Kelloggs Drives Thousands from Cereal Box to Mobile Video

Kellogg linked back-of-the-box to a mobile website to reach the kind of guy who eats cereal for dinner. Though the campaign was subject to mixed reviews earlier this year, it has generated thousands of responses.

Moms may remain the biggest buyers of breakfast foods overall, but for the U.S. launch of Crunchy Nut, Kellogg wanted to focus on single men.

The theme of the product introduction, launched in January, is, “It’s morning somewhere.” The campaign, created by Leo Burnett Chicago and Starcom, kicked off in Hollywood with a giant cuckoo clock featuring comedians dressed in the style of a country where it was currently morning. A TV spot, also by Burnett, showed a young man hopping on a plane in order to reach a far-off destination where it’s an acceptable time of day to eat breakfast.

“The ‘It’s Morning Somewhere’ campaign extended into TV, print, public relations and in-store marketing. From a digital perspective, online media – including banner ads, homepage takeovers, and online video — has been utilized as a major awareness-driver for the brand,” according to Yuvraj Arora, senior marketing director, Kellogg Company.

For the mobile component, the cereal boxes are printed with a QR code that can be scanned by a smartphone to connect to the mobile site hosting 13 videos. Which video runs is determined by the time of day a consumer connects, and shows breakfast time in another country. An SMS code is also provided as another option to reach the site.

To date, there have been 40,000 QR scans and 6,000 texts to the mobile site, resulting in 38,000 videos played and 50,000 pageviews. The campaign also includes a traditional website and videos hosted on YouTube.

“The use of QR codes/SMS technology on packaging gave us an opportunity to connect with our consumer and bring the unique personality of the brand to life, beyond what could normally be accomplished with the product packaging alone,” Arora said.

“Kellogg has a lot of cereals that fit specific needs for nutrition and lifestyle. This cereal filled an important gap, men 18 to 35, single, college student, the genre that would find it acceptable to eat cereal three times a day,” said David Apple, chief marketing officer of Augme Technologies, provider of the mobile marketing platform used for the campaign, which was headed by Kellogg digital agency of record Biggs-Gilmore Communications.

“We always recommend SMS along with QR,” Apple said, because consumers are more familiar with texting than scanning QR codes. “We want to provide to the greatest number of users and mobile devices the easiest and most practical way to engage with the content, while educating them in how to use QR.”

While the campaign doesn’t include elements like coupons to encourage people to try the product, Kellogg plans to expand its program, according to Apple.

“The QR code will never change, but there will be more reward-based content delivered through it. Kellogg will allow users to participate in brand decisions, vote on new flavors and be rewarded for participating.”