Cereal Bio – A Pleasant Surprise

In September 2008 the CEO of Nutrition & Santé (Gerblé, Cereal, Milical, Isostar ...) asked me to undertake an analysis of dietary brands and their futures, with a focus on their own brands. When this work was over, I offered three suggestions (among others):

• In a difficult market environment where diet brands are competing with Organics, they should come out of their ghetto and rely upon taste;
• They need to have a real commitment, tell a story, explain the difference between good and bad ingredients, provide information and be transparent;
• Given this context, Céréal is a much stronger brand name than Gerblé ....

He then told me of his plans to make Céréal his Organic brand.
A year later he sent me his wishes, together with a green box: A range of biscuits for children had been added to the Céréal Bio brand. I find this stand quite interesting: a national organic brand for children establishes itself in hypermarkets & supermarkets - this allows it to leave the diet-food shelves (very marginalized) and find a place among the Organics or children’s biscuits... at very competitive prices; a far cry from organic prices (300g of 15 sandwich biscuits at € 2.65 - or 8.83 € / kg compared to Bjorg Bio at 12.18 € / kg), but still quite far from the national brands (low-sugar Prince de Lu at 5.38 € / kg).

My reticence relates to another aspect: the discourse of the brand. Here are two points that seem problematic:

• Cereal Bio has chosen a universe (graphic style and tone) that has become commonplace today – one that all brands (national and private brands) for children adopt today: a totem figure that addresses children in an entertaining and educational manner;
• The packaging is publicized by a website on which there are games and information, www.grainedebio.com, which in itself is an excellent initiative. My question concerns the content of the site itself. What more does it offer than other distributors’ Private Brands’ sites for children (Auchan’s Rik & Rok / Carrefour Kids / the Zigos Club from Intermarché ..)? The motto "apprendre en s’amusant” (“have fun while you learn") endorsed by everyone involved is a capitulation to contemporary triviality, what Hermann Hesse called "a deluge of cultural values and fragmented knowledge, isolated and deprived of their meaning" (The Glass Bead Game, 1943). All Céréal Bio does here is to copy private brands, when it should adopt a national brand attitude and create a world that speaks about organic in an original way.

We are far from the worlds of Innocent and Michel & Augustin: these brands invented a universe immediately identifiable – one that addresses (and appeals to) both adults and children. It has two characteristics:

1. It is based on humour;
2. It is educational – giving meaning to consumption and to the purchase the products: All the games, riddles and information help consumers to increase their knowledge in matters of nutrition.

There remains the question of coherence in this children’s range with regard to Céréal Bio: The latter is a classic organic brand, serious, i.e. indistinguishable from the competition. I suggest making the tenor of the children’s brand that of the entire range, and gaining in humour: Of course, this would mean venturing into the territory of Michel & Augustin, but this is modern distribution after all, and supermarket customers (other than Monoprix) also have the right to eat organic and have fun while doing so!