Honey Nut Cheerios Essay

General Mills is a global brand that promotes its products to individuals looking to live a healthier life. Honey Nut Cheerios is just that, a healthy cereal that reduces the risk for heart complications by offering low cholesterol. However, Honey Nut Cheerios isn’t only for those who are looking to lower their risk for heart issues, its also for children that may need a breakfast with high nutritional value to start their mornings off right. General Mills employs various marketing techniques to draw the attention of potential consumers, whether it be children or their elders. Apart from all the benefits offered by Honey Nut Cheerios the only downside that could be discovered and supported with hard evidence was the fact that Honey Nut Cheerios

uses GMO’s in the production of the cereal. Regardless of Honey Nut Cheerios containing GMOs it has remained the best-selling cereal in the United States due to its promotional campaigns and the benefits it provides for the heart. Therefore, it is highly recommended that Honey Nut Cheerios be promoted further by the company’s sales team in order to maximize profits.

When deciding whether to sell a product or not, there are many factors that must be considered.

Honey Nut Cheerios, a highly successful cereal, is a top selling product in the marketplace today. It is a very promising product to sell, which will be further explained through the marketing mix, environmental scan, market segmentation, ethics, social responsibility, and global marketing.

Rationale

General Mills’ Honey Nut Cheerios is America’s bestselling cereal and is a very intriguing product to research. It is a child’s first bite, a midnight snack, and the brand seen on every cereal shelf. Because of its mass popularity, there are many marketing aspects that can be learned from such a successful product and company. By studying this brand, knowledge of marketing skills was enhanced as our team learned how Honey Nut Cheerios is advertised, sold, and delivered to almost every household in the United States.

General Mills is a multinational company that is based out of Minnesota. They market to and manufacture for many different brands and products, and provide over 100 countries with their products. Honey Nut Cheerios took over as the number one selling cereal in the U.S. and owes most of its success to cholesterol-fighting benefits (“Get to Know Cheerios,” n.d.). Cheerios strives to provide heart-healthy products to their

customers.
Marketing Mix
The marketing mix consists of 4 categories: product, price, promotion, and place. The product portion of the marketing mix is a good, service, or idea to satisfy the consumer’s need. Honey Nut Cheerios is a good for sale to improve the health of its consumers. The price portion explains what is exchanged for the product. Honey Nut Cheerios varies in price ranging from $3.99 to $6.39. Promotion is the means of communication between the seller and buyer. Honey Nut Cheerios is marketed primarily for being a healthy choice for starting any day. Another famous promotion tactic used is the “Save the Bees” campaign in which General Mills brings attention to the decline in bee populations. Place is the means of getting the product to the consumer. Honey Nut Cheerios can be bought at a variety of traditional brick and mortar stores including Target, Walmart, and Safeway to name a few. Though Honey Nut Cheerios can also be purchased online, it is mostly bought in stores.
Environmental Scan
Economic
Honey Nut cheerios is America's bestselling cereal (Kettl, 2016). There is much demand because it is high quality set at a low price. This promotes flow of money in the economy because of its extreme popularity.
Social
Honey Nut Cheerios holds a high standard of social responsibility as it uses cause-marketing, which supports non-profit causes to promote their product. They have collaborated with Feeding America and GenYouth to promote healthy lifestyles in America.
Regulatory
Recent regulations on genetically modified organisms have forced Honey Nut Cheerios to advertise that their products were partially developed with genetic engineering. They counterbalance the GMO’s by drawing attention to various health benefits such as low cholesterol and gluten free.
Technological
Furthermore, Honey Nut Cheerios’ main source of advertising is commercials.

“Buzz” the bee, who is on each cereal box, has recently gone missing as part of their campaign called “Bring Back the Bees”. Emma Eriksson, the director of marketing for General Mills Canada, said, “The unstable bee population is significant because of how many foods are made possible by pollination,” and that “the company wanted to use the cereal packaging to draw attention to the problem” (Kettl, para. 6, 2016).

Competitive

Honey Nut Cheerios has set themselves apart from their competitors because of brand equity. They have taken advantage of this by increasing their prices so that they can increase profits. Even as other cereal brands have boosted their marketing, Honey Nut Cheerios still reigns as the top selling cereal in America.

