As a breakfast and baked items firm, innovation in my business usually comes within the type of launching a brand new taste or a line extension to a product we already provide. However, when my workforce noticed the #pancakecereal pattern taking TikTok by storm throughout the top of the pandemic, we felt we needed to get in on the motion—in a method that may change how our firm thinks about innovation without end.
We might have give you intelligent social media movies of our personal to attempt to seize even a number of the 1.7 billion views on the viral hashtag, perhaps placing our slightly-too-large bite-sized pancakes in a bowl with milk. If we did it effectively with a sensible TikTok technique behind it, we most likely would have seen strong advertising outcomes, be it a development in followers or a bump in gross sales.
However we noticed a chance to do one thing much more impactful: create and promote a model of pancake cereal ourselves. Eighteen months later in February 2023, we launched Pancake Cereal as an unique and limited-time product with Goal—and the product, excuse the pun, bought like hotcakes and acquired our model an estimated 870 million impressions. We additionally introduced it with us to Expo West (a significant convention within the CPG area) that 12 months, and had a lot curiosity from consumers that we’re contemplating beginning a wholly new class for our model.
Right here’s why this launch was so game-changing for us, and extra importantly, how this expertise has shifted how we take into consideration product improvement shifting ahead.
We ensured the product was actually aligned with our model
I don’t suppose we might have created a product primarily based on any social media meals pattern and been this profitable. We had to ensure the thought was aligned with our model values and what our goal buyer has come to anticipate from us.
What we noticed from the pattern is that it was taking individuals hours to make these tiny pancakes for only one bowl that was eaten inside minutes. That individuals cherished pancake cereal in concept—the style and the expertise of consuming it—however mentioned there was no method they had been whipping up a batch each day, perhaps not even ever once more. That busy dad and mom specifically (who’re considered one of our core clients) had children begging them for pancake cereal for breakfast however might by no means muster up the trouble to make it occur.
The Belgian Boys mission is to ship baked items which might be fast, simple, and handy (and, in fact, scrumptious)—merchandise that give a made-from-scratch taste with out requiring all the trouble. So, having the ability to provide this deal with that folks had been loving however in a extra seamless, environment friendly method felt fully in keeping with our model, and is why this product had the facility to reside on even after the preliminary pattern died down.
On the flip aspect, we had to ensure we might ship a product that was aligned with the pattern. If we had rapidly cranked out a product that was disappointing—that was too huge to get pleasure from from a spoon or didn’t have the feel of contemporary pancakes—it wouldn’t have taken off in the way in which it did. It was an uphill battle for the R&D workforce, nevertheless it was extra vital to me to take the time to create a product that represented the standard of our model than to chop corners to get it accomplished sooner.
Shoppers are savvy. In the event that they suppose you’re attempting to reap the benefits of a pattern for a PR win or money seize, the product gained’t have a real influence. Growing a profitable product primarily based on social listening is rather like creating every other sort of product: You need to perceive what you’re fixing, and ensure your model is well-equipped to unravel it.
We did the legwork to determine if the thought was ridiculous, or ridiculously good
With an idea this distinctive, we didn’t need to go full-steam forward with out intestine checking ourselves first. So, as an alternative of preserving the thought prime secret, we talked to anybody and everybody we knew to see what they thought.
We’re a small workforce, so we didn’t have the bandwidth to do intensive buyer analysis, however we had everybody ask their associates and households about whether or not they can be excited a few pancake cereal product. We additionally chatted with business friends to see if that they had any suggestions or if they may spot any main points we had been lacking.
Maybe most significantly, although, we went to our retail companions with the thought to see what they thought. There have been positively a number of retailers who thought the product class was too unfamiliar to attraction to their clients or who felt it was an excessive amount of of a danger. Our purchaser at Goal, nevertheless, was excited concerning the viewers we had been interesting to, thought the distinctive product might attraction to clients, and was prepared to take the danger for the potential of a significant reward.
Having this buy-in from the beginning helped us confirm our idea, lowered the danger for our model, and in addition gave us an unimaginable associate who might assist us make selections as we navigated the method of creating a brand new providing. I cherished ideating with our purchaser on which product mockups they thought had been strongest and dealing with Goal’s advertising workforce on messaging and launch technique, and I do know their deep business experience made the product stronger. We didn’t do every thing they steered—we needed to make the selections that finest aligned with our model—however receiving suggestions from the individuals who can be serving to us promote this was so helpful.
We labored with influencers to recreate buzz
By the point we had been able to launch, the preliminary pattern had fizzled a bit. As an alternative of attempting to fully restart the pattern ourselves, we leaned into getting assist from people who had tried their hand at pancake cereal the primary time round.
Influencer advertising was a key participant in our Pancake Cereal launch, which added important publicity to our total marketing campaign. We labored with over 60 influencers, specializing in those that had tried the unique pattern, with a mix of paid partnerships and earned media from distributing PR containers with free cereal to attempt. We went all out to make our model stand out with these containers: the field itself was fridge-shaped to emphasise that our product is much out of your abnormal dry cereal, we packed it with a Belgian Boys-branded cereal bowl and spoon, and the copy was chock-full of our signature breakfast humor. We wished to make sure that any promotion not solely helped promote Pancake Cereal, however launched new audiences to our model as a complete.
We gathered over 1.25 million impressions and engagements from the influencer-generated content material. As a result of this product was bought in shops, quite than on to shoppers, we do not have entry to the info on gross sales pushed by the marketing campaign or the extent of renewed vitality generated, however the metrics we tracked point out that our influencer advertising technique was profitable in creating buzz, elevating consciousness, and producing substantial engagement for our product.
We’re at all times in search of new methods to hearken to our clients
After listening to this story, persons are stunned to study that we’re not on social media each day attempting to trace down the subsequent pattern we are able to leap on. However I believe speeding to commercialize one other viral baked good solely as a result of this one labored so effectively can be inauthentic.
As an alternative, what I take away from this expertise is that inspiration for brand spanking new merchandise can and will come from in all places—and it ought to at all times be rooted in what your buyer is saying. What are they speaking about on social media? What are your pals who’re in your audience saying to you over dinner? What merchandise are they enthusiastic about proper now, and which of them are they ignoring?
There are such a lot of methods at this time that clients can inform manufacturers what they’re considering, what they’re enthusiastic about, and what issues they’re going through. We as firm leaders merely must widen our horizons on how we’re listening.
