Kellogg Company (often referred to as Kellogg or Kellogg's in its corporate logo, or even more formally as Kellogg's of Battle Creek), is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods. The company's brands include Corn Flakes, Keebler, Pop-Tarts, Eggo, Cheez-It, Nutri-Grain, Rice Krispies, BearNaked, Morningstar Farms, Famous Amos, Special K, All-Bran, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Club and Kashi. Kellogg products are manufactured in 18 countries and marketed in more than 180 countries around the world.
Its global headquarters are in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA. Its largest factory is Trafford Park in Manchester, UK which is Kellogg's European headquarters. Kellogg trades under the ticker symbol NYSE: K. The Kellogg Company also holds a Royal Warrant from HM Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales.
History
First Kellogg's package
Kellogg's was founded as the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on February 19, 1906, by Will Keith Kellogg as an outgrowth of his work with his brother John Harvey Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium following practices based on the Seventh-day Adventist Christian denomination. The company produced and marketed the hugely successful Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes and was renamed the Kellogg Company in 1922.
In 1930, the Kellogg Company announced that most of its factories would shift towards 30 hour work weeks, from the usual 40. This practice remained until World War II, and continued briefly after the war, although some departments and factories remained locked into 30 hour work weeks until 1980. From 1969 to 1977, Kellogg's acquired various small businesses including Salad Foods, Fearn International, Mrs. Smith's Pies, Eggo, and Pure Packed Foods; however, it was later criticized for not diversifying further like General Mills and Quaker Oats were.
Kellogg Company headquarters
After underspending its competition in marketing and product development, Kellogg's U.S. market share hit a low 36.7% in 1983. A prominent Wall Street analyst called it "a fine company that's past its prime" and the cereal market was being regarded as "mature". Such comments invigorated Kellogg chairman William E. LaMothe to improve, which primarily involved approaching the demographic of 80 million baby boomers rather than marketing children-oriented cereals. In emphasizing cereal's convenience and nutritional value, Kellogg helped persuade U.S. consumers age 25 to 49 to eat 26% more cereal than people that age ate five years prior. The U.S. ready-to-eat cereal market, worth $3.7 billion at retail in 1983, totaled $5.4 billion by 1988, and had expanded three times as fast as the average grocery category. Kellogg's also introduced new products including Crispix, Raisin Squares, and Nutri-Grain Biscuits and reached out internationally with Just Right aimed at Australians and Genmai Flakes for Japan. During this time, the company maintained success over its top competitors: General Mills, who largely marketed children's cereals, and Post, who had difficulty in the adult cereal market.
In March 2001, Kellogg made its largest acquisition, the Keebler Company. Over the years it has also gone on to acquire Morningstar Farms and Kashi divisions or subsidiaries. Kellogg also owns the Bear Naked, Natural Touch, Cheez-It, Murray, Austin, Famous Amos, Gardenburger (acquired 2007) and Plantation brands.
Corporate Governance
Current members of Kellogg Company's board of directors include: James M. Jenness, chairman; David Mackay; Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.; John T. Dillon; Gordon Gund; Dorothy A. Johnson; Donald R. Knauss; Ann McLaughlin Korologos; Rogelio M. Rebolledo; Sterling K. Speirn; Robert A. Steele and Dr. John L. Zabriskie.
On January 24, 2005, the former CEO (since April 1999) and chairman of the board of directors (since April 2000), Carlos Gutierrez became U.S. Secretary of Commerce in the second term of former President George W. Bush. Kellogg's board of directors named James M. Jenness as chairman and CEO to replace Gutierrez.
On October 23, 2006, Kellogg's announced that president and chief operating officer David Mackay would become the chief executive officer, effective December 31, 2006. Jenness will continue to serve as chairman of the Board of Directors.
In June 2007, Kellogg announced that by the end of 2008 it would stop advertising to children under twelve those cereals and snacks that do not meet specific nutrient guidelines.
January 2, 2011, John A. Bryant succeeded David McKay (retired effective January 1, 2011) as CEO.
