Froot Loops Has a Master Plan to Woo Millennials: Branded Merch

Neff Headwear and Kellogg's are teaming up to encourage millennials to enjoy a beloved childhood treat. (Image via the Kellogg Company)

Yours truly entered the world in 1979, which, though no consensus exists on what constitutes their birth range, likely keeps me from counting myself among the millennials who have earned equal parts regard and ridicule for how their habits, tastes and views are influencing American society. Regardless of my generational affiliation, I like knowing what compels people, especially as consumers. Kellogg’s has similar, albeit far enhanced, economically speaking, curiosity concerning purchase power, and is hoping it can milk that interest for all its worth by looking at the aforementioned individuals’ affinity for cereal, particularly a 54-year-old offering.

The manufacturing behemoth, which certainly made millions on their budding taste buds years ago, is hoping to mesh with millennials yet again and is spoon-feeding them with attention through a Froot Loops-centric campaign designed to have them continue to call the colorful creation a breakfast delight and to encourage them to make it an anytime goodie.

The targeted audience members “eat Froot Loops and they eat it when they want to, and we are here to embrace that and tell them that that’s great and that it’s an awesome snack,” associate director Chris Stolsky, who is responsible for hawking the 1963-introduced brand, said of his employer’s outreach.

The five-day-old brainchild, bearing a Whatever Froots Your Loops tagline, faces daunting data in partnering with Neff Headwear, State Bicycle Co. and Timbuk2, as the New York research firm NPD Group noted that cereals hold only a 22 percent share of breakfast choices, down 5 percent from 2012.

“Growth for cold cereals over the next few years will maybe just keep pace with the population growth, if that much,” NPD food and beverage industry analyst Darren Seifer revealed. “That’s not even true growth.”

However, for anyone who thinks seriously seeking to sell cereal is destined to render its overseers soggy, the research crew has also determined that millennials enjoy a robust relationship with the start-your-day constant, slightly trailing Baby Boomers as consistent consumers of various grain-based selections. With respect to Froot Loops, long a popular choice for children thanks to mascot Toucan Sam, Kellogg’s is trying to “inspire adult fans to do what makes them most happy.” Evidently, that subjective definition includes donning $40 sunglasses from Neff, its inaugural ally, whose shades consist of changeable faceplates and arms available in four colors.

“We knew we couldn’t just pick one color to represent Froot Loops and Toucan Sam,” founder Shaun Neff said of the handiwork that his eponymous entity is selling through its website and that Kellogg’s nearly year-old cereal cafe is marketing. “From his head to his tail feathers, Toucan Sam has a crazy cool palette, and the cereal has a unique burst of colors, too.”

The food purveyor has not limited the advertising to the adult crowd, as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network aired spots earlier this year. However, the plan to bowl over grown-ups with excitement will prove the far more interesting venture. Along with the frames and subsequent items, Kellogg’s will call on helpers such as commercials, animations for text messages and social media posts, banner ads and an emoji keyboard to market the merits of uniting milk and the provision in “holey” matrimony.

As a cereal lover and someone who has often dubbed millennials annoying even though I might belong to their group, I must confess that I shook my head when reading that Mintel, a global market research company, found in 2015 that 40 percent of them consider cereal an inconvenience because they need to clean up after consuming it. Me, I like loading up on the stuff and love pairing sales with coupons to make my mornings a bit brighter. Because of that, I bet I could be good friends with Seifer.

“You can’t beat the convenience of a bowl of cereal,” he said. “It takes such little time to prepare. Yes, other options out there are just as quick, but we were brought up on cereal, and habits are slow to change.”