Kellogg’s and Pringles – An odd couple or the perfect brand marriage?
Posted by Sally Kay on February 20, 2012
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On reading the story that Kellogg’s acquired Pringles my initial reaction was; why would Kellogg’s, who are increasingly communicating the importance of healthy living, acquire a brand that is the other end of the spectrum? Health even has its own section on the Kellogg’s website and the association with the Governments Change4Life initiative is clearly displayed:
‘Because nothing’s more important in life than your health and wellbeing, we’ve teamed up with the Government’s Change4Life initiative to promote a balance of eating well, being more active and therefore living longer’ (http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/health/)
With consumers becoming increasingly savvy about what actually constitutes a healthy breakfast (low carbohydrate, high protein and fresh nutritious ingredients), we can assume that the threat to cereals ‘healthy’ perceptions will only increase …and for Kellogg’s, the acquisition of the Pringles brand surely won’t help with this perception?
However, if we look more broadly than the need for health, the acquisition of Pringles does start to make a lot more sense. Kellogg’s currently dominate the morning and daytime snacking occasions with their broad range of cereals and cereal bars. Strategically for Kellogg’s, Pringles takes them into a new category and new occasions. Pringles are for sharing, particularly centred round more afternoon/ evening occasions and more occasional than their current brand portfolio (which is much more habitual) – ultimately resulting in (almost) completely incremental growth for Kellogg’s. They also sit well together in terms of targeting a similar demographic of mainstream families, not particularly budget but not premium either.
I suppose the ultimate question therefore, is whether this acquisition will taint consumer perceptions of either brand… and having asked around my ‘non-marketing’ friends, Kellogg’s and Pringles are currently perceived as completely separate brands and as long as this continues the fact that they are owned by the same company won’t be widely acknowledged by the general public and therefore won’t actually make a difference to consumer perceptions.
It is worth adding that is from a UK perspective and that actually in the US Kellogg’s do own a wider variety of snacking brands. Purchasing Pringles will help take Kellogg’s into the business of snacking in the UK and help to cement its business in snacking in the US…