Cereal
Advertisement, 1910's
A list of cereal products produced by Kellogg's, with available varieties:
All-Bran: All-Bran Original, All-Bran Bran Buds, All-Bran Bran Flakes (UK), All-Bran Extra Fiber, All-Bran Guardian (Canada)
Apple Jacks
Bran Buds
Bran Flakes
Cars 2 (2011)
Choco Krispis (Latin America)
Chocos (India, Europe)
Cinnabon
Coco Pops (Europe, Australia)
Coco Pops Coco Rocks
Coco Pops Mega Munchers
Coco Pops Moons and Stars
Cocoa Hoots
Cocoa Krispies
Corn Flakes
Complete Wheat Bran Flakes/Bran Flakes
Corn Pops
Country Store
Crispix
Crunch: Caramel Nut Crunch, Cran-Vanilla Crunch, Toasted Honey Crunch
Crunchy Nut Cornflakes
Cruncheroos (current only available through food service sales and not retail)
Disney cereals: Disney Hunny B's Honey-Graham, Disney Mickey's Magix, Disney Mud & Bugs, Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney Princess Cereal
Eggo
Froot Loops: Froot Loops, Froot Loops 1/3 Less Sugar, Marshmallow Froot Loops
Frosted Flakes (Frosties outside of the US/Canada): Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes 1/3 Less Sugar, Tony's Cinnamon Krunchers
Frosted Mini-Wheats (known in the UK as Toppas until the early 1990s, when the name was changed to Frosted Wheats. The name Toppas is still applied to this product in other parts of Europe, as in Germany and Austria)
Fruit Harvest: Fruit Harvest Apple Cinnamon, Fruit Harvest Peach Strawberry, Fruit Harvest Strawberry Blueberry
Fruit 'n Fibre (not available in US; not related to the Post cereal of the same name sold in the US)
Fruit Winders (UK)
Genmai Flakes (Japan)
Guardian (Australia/NZ), Canada
Honey Loops
Honey Smacks (US)/Smacks (other markets)
Just Right: Just Right Original, Just Right Fruit & Nut, Just Right Just Grains, Just Right Tropical, Just Right Berry & Apple, Just Right Crunchy Blends – Cranberry, Almond & Sultana (Australia/NZ), Just Right Crunchy Blends – Apple, Date & Saltana (Australia/NZ)
Krave (UK)
Komplete (Australia)
Low-Fat Granola: Low-Fat Granola, Low-Fat Granola with Raisins
Mini Swirlz
Mini-Wheats: Mini-Wheats Frosted Original, Mini-Wheats Frosted Bite Size, Mini-Wheats Frosted Maple & Brown Sugar, Mini-Wheats Raisin, Mini-Wheats Strawberry, Mini-Wheats Vanilla Creme, Mini-Wheats Strawberry Delight, Mini-Wheats Blackcurrent
Mueslix: Mueslix with Raisins, Dates & Almonds
Nutri-Grain
Nut Feast
Oat Bran: Cracklin' Oat Bran
Optivita
Pops
Raisin Bran/Sultana Bran: Raisin Bran, Raisin Bran Crunch, Sultana Bran (Australia/NZ), Sultana Bran Crunch (Australia/NZ)
Raisin Wheats
Rice Krispies/Rice Bubbles: Rice Krispies, Rice Krispies Treats, Frosted Rice Krispies, Cocoa Rice Krispies, Rice Bubbles, LCMs, Rice Crispies Multi-Grain Shapes
Ricicles: Like Rice Krispies, but with the addition of a frosted sugar coating.
Scooby-Doo cereal: Cinnamon Marshmallow Scooby-Doo! Cereal
Smart Start: Smart Start, Smart Start Soy Protein Cereal
Smorz
Special K: Special K, Special K low carb lifestyle, Special K Red Berries, Special K Vanilla Almond, Special K Honey & Almond (Australia), Special K Forest Berries (Australia), Special K Light Muesli Mixed Berries & Apple (Australia/NZ), Special K Light Muesli Peach & Mango flavour (Australia/NZ), Special K Dark Chocolate (Belgium), Special K Milk Chocolate (Belgium), Special K Sustain (UK)
Spider-Man cereal: Spider-Man Spidey-Berry
SpongeBob SquarePants cereal
Start UK
Strawberry Pops (South Africa)
Sustain: Sustain, Sustain Selection
Variety
Vector (Canada only)
Yeast bites with honey
Yogo's
Kringelz,(formerly known as ZimZ!) mini cinnamon-flavored spirals, sold only in Germany and Austria
2010 Cereal Recall
On June 25, the company voluntarily began to recall about 28 million boxes of Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks because of an unusual smell and flavor from the packages' liners that could make people ill. Kellogg's said about 20 people complained about the cereals, including five who reported nausea and vomiting. Consumers reported the cereal smelled or tasted waxy or like metal or soap. Company spokeswoman J. Adaire Putnam said some described it as tasting stale. However, no serious health problems have been reported.
