As a breakfast and baked items firm, innovation in my trade usually comes within the type of launching a brand new taste or a line extension to a product we already provide. However, when my group noticed the #pancakecereal pattern taking TikTok by storm through the peak of the pandemic, we felt we needed to get in on the motion—in a approach that may change how our firm thinks about innovation without end.
We may have provide you with intelligent social media movies of our personal to attempt to seize even among the 1.7 billion views on the viral hashtag, possibly placing our slightly-too-large bite-sized pancakes in a bowl with milk. If we did it effectively with a wise TikTok technique behind it, we in all probability would have seen stable advertising outcomes, be it a progress 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, offered like hotcakes and acquired our model an estimated 870 million impressions. We additionally introduced it with us to Expo West (a serious convention within the CPG house) that 12 months, and had a lot curiosity from patrons that we’re contemplating beginning a completely 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 really aligned with our model
I don’t suppose we may have created a product based mostly on any social media meals pattern and been this profitable. We had to verify 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 folks hours to make these tiny pancakes for only one bowl that was eaten inside minutes. That individuals beloved pancake cereal in idea—the style and the expertise of consuming it—however mentioned there was no approach they have been whipping up a batch each day, possibly not even ever once more. That busy dad and mom particularly (who’re one in all our core clients) had youngsters begging them for pancake cereal for breakfast however may by no means muster up the trouble to make it occur.
The Belgian Boys mission is to ship baked items which are fast, straightforward, and handy (and, after all, 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 have been loving however in a extra seamless, environment friendly approach felt utterly in keeping with our model, and is why this product had the ability to reside on even after the preliminary pattern died down.
On the flip facet, we had to verify we may ship a product that was aligned with the pattern. If we had shortly cranked out a product that was disappointing—that was too massive to take pleasure in from a spoon or didn’t have the feel of contemporary pancakes—it wouldn’t have taken off in the best way it did. It was an uphill battle for the R&D group, however 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 finished quicker.
Shoppers are savvy. In the event that they suppose you’re attempting to benefit from a pattern for a PR win or money seize, the product received’t have a real influence. Growing a profitable product based mostly on social listening is rather like creating some other form of product: It’s a must 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 high secret, we talked to anybody and everybody we knew to see what they thought.
We’re a small group, so we didn’t have the bandwidth to do intensive buyer analysis, however we had everybody ask their pals and households about whether or not they can be excited a couple of pancake cereal product. We additionally chatted with trade friends to see if they’d any suggestions or if they might spot any main points we have 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 in regards to the viewers we have been interesting to, thought the distinctive product may attraction to clients, and was keen to take the danger for the potential of a serious reward.
Having this buy-in from the beginning helped us confirm our idea, decreased the danger for our model, and likewise gave us an unbelievable accomplice who may assist us make selections as we navigated the method of creating a brand new providing. I beloved ideating with our purchaser on which product mockups they thought have been strongest and dealing with Goal’s advertising group on messaging and launch technique, and I do know their deep trade experience made the product stronger. We didn’t do every thing they prompt—we needed to make the choices that greatest aligned with our model—however receiving suggestions from the individuals who can be serving to us promote this was so precious.
We labored with influencers to recreate buzz
By the point we have been able to launch, the preliminary pattern had fizzled a bit. As an alternative of attempting to utterly 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 mixture of paid partnerships and earned media from distributing PR bins with free cereal to strive. We went all out to make our model stand out with these bins: the field itself was fridge-shaped to emphasise that our product is way out of your atypical 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 an entire.
We amassed over 1.25 million impressions and engagements from the influencer-generated content material. As a result of this product was offered in shops, moderately than on to customers, we do not have entry to the information 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 all the time in search of new methods to take heed to our clients
After listening to this story, persons are shocked to be taught that we’re not on social media each day attempting to trace down the following pattern we are able to bounce on. However I feel 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 may come from in every single place—and it ought to all the time 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 right this moment that clients can inform manufacturers what they’re pondering, 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.
