A Gaming Partnership Between Kellogg’s and Minecraft

May 20, 2023    

Campaign Summary

Kellogg's promoted interest in its portfolio of food brands through a partnership with the video game Minecraft that encouraged families to design a playground in the game that would be built in a real-life community in need.

Business Challenges and Campaign Objectives

Kellogg's portfolio of brands spans breakfast and all-day snacking. Kellogg's has earned credibility with its brands in categories ranging from cereal and frozen breakfast to portable, wholesome, and salty snacks.

Kellogg's, however, had recently been outspent and lost ground to competitors General Mills and Frito-Lay. With a crowded physical and digital shelf, shoppers were being engaged by new product news and current brands their kids/household preferred. Nonetheless, Kellogg's discovered that 30 percent of its target shoppers (multicultural millennial parents) wanted to try new things nobody else has, and 65 percent of shoppers said their kids influenced the brands they purchased.

Kellogg's needed a pivotal way to create reasons to choose its brands and attract lapsed Kellogg purchasers with new product news.

In the thick of these obstacles, Kellogg's set out to create snacking and lifestyle relevance and drive choice and household penetration at scale across the many Kellogg's brands.

Kellogg's objectives were to:

• Increase sales in Q2 for Kellogg's brands in key categories with scale to achieve 8 percent increase versus the previous year.
• Attain 9,000 new points of presence across key retailers in its categories versus the previous year.
• Engage shoppers to participate by driving more than 250 million social media impressions related to its two promotional offers.

Insights and Strategy

Kellogg's arrived at the insight that, as kids influence the choices parents make, tapping into those youngsters' obsessions with gaming and making the world better would be ways into parents' hearts and shopping carts.

The Kellogg's brand purpose is about building a better world. Since the pandemic, quality time spent together with family has gained more importance than ever. Indeed, Kellogg's discovered that 73 percent of its shoppers' kids wished they could spend more quality time bonding with their families, but everyday distractions made it easy for families to limit simple sharing moments.

Kellogg's noticed none of its competitors' efforts were fueling family moments — cereal category competitors were sticking with traditional one-off movie partnerships with limited reoccurring engagement, while salty snack category competitors were leveraging gaming partnerships to speak to hardcore adult gamers, but not to families or those with younger kids.

Parents state a shared activity is the No. 1 way they bond with their kids and talking over breakfast is in the top five. Gaming, with its increasing familiarity and playing by adults, has a powerful ability to influence the "pestering power" of kids. Thus, Kellogg's set out to make its portfolio of all-day food options the choice to inspire connections and enable family gaming with purpose.

Concept/Big Idea

Kellogg's partnered its iconic brands with Minecraft, a strategic, purpose-driven gaming partner, which appealed to both kids and parents, to fuel access and continuous joint play and rally the family around a shared purpose.

Going Beyond a Standard Entertainment Partnership

The Kellogg's campaign gave virtual creators the chance to make a real difference. Shoppers and their families were driven to engage across digital and social media and in store by two Kellogg's-cultivated motivations:

• To pursue family game-time, encouraged by a Kellogg's offer of 350 Minecoins to use in-game to fuel creativity with every purchase
• To design a playground in-game and have the chance to have it built in real life for a community in need, which encouraged shoppers and their kids to bond together for a cause

Why Minecraft? Minecraft and its social pillars align with the Kellogg's brand purpose of doing good in the world. Minecraft is one of the most popular video games in the world with kids three to 12 years old. Screen time is considered time well-spent as Minecraft encourages problem solving, creative thinking, and teamwork. As an engagement hub for kids and adults, Minecraft players can continuously start new in-game builds, watch YouTube content, and receive in-game exclusives.

Key Tactics

Kellogg's activated the campaign through a wide array of channels:

• Physical and digital shelves: Specially designed packaging integrated Minecraft across more than 20 Kellogg's brands and included calls to action to redeem the two promotional offers.
• In-store journey disruption: Kellogg's in-store displays (over 9,700 of them) and at-shelf signage featured promotional messaging.
• Custom retailer activations: Tailored shopper communication and customized programming at key retailers including Walmart, Hy-Vee, Kroger, and Target garnered further support and shopper attraction.
• Digital/e-commerce: Kellogg's created digital shelf activation across frequently shopped platforms Walmart, Amazon, Instacart, and Google.
• Social media: Paid social media pushed engaging content across platforms popular with Minecraft's audience, enabling shoppers to learn more or buy.
• Influencers: Kellogg's partnered with one of Minecraft's most popular creators, MrBeast, for a branded promotional spot in his monthly YouTube video. It amassed 24 million views and 342 million impressions.
• Owned media: Kellogg's created a Minecraft microsite within Kellogg's Family Rewards, which encouraged loyal shoppers to participate, redeem offers, and engage with content.
• Contest and community cause engagement: Kellogg's engaged communities with the live playground build opportunity. The selected build was brought to life at the James T. Anderson Boys & Girls Club in Marietta, Georgia, garnering PR and social media attention.

Results

Kellogg's successfully created an omni-channel, omni-commerce campaign that helped the organization expand relevancy and consideration for its portfolio of brands with its lapsed shoppers. The omni-channel approach delivered sales, new points of presence, and engagement with various touch points throughout the shopper journey.

Sales and Household Penetration with Lapsed Users

Through its campaign, Kellogg's:

• Beat sales goals, delivering 11 percent growth and over $85 million in incremental gross sales volume versus the previous year
• Developed over 10,000 new points-of-presence across all participating retailers versus the previous year, reigniting retailer display support

Consumer/Shopper Engagement

Kellogg's generated 379 million social impressions across Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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Source

"Build for Better." 2023 REGGIE Awards Bronze Winner, Gaming or Esports Marketing. Brand: Kellogg's. Lead Agency: Haygarth, a division of Tracy-Locke.