The suspected chemical that caused the illnesses was 2-methylnaphthalene, used in the cereal packaging process. Little is known about 2-methylnaphthalene's impact on human health as the Food and Drug Administration has no scientific data on its impact on humans, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also does not have health and safety data. This is despite the EPA having sought information on it from the chemical industry for 16 years. 2-Methylnaphthalene is a component of crude oil, and is "structurally related to naphthalene, an ingredient in mothballs and toilet-deodorant blocks" that the EPA considers a possible human carcinogen.
Kellogg's offered consumers refunds in the meantime. Only products with the letters "KN" following the use-by date are included in the recall. The products were distributed throughout the U.S. and began arriving in stores in late March 2010. Products in Canada were not affected.
Discontinued Cereals And Foods
Kellogg provides an online list of discontinued products.
Banana Bubbles
A banana-flavoured variation of Rice Krispies. First appeared in the UK in 1995, but discontinued shortly thereafter.
Bart Simpson's No ProblemO's
Sold in the UK for a limited period
Bigg Mixx cereal
C-3PO's cereal
Introduced in 1984 and inspired by the multi-lingual droid from Star Wars, the cereal called itself a "a New (crunchy) Force at Breakfast" and was composed of "twin rings phased together for two crunches in every double-O". In other words, they were shaped like the number 8.
Choco Corn Flakes
A chocolate version of Corn Flakes. First sold in the UK in 1998, but discontinued a few years later.
Cinnamon Crunch Crispix
Cinnamon Mini-Buns
Concentrate
Complete Oat Bran Flakes
Corn Soya cereal
Coco Pops Crunchers
Coco Pops Strawss
Double Dip Crunch
Frosted Krispies
Golden Crackles
Golden Oatmeal Crunch (later revised to Golden Crunch)
Kenmei Rice Bran cereal
Kream Krunch
Krumbles cereal
Manufactured approximately from the 1920's to the 1950's; based on shreds of wheat but different from shredded wheat in texture. Unlike the latter, it tended to remain crisp in milk. In the Chicago area, Krumbles was available into the late 1960's. It was also high in fiber, although that attribute was not in vogue at the time.
Marshmallow Krispies (later revised to Fruity Marshmallow Krispies)
Mr. T's Muscle Crunch (1983–1985)
OKs cereal (early 1960's)
Oat-based cereal physically resembling the competing brand Cheerios, with half the OKs shaped like letter O's and the other half shaped like K's, but did not taste like Cheerios. OKs originally featured a Scottish bagpiper on the box; this was replaced by the more familiar Yogi Bear.
Pep
Best remembered as the sponsor of the Superman radio serial.
Pokémon Cereal
A limited edition cereal that contained marshmallow shapes in the forms of Gen I Pokémon Pikachu, Oddish, Poliwhirl and Ditto.
Powerpuff Girls Cereal
Puffa Puffa Rice (late 1960's–early 1970's)
Raisins Rice and Rye
Razzle Dazzle Rice Krispies
Stars/All-Stars cereal
Marketing
Various methods have been used in the company's history to promote the company and its brands.
Premiums and Prizes
W.K. Kellogg was the first to introduce prizes in boxes of cereal. The marketing strategy that he established has produced thousands of different cereal box prizes that have been distributed by the tens of billions.
