Cheerios

Cheerios, the first oat-based and ready-to-eat without cooking cereal, is a brand of breakfast cereal created in 1941 and marketed by the General Mills cereal company of Golden Valley, Minnesota. In some other countries (including the UK), it is sold by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand. These products marketed as "Cheerios" differ from the US - for example, in the UK and Ireland, consisting of "four grains" (actually five, but four colours of 'O's): maize, oats, barley, wheat and rice.

Marketing, promotions, and cultural association

Since its inception, strong marketing and association with cultural icons allowed Cheerios to achieve brand dominance through children. It has maintained a prominent position as a breakfast cereal since its creation, even in spite of higher priced cereal product than its name-brand competition and in the face of generic brand competition, largely due to its strategic association with American culture and its focus on advertising to youth.

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Cheerios association with The Lone Ranger was the longest of the Cheerios brand promotions, on radio from 1941 until 1949, and continuing with The Lone Ranger on television programs into the early 1960s. Encouraging children watching and listening to request for Cheerios cereal by name, the association was one of the most profitable in brand history. Other icons that have been prominently featured in association with Cheerios include Rocky and Bullwinkle, Scooby Doo, Star Wars characters, and NASCAR drivers. Also, General Mills' attempts to characterize the brand as a healthy breakfast have led many diet and health-conscious consumers to the cereal.

Related Topics:
The Lone Ranger - 1941 - 1949 - 1960s - Rocky and Bullwinkle - Scooby Doo - Star Wars - NASCAR

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In 2000 in association with the United States Mint, General Mills included approximately 10,000,000 coins in boxes of all varieties of Cheerios. Year 2000 dated pennies were the generally included promotion, though every 2000th box included the first public release of the Sacagawea dollar coin. In specially marked boxes were included over $100,000 of pennies, $5,000 of dollar coins, and $227,000 in authentication certificates. Though it was not the first time Cheerios had been associated with numismatics (in 1954 Cheerios gave away in-box Confederate play-money), it was certainly the most successful.

Related Topics:
2000 - United States Mint - Pennies - Sacagawea - Dollar coin - Numismatics - 1954 - Confederate

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