A cinnamon twist
At Kellogg Co., consumers helped spur the latest innovation initiative with suggestions on social media calling for the Battle Creek, Mich.-based company to add cinnamon to its cereal as a potential “game changer” in the category.
In November, the company took consumers’ cravings into consideration with the launch of Kellogg’s Cinnamon Frosted Flakes. Kellogg’s regular Frosted Flakes had dollar sales of $419,383,328 in the 52 weeks ended Oct. 30, ranking second behind General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios. But dollar sales for the brand were down 2.3% over the same period a year ago, indicating that now may be the right time for innovation.
Kellogg said the new cinnamon flavor is a long-awaited innovation and was “100% driven by fan demand and preferences, with one Twitter user even offering to pay us a very reasonable amount of $9,000 for a box.”
“Our goal is to deliver the best possible flavor to our fans in the best possible way,” said Joanna Grennes, senior director for Kellogg’s U.S. Morning Foods R&D. “In fact, cinnamon ranks as the top flavor request among Frosted Flakes lovers, so this innovation made perfect sense. Fan input was the driving force of the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes development process — it truly was a flavor developed for them.”
Kellogg said its R.&D. team considered more than 100 variations, evaluating the intensity of the cinnamon as well as the addition of vanilla and notes of caramelized sugar and maple to help bridge from the classic Frosted Flakes flavor profile before settling on the final sweet combination — using real korintje cinnamon.
The method of applying the new cinnamon flavor also was carefully considered, Kellogg said. After first exploring a more traditional “dusting” application and receiving taste test feedback that the cinnamon washed off with the addition of milk, Kellogg said its R.&D. team enveloped the cinnamon within the coating to create a truly “frosted” cinnamon flake.
Kellogg’s Cinnamon Frosted Flakes hit store shelves in November and will be widely available in January 2017.
The release of Kellogg’s Cinnamon Frosted Flakes follows on the heels of the company’s launch of its “Let Your Gr-r-reat Out” campaign, which encourages fathers and tweens to be true to themselves and proudly share with the world what makes them “gr-r-reat.”