Marketing Segmentation

The demographics for Honey Nut Cheerios are broad to say the least. This products’ low price makes them a reasonable and healthy choice for any person’s background or financial situation. Whether this be children needing a breakfast with high nutritional value, or an elderly consumer that is trying to reduce their risk for heart disease, this product reaches most everybody’s heart of

health.
Because many Americans and people around the world choose to eat this cereal, Honey Nut Cheerios is seen in almost every grocery store including Walmart, Target, and gas stations. They realized that their product reached a wide variety of people, so they provide it to people in all locations across the globe. This serves many populations, age groups, and types of people.
Consumers of Honey Nut Cheerios worldwide values a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their families. Honey Nut Cheerios offers just that, advertising that the cereal reduces the risk of heart disease. General Mills also sponsors multiple events to promote a healthy lifestyle and raising awareness to the dangers of unhealthy lifestyles (Edwards, 2005).
Ethical Issue
GMO’s are genetically modified organisms that place a health threat on the population that consumes them. With government regulations being enforced, Honey Nut Cheerios has placed a label on every box indicating that these modified organisms are a part of developing their cereal. Before the government started regulating the amount of GMO’s allowed, along with forcing to identify that the company is using them, Honey Nut Cheerios did not have a label indicating GMO’s on their boxes. Should the government have never made these regulations, it is assumed that Honey Nut Cheerios would have continued to not identify as using GMO’s in the making of the cereal. This is an instance where government regulation plays an important and morally good role in product marketing.
Social Responsibility Issue
While some companies use supporting causes to burnish their image, Honey Nut Cheerios goes above and beyond when supporting causes because they genuinely care about their customers. They hold a high standard of social responsibility using cause-marketing, which supports non-profit causes to promote their product. They have collaborated with Feeding America and GenYouth to promote healthy lifestyles in America. General Mills itself has “contributed more than $100 million to charitable causes in fiscal 2010” (General, 3). Honey Nut Cheerios also supports and sponsors various events that fund health research. For example, Cheerios sponsored the Heart and Stroke Foundation mother/daughter walk to raise money for heart and stroke research (Edwards, 2005).
As seen, Honey Nut Cheerios and General Mills are social responsible and are not only concerned about making a profit. This is extremely important because they are focused beyond selling their cereal. They genuinely care about making the world a healthier place and helping charities and events.
Global Marketing and the Internet
General Mills is seeking answers regarding the use of internet in global marketing. General Mill started a global marketing and internet promotion in 2014. This promotion was called the Wheaties Next Challenge, which asked the consumer to vote for one of five athletes selected by General Mills. The aim of this promotion was to tap into three affinities of younger consumers through technology and nontraditional sports. It offered a prize rooted in its heritage and a chance for the fans to select their favorite athletes to appear nationally on the cereal box.
General Mills has created other new marketing opportunities, but specifically for Honey Nut Cheerios. For instance, a Cheerios commercial featuring Grumpy Cat and the rapper Nelly generated more than 5.7 million views on YouTube since it was introduced (Elliott, 2014). Associate director of marketing at Honey Nut Cheerios Gail Peterson said, “We’re looking for things relevant to consumers today in pop culture” (Elliot, para. 6, 2014). The benefit of using the internet in global marketing is that it helps publicize the product by extensively using popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to bring attention to the brand (Elliott, 2014). Potential problems a company should consider when including cultural aspects include religion, language, and dialect differences (Kruger, 2010).
Recommendation
As seen, Honey Nut Cheerios is a product in the economy that is flourishing and continues to grow. It is a relatively cheap and affordable cereal that can be bought in most grocery stores and gas stations. All ages can use this product in almost all areas of the world. It is America’s best-selling cereal and dominates against other cereal brands. It uses the Internet, global marketing, charities, and campaigns to promote positive health. Because of these sublime factors, Honey Nut Cheerios can be easily recommended to sell. Its popularity and increased success are promising factors that would make a product marketable. It is reasonable to invest in the top-selling cereal that is found in every convenience and grocery store across the globe and that supports healthy lifestyles.
Great ways to market Honey Nut Cheerios include, but are not limited to, television commercials, radio station, commercials, advertisements in public areas, advertisements in doctor’s offices and hospitals, and in the schooling system.