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Running Head: GENERAL MILLS 1
Soggy Sales: Insight into General Mills’ Decline Among Millennials
Jack Parrish, Molly Swanson, Laurabeth Givens and Grace Fabyan
Auburn University
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Table of Contents Executive Summary………………………………...…………………………………...….……3-4 Literature Review..……………………………………………………………………...….….... 5-7 Media Analysis…..………………………………….............................................................8-14 Methodology....…..…………………………………................................................15-16 Results/Recommendations…………………….……................................................17-19 Appendices…………………………………………….............................................20-37 Bibliography…………………………………………...............................................38-40
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Executive Summary
General Mills, Inc. is a U.S.-based food manufacturer that features dozens of brands,
product lines and employs thousands of people. While the company is behind many beloved food
brands, it might be best known for its cereals. Creator of Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast
Crunch, Trix and more, General Mills produces many of America’s best-loved cereal products.
However, cereal sales have declined in recent years. People, especially millennials and college
students, simply are not consuming General Mills’ cereal like they used to (Tuttle, 2016).
To learn why sales are down among college students, we analyzed the company’s cereal-
based social media accounts over the course of several weeks, conducting a SWOT analysis of
their digital marketing efforts. We examined previous research in a comprehensive literature
review; later we conducted our own research: distributing and analyzing a comprehensive survey
on social media for college students between the ages of 18-24.
Through our literature review and survey of 82 college students, we found that most
students do not eat cereal for breakfast. In fact, many students hardly eat breakfast at all, with 43
percent of our sample eating breakfast two days per week or even less often. Only 18 percent of
students reported eating breakfast 6-7 days per week.
And for those respondents that do report eating breakfast, they reportedly prioritize low-
calorie and low-sugar options. And they do not seem to care much about prep time, as it was the
second-to-last reported priority for the sample. These findings matched our literature review, and
it makes sense: if you care about your food’s nutritious content, and you do not care about the
prep time, then you probably will not eat sugary cereal for breakfast.
For those reasons, we recommend that General Mills respond by promoting the health
benefits of breakfast. They should increase their post frequency on social media, occasionally
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sharing links to articles promoting the benefits of a healthy breakfast. Elsewhere, they should
consider running a series of commercials or digital ads about breakfast’s importance. Or maybe
they could fund more scientific research into breakfast benefits. Outside of the digital realm, they
should continue to produce healthier cereals with better ingredients, fewer calories and less
sugar.
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Literature Review
Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River just a year after the Civil War,
Cadwallader Washburn’s mills quickly became some of the largest in the country. More than 150
years later, the company now known as General Mills continues to grow. While best known for
their cereal products, General Mills owns many familiar brands including Yoplait, Betty
Crocker, Pillsbury and more.
Even as cereal continues to decline in today’s breakfast market (Tuttle, 2016), General
Mills’ stock has consistently increased in value, rising from $15.18 per share in 2000 to an
impressive $55.95 today (“Historical Stock,” 2015). But the situation could be better. In 2016,
stock prices peaked at $72.45 per share and have generally declined since (“Historical Stock,”
2015). Additionally, the company has noted declining net sales for the past three straight years
(“Net Sales,” 2017).
The Problem
As food markets increasingly migrate toward clean, healthy eating, with an emphasis on
organic foods and lower sugar intakes, General Mills has struggled to keep pace. Its traditional
offerings of processed, sugary foods have failed to connect with customers, particularly with
millennials, who also often find themselves skipping breakfast. Through research, we have
discovered several resources which further validate and emphasize this downward trend.
Secondary Research
According to research conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, organic
foods are becoming more popular, accounting for 4 percent of all US food sales in 2012, and are
continuing to grow (Greene, 2017). A small caveat, though, the USDA does not maintain organic
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sales figures, so they rely on industry sources like the Nutrition Business Journal for their data
(Greene, 2017).
A survey conducted by Elizabeth Watts, a student studying marketing at the University of
Arizona, examined whether college students still enjoy eating the same cereals they loved as
children. Out of her sample of 256 respondents, 96 percent of which were millennials, she found
that roughly 35 percent had changed their favorite cereals since childhood. Instead, they now
leaned toward healthier or less sugary cereals in lieu of the highly processed and sugary cereals
of their youth (Watts, 2015).
