Pi-Consulting

The Cheerios brand is one of America’s iconic breakfast cereal products, selling 95 million boxes last year and putting $288 million in the coffers of General Mills, its manufacturers. What’s the reason for such public devotion to a food product that has been around for sixty years? (The name was changed from “CheeriOats” in 1945). David Altschul, president of the Character consultancy, thinks that Cheerios has “deeper emotional resonance”. If the brand were a character, he asks, “What would it want? I think the brand actually wants to enable family connection”. General Mills agrees that the Cheerios brand “enjoys loyalty beyond reason” and continues to beat off competitive attacks from cheaper clone brands. Altschul points to letters written to the firm by consumers — letters which have been used to guide Cheerios advertising — who talk about the “amazing emotional experience they have had” while using the O-shaped cereal. It’s what consumers apparently believe. “We’re not making this stuff up”, says a bemused Altschul. (Source: New York Times)