India's first ever diet cereal

Today I came across an advertisement of Kellogg’s K Special, which is a diet cereal. This cereal promises to lower your weight by 2.5 kgs in mere 2 weeks.  This is an entirely new item from the house of Kellogg’s.

Kellogg’s had targeted middle class mothers for its cornflakes category by introducing iron shakti. Again the strategy is a bit similar, targeting middle aged women, but only those belonging to SEC A and B. These are obese women of urban India, who can afford the cereal for Rs. 45/140gms.

Anupam Dutta, Managing Director, Kellogg’s India, says, “In today’s fast-paced environment, women are looking for a simple and tasty solution to their weight management concerns. Kellogg’s understands these concerns and for this reason has decided to introduce the new brand.”

Kellogg’s currently holds 66% share of 60 crores market in India. Now, there are a lot many ways of enhancing the market share for a brand. There can be line as well as brand extension, but what do we call the introduction of K Special cereals???

Well, this is a new category of diet cereals, but it’s still in food category. May be it is a new sub-brand, offering unique attributes and benefits to its consumers, with a totally new targeting and positioning.

Target the right TG

Once the market is segmented, the right segment has to be targeted. The Target Group or TG is really significant for success of any product, because every product is meant to cater to the needs of a specific group of people. But identifying the TG is not enough, as the later have to be communicated that there’s a product specifically for them.

Kellogg’s is now a leading brand in breakfast cereal. Kellogg’s came to India almost two decades back and introduced itself as the only product in the category. As such, brand building was more of category building for Kellogg’s.

Kellogg’s targeted the middle class and definitely the upper class for its product. It introduced it as an easy to make, highly nutritious breakfast, that was to be consumed with cold milk. As Indians prefer hot milk for breakfast, Kellogg’s badly missed out in terms of consumer preference. Also, Kellogg’s communicated that small quantity is enough for good amount of nutrition that was contrary to the Indians’ habit of eating a parathas with lots of butter, or a good no. of idlis and as such, its utility in terms of traditional Indian filling diet was limited. Also, Kellogg’s were supposed to be consumed with plain milk, while Indians preferred sugared milk. As such, Kellogg’s completely missed out in its marketing communication.

Understanding the essence of sweetened milk, they introduced sugar-coated Chocos. Also they tried to target kids by introducing various flavors. They even introduced biscuits to build brand awareness among middle class or common Indian people. But the strategy that worked for Kellogg’s is introduction of Iron-Shakti that is good for fledgling minds.

Now the target was middle class mothers who are very particular about their kids’ career and as such, wants to supplement them with nutrients required for better development of their brain and thereby career.

As such, right TG is really significant for every product and brand.