The survey also noted that only half of respondents eat breakfast daily, and roughly 46
percent of the 590 responses to a check-all-that-apply question said that they would eat more
cereal if it contained less sugar. Admittedly, Watt’s sample size skewed slightly toward women
(68 percent), but the findings otherwise look solid (Watts, 2015).
Another study examined whether US children were eating breakfast. The study reviewed
the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which showed that “20
percent of 9-13-year-olds and 32 percent of 14-18-year-olds did not eat breakfast” (Deshmukh-
Taskar, Nicklas, Oneil, Keast, Radcliffe, & Cho, 2010). The study surveyed nearly 10,000
children and teenagers, a robust sample size. Other studies reviewed reported that children and
adolescents were increasingly skipping breakfast (Nicklas, Morales, Linares, Yang, Baranowski,
Moor, & Berenson, 2004). These kids, just over a decade later, are college students and young
adults today. And it appears they still skip breakfast, cutting into one of General Mills’ primary
markets.
Elsewhere, students at Campbell University conducted another survey of 197
undergraduate college students, asking about their breakfast habits. They discovered that only 25
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percent of the students interviewed ate breakfast every day, and 27 percent ate breakfast 0-2 days
per week. The students were all between the ages of 18-40 and attended a rural, private
institution (Wells, 2016).
Analysis and Interpretation
These studies show that for many millennials, breakfast is certainly not the most
important meal of the day. Instead, a surprising percentage of them are skipping the meal
entirely. Others are avoiding the traditional sugary, processed foods for health reasons. That said,
research on the subject was surprisingly hard to find. While the research discussed here does
indicate that many are skipping breakfast, we would like to see more research targeting
millennials to see if modifying the ingredients in cereals might increase their cereal consumption.
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Media Analysis
General Mills’ purpose is to “serve the world by making food people love” (General
Mills, 2018). By specializing in cereals, snacks, yogurt, convenience meals and more, it earned
more than $15.6 billion in net sales for 2017. Cereal comprises nearly 17 percent of its products.
General Mills’ two joint ventures, Cereal Partners Worldwide and Häagen-Dazs, are included in
its global sales in addition to its retail offerings.
In recent years it has expanded its brand to include philanthropic ventures. General Mills
works to strengthen local communities, increase food security and advance sustainable
agriculture. To reach its publics digitally, General Mills use its website, Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, SoundCloud and blogs.
Each of these accounts help the company maintain a constant online presence. As a large
corporation, many of its brands, divisions and products have their own accounts, making it
difficult to measure the company’s overall social media impact. We focused on the General Mills
cereal accounts.
Methodology
General Mills communicates through a diverse set of social media accounts in addition to
its traditional forms of messaging. Ranging from Facebook to YouTube, these digital platforms
offer the company a way to connect directly with its customers. We examined social media
content created throughout the month of March 2018, although we looked back further to
confirm trends. For traditional media, we looked for notable ads and commercials created since
2010.
On its cereal-focused Facebook page, the company has amassed more than 675,000 likes
(General Mills Cereal). Posting a few times each week, General Mills uses the page to highlight
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its products and relevant holidays. Each post includes a bright, attractive photo, and they are
generally short posts. The posts receive an average of 359 likes, although a few surpass 1,000
and others barely get 50. The disparity is likely caused by Facebook’s algorithms.
On Twitter, the company actually has two verified cereal accounts @GenMillsCereal and
@HelloCereal. The second appears to be more popular with 18.4k followers, and no-one has
posted to the @GenMillsCereal account in months. On @HelloCereal, the company posts every
few days, similar to their Facebook account (Account, G.M.).
The posts are very upbeat, filled with emojis and bright photos. It’s similar content to
their Facebook page, but the engagement is far lower. Many of the company’s specific brands
also have their own social media accounts, some with more followers than the main brand, and
the @HelloCereal account will occasionally retweet these.
General Mills has more than 7,100 followers on its @GeneralMillsCereal Instagram
account, and it posts every few days. The photos in each post are the same as the photos posted
to Twitter, and many of the captions match as well.