Children's Premiums
Kellogg's Corn Flakes had the first cereal premium with The Funny Jungleland Moving Pictures Book. The book was originally available as a prize that was given to the customer in the store with the purchase two packages of the cereal. But in 1909, Kellogg's changed the book give-away to a premium mail-in offer for the cost of a dime. Over 2.5 million copies of the book were distributed in different editions over a period of 23 years.
Cereal Box Prizes
In 1945, Kellogg inserted a prize in the form of pin-back buttons into each box of Pep cereal. Pep pins have included U.S. Army squadrons as well as characters from newspaper comics and were available through 1947. There were five series of comic characters and 18 different buttons in each set, with a total of 90 in the collection. Other manufacturers of major brands of cereal (including General Mills, Malt-O-Meal, Nestlé, Post Foods, and Quaker Oats) followed suit and inserted prizes into boxes of cereal to promote sales and brand loyalty.
Mascots
Licensed brands have been omitted since the corresponding mascots would be obvious (e.g. Spider-Man is the mascot for Spider-Man Spidey-Berry).
Cocoa Krispies cereal (Known as Choco Krispis in Latin America, Choco Krispies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Chocos in India; and Coco Pops in Australia, the UK and Europe): Jose (monkey), Coco (monkey), Melvin (elephant), Snagglepuss (Hanna-Barbera character), Ogg (caveman), Tusk (elephant) & Snap, Crackle and Pop.
Corn Flakes cereal: Cornelius (rooster)
Frosted Flakes (known as Frosties outside the US/Canada, Zucaritas in Latin America and Sucrilhos in Brazil) cereal: Tony the Tiger
Froot Loops cereal: Toucan Sam
Honey Smacks (US)/Smacks (other markets) cereal: Dig 'Em Frog
Raisin Bran cereal: Sunny the Sun
Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in Australia) cereal: Snap, Crackle and Pop
Ricicles (UK Only) cereal: Captain Rik
Apple Jacks cereal: CinnaMon and Bad Apple
Honey Loops cereal: Loopy (bumblebee)
Keebler Cookies and Crackers : Ernie & the Elves
Motorsports
Kellogg's made its first foray into auto racing in 1991–92, when the company sponsored the #41 Chevrolets fielded by Larry Hedrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and driven by Phil Parsons, Dave Marcis, Greg Sacks Hut Stricklin and Richard Petty. But they gained greater prominence for their sponsorship of two time NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Terry Labonte from 1993 (at Billy Hagan Racing) until his retirement in 2006, and Hendrick Motorsports from 1994 until the end of 2006, initially with Labonte with both their Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes brands, including Labonte's second NASCAR Championship (1996), and his second win in a major (the 2003 Southern 500). After Labonte's retirement, the sponsor stayed when Hendrick with new driver Kyle Busch. Kellogg's placed Dale Earnhardt on Kellogg's Corn Flakes boxes for 1993 six-time Winston Cup champ and 1994 seven-time Winston Cup champ as well as Jeff Gordon on the Mini Wheats box for the 1993 rookie of the year, 1995 Brickyard 400 inaugural race, 1997 Champion and 1998 three-time Champ, and a special three-pack racing box set with Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, and Dale Jarrett in 1996. The company has consistently reduced its sponsorship, where since 2007 it shares only the hood or the sides of the cars with co-primary sponsor Carquest Auto Parts, now driven by Mark Martin. Kellogg's will move to Roush Fenway Racing with driver Carl Edwards in 2010.
Merchandising
Kellogg's has used some merchandising for their products. Kellogg's once released Mission Nutrition, a PC game that came free with special packs of cereal. It played in a similar fashion as Donkey Kong Country; users could play as Tony the Tiger, Coco the Monkey, or Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Kellogg's has also released "Talking" games. The two current versions are Talking Tony and Talking Sam. In these games, a user uses a microphone to play games and create voice commands for their computer. In Talking Tony, Tony the Tiger, one of Kellogg's most famous mascots, would be the main and only character in the game. In Talking Sam, Toucan Sam, another famous mascot, would be in the game instead. Some toy cars have the Kellogg's logo on them, and occasionally their mascots.
Will Keith Kellogg
Links:
Will Keith Kellogg—the company's founder
W. K. Kellogg Foundation
Old Kellogg's adverts (UK only)
Source: Wikipedia