• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Tuesday, November 14, 2006 10:47 AM

General Mills has raised its sales of its Betty Crocker corn-muffin mix 22.3% in the 12 months ending in September 2006 by repositioning it to appeal more to African-Americans. Blacks, who account for roughly 13% of the U.S. population, buy 36% of all cornbread mix sold in the U.S.

General Mills' mix has trailed Chelsea Milling Co.'s Jiffy--whose success appears to be based mainly on its value pricing and customer loyalty--in the muffin-mix market for years. Three years ago, a new brand manager turned to Black Champions, General Mills' black employees group, for insights on how African-Americans use the product.

As part of its repositioning, General Mills has added a photo of B. Smith, a restaurateur whom some consider the African-American Martha Stewart, to the package. And after discovering that "cornbread" is a more common usage than "corn muffins," it tweaked the product's name from "Golden Corn Muffin and Bread Mix" to "Authentic Cornbread and Muffin Mix."

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