Outperforming the competition, Cinnamon Toast Crunch achieved its largest market share in six years following the launch of a bold, new multi-dimensional brand platform.
The cereal has been a staple of US breakfasts for 35 years, but in a declining category its key competitor had nudged ahead in the market. General Mills wanted to differentiate through design to reassert its iconic brand’s leadership.
Launched in June 2019, a dynamic, consumer-facing creative platform designed by Pearlfisher helped Cinnamon Toast Crunch overtake the competition and become the fastest growing kids’ cereal brand in 2020. Targeted at Tweens, the expansive new platform and brand world amplify in-real-life and multi-sensory engagement experiences through an exciting new ‘Cinnaverse’.
Opening up a world of interaction across packaging, social, website, print and digital media, the new assets have driven salience and standout, helping Cinnamon Toast Crunch to reign supreme again and grow the market. Between June 2019 to June 2020 the brand represented 12% of ready-to-eat cereal growth and the category went from being in decline to +5.7% dollar volume.
Encouraging fans to creatively use Cinnamon Toast Crunch to generate their own content has elevated the brand to a Tween’s cereal dream, and created a new social currency promoting the brand across channels. Leading the market again, the cereal has continued to grow share into 2021 post-lockdown; it gained +0.32pp share in 2021 compared to its key competitor’s -0.44pp loss.
