During this week’s lesson, I learn that it’s important to research and understand the problem that your product is looking to solve. If you don’t solve the right problem or create a solution that is realistic, your product will probably not be that successful.
An example of a product not being successful is Kellogg’s Breakfast Mates, which last for about a year. In 1998, Kellogg’s launched a potential breakfast solution for kids that came in a ‘kit form’ called Breakfast Mates. The kit was a perfect single-serving that included a 4-ounce plastic bowl of cereal, 4-ounce easy-to-pour box of reduced-fat milk, and a plastic spoon. The package came in 4 cereal options from the popular brands: Corn Flakes, Fruit Loops, Mini-Wheats, and Frosted Flakes. If that wasn’t already super appealing to kids, the milk did not require refrigeration!
Similar to Ralston Purina’s Breakfast On The Run product, Breakfast Mates was envisioned to boost convenience in the morning. Kids would be able to make breakfast themselves while their parents slept in or completed other tasks. Moreover, it was made to also be a perfect snack any time of the day. Because each kit contained equal parts milk and cereal paired with a bowl and spoon, it required little assembly. In other words, kids couldn’t mess up and make a huge mess (unless they spilled everything on the floor somehow…) Although the marketing ads were a bit problematic, it was not the root of the failure.
The problem laid in the placement of the product in the grocery store. While the advertisement claimed that the milk required no refrigeration, Kellogg’s decided to place the Breakfast Mates in the refrigerated sections of grocery stores next to cheese, yogurt, Jell-O pudding, etc. Perhaps the concept of non-refrigerated milk was a concern to many Americans because of bad and spoiled milk, but also there have been claims that cold milk tastes extraordinarily better with cereal. But this leads to the misperception of Breakfast Mates being stored near cereal and oatmeal. This caused parents and children to have to adapt to hunting for the product in the refrigerated section before giving up or going home and continuing to refrigerate the product because that’s now it’s sold at the store. To add, a single serving of breakfast cereal in these kits were set at retail of $1.29 per. While that seems appropriate in 2019 with yogurt cups climbing to prices of over a dollar, certainly the dollar had more value a decade ago. In other words, it was a steep price for something disposable in exchange for convenience. Due to the high prices and need to re-educate consumers where to look for the cereal in a grocery store, the return was not as profitable as hoped for Kellogg’s.
In this product, perhaps there were other ways to salvage the idea. Personally, items being offered in a package would add to the convenience factor and should bring down the price overall. For example, choosing 6 individual yogurt cups for every day of the week or buying a pack of 6 yogurt cups for every day of the week. While that sparks an argument of the lost of variety, there’s no reason why there can be product options of 6 x flavor 1, 3 x flavor 1 + 3 x flavor 2, or 6 x 6 flavors. There were many possible options that could have maybe been tried during the year of launch and some research among users that could have saved Breakfast Mates.
Another note about Breakfast Mates is, I thought of it as a breakfast-version of Lunchables or Kid Cuisine when I first read up about it. Although they are not exactly the same because both markets their items having specific storing methods, the concept is very similar. Convenience, snackable, and easy to prepare.