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Elsewhere, the company’s website is full of relevant information, including news
releases, blogs, webcasts and even stock prices.
The blog posts are posted every few days, primarily featuring the stories of people and
organizations that work with General Mills. The company reposts the content on its main
@GeneralMills accounts.
The company routinely creates commercials nationwide that are well-produced and
popular. Its 2014 Cheerios commercial, which features a biracial family, gained national
attention for its positive, diverse message (Zucker).
S.W.O.T. Analysis
The company offers a variety of products ranging from cereals to desserts. Some of the
top-selling General Mills brands are Pillsbury, Haagen-Dazs, Cheerios, and Betty Crocker. The
company distributes its products to more than 100 countries worldwide, creating a recognizable
and international brand.
General Mills are one of the most recognizable food processing brands on the market,
largely because of their top-selling brands and consistent advertising. For example: when
someone says “Pillsbury,” your first thought may be “doughboy” because of your familiarity
with General Mills’ branding. Fresh, appealing mascots appeal to kids, guaranteeing General
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Mills a spot at the American breakfast table. People associate their brands with fond memories,
continuing to purchase even into adulthood. This helps the brand stay relevant.
Their social media accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers, allowing General
Mills to reach much of their audience directly. The company’s resources allow it to invest in
social media marketing, and General Mills are open to trying new channels (like SoundCloud), a
must in today’s marketing world.
However, the company struggles to interact with its audience on social media, especially
on Facebook. Content is only posted a few times per week, and the posts look the same across
platforms. They do not engage well with their audience, especially considering their number of
followers.
Going forward, we think General Mills has an opportunity to gain more followers by
improving their content. A stronger cross-platform social media presence should substantially
improve general communication with their publics. By posting excellent content more often,
General Mills could improve both its followers and its messaging.
Competitors, such as Kellogg Company, Kraft Foods, etc. threaten General Mills by
splitting its target audience and customers by offering similar products. And as other companies
(like Wendy’s and Moon-Pie) become more social-media savvy, General Mills might be left
behind. The rising popularity of health-food markets might also negatively affect General Mills,
as sugary, processed foods become less popular.
Media Results and Recommendations
After assessing General Mills' primary communication methods, we saw that the
company executes its mission statement through media in two ways: the channels it
communicates through and the messages that it shares on those channels. The organization meets
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its five goals through the way it communicates through its various media channels. While the
messaging is on-brand, we recommend posting more often. Three times a week on every
platform is simply not enough in 2018. At least one post a day on each platform is ideal. Creating
a content calendar and using a social media scheduler such as Hootsuite would help with
organization and make this task more approachable.
General Mills uses social media to stay in constant communication with its target
audience. Today, social media attracts more traffic than traditional media and allows for greater
customer interaction and creativity on the organization’s part. With this in mind, we found that
General Mills is using the best channels to spread its message and stay connected with its
audience, but it should strengthen the actual content.
The posts on the General Mills social media accounts frequently celebrate General Mills'
employees and highlight the company's philanthropic efforts, which perfectly aligns with its
goals to put people first and to treat the world with care. This adds a human element to large-
scale communication, which can be difficult to do for such an enormous company. The cereal-
based accounts feature bright, attractive photos and high-energy captions, which helps them
stand out.
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We recommend that General Mills work to improve their interactions on Instagram,
Facebook and Twitter. For example, having a contest for customers to choose from existing
General Mills cereals and create a cereal mashup of their choice. The winning idea would be
manufactured and sold for a limited time. Instagram followers could vote on which cereal
mashup they would like to see produced through the story tool on Instagram. A quick poll that is
easy to create and quick to respond to as a consumer can be added to the company’s Instagram
story. This would push them toward their goal to build a culture of creating and could increase
traffic across all of their social media platforms.
Per our findings, the company should continue to invest in traditional forms of
communication. Nowadays, this may be easily overlooked, but it can still reach General Mills'
audience. Generally, people respond emotionally more to physical, tactile objects. We believe
would it would greatly impact people to receive something in the mail from General Mills that
could not be disregarded as junk mail but would serve as a reminder of what they loved about
General Mills products in the past. This would greatly increase customer surprise and delight and
could result in that customer going out and purchasing a General Mills cereal that they have not
had in a long time. Cereal is something that is exciting and nostalgic for many people, and a
tactic such as this would play on that.
