cereal marketing for Kellogg. "This is an exciting product launch for Kellogg Company and we're committed to making it a big success," she said. "We're eager to bring this already hugely popular brand to U.S. consumers" and confident that they will display "a similar passion for it," she adds.

The cereal, which is in some stores now and will be available nationwide in February, comes in two flavors: Golden Honey Nut (corn flakes drizzled with honey and topped with peanuts) and Roasted Nut and Honey (corn and oat O's topped with roasted peanuts and honey).

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