Overall, General Mills does a fantastic job of staying true to its core values and
communicating those values through its media channels. It excellently designs its messaging to
be people-focused and creative. Our recommendations would help an already incredible
organization to reach people on a more personal level.
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Research Methodology
Our research was conducted using Qualtrics, an online tool where we created a survey
that was then shared via Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. The survey was specifically targeted
for college students between the ages of 18 to 24. Creating the survey through Qualtrics enabled
the participants to remain anonymous throughout the surveying process.
The survey contained several different types of research questions including screener,
scale, open-ended and demographic. Our survey was divided into four sections to assess the
participant’s attitude towards General Mills and their cereal brands.
The survey began with an introduction to inform participants about our intentions of the
data collected with this survey, as well as who we are. After the student agreed to take the
survey, they were directed to the first part of the survey containing two screener questions which
asked if the participant is currently a student at a four-year university and if they are between the
ages of 18 and 24. If the participant answered yes to both of these questions, they were then
directed to the second part of the survey.
In the second portion, we assessed the student’s opinion towards General Mills cereals as
well as their cereal-eating habits. The questions asked here were all questions of scale. The first
question asked the student to rank how likely they are to purchase one of General Mills’ cereals.
The ranking scale ranged from “extremely unlikely to extremely likely”. The student was also
provided with a link to a full list of General Mills cereal for reference. The next few questions
asked the participant about their cereal-eating habits. One of these questions assessed how often
the student eats cereal for breakfast. The last few questions of this section were to assess how
often the student uses social media, the internet and television so we could gauge the most
effective marketing platform.
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After completing this portion of the survey, the third section further surveyed the
participant’s cereal-eating habits by using open-ended questions. The first two asked what
cereals the student ate as a child and if their cereal preferences have changed since their
childhood. The last question asked if they consider cereal to be a valid snack and why.
The final section of the survey obtained demographic information from the participant.
We assessed the student’s gender, race, living situation regarding on or off-campus housing and
how much they typically spend on groceries.
Through the use of these different questions, we gathered valuable data that aid us in
constructing the best plan of action to better engage General Mills with the college student
community.
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Results
With 82 responses to our survey, we had ample information to understand the attitudes
and purchasing behavior that college students have toward General Mills cereal. When asked
what influenced buying habits, 40.3% said that calorie count was the biggest purchase driver
when choosing a cereal. Which lined up with the open-ended question that asked respondents if
their childhood cereal preferences have changed. Many indicated that as they got older they
preferred healthy cereal over sugary ones. 51% said they never eat cereal for breakfast, but 47%
of respondents said they eat cereal at times other than breakfast. Watching TV was also ranked at
the highest daily use of media among 18-24-year-olds, coming in second was social media. This
helped us see which platforms would be most effective as marketing and advertising channels.
Of all of these respondents, 94% of them live off campus, which let us know that they probably
have easier access to the grocery store.
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Recommendations After examining the results, we have conclude that General Mills should increase its
efforts in participating in the health-food trends their customers are chasing. Beyond this, we
suggest that General Mills promote the current health benefits of breakfast. The vast majority of
people surveyed responded by listing health and caloric elements as a top priority when choosing
and purchasing a breakfast cereal. By focusing on ensuring and promoting this criterion that
General Mills customers desire, the company can reverse the declination of sales.
Because General Mills is a company that appeals to all ages starting in childhood, it is a
brand that is already well known and trusted. The majority of adults more than likely have a
personal connection to the brand or a specific breakfast cereal because of how much they
enjoyed their products during childhood. Bringing them back to the brand by appealing to their
evolved preferences in breakfast food is achievable by sharing messages with them through
media platforms that they already spend time on. Offering a low-sugar version of an old classic,
such as Lucky Charms, and advertising that on social media would accomplish this. Also,
posting frequently about the healthier cereals already offered, such as Fiber One, would help.
Another way to promote the health benefits of eating breakfast would be to increase post
frequency on social media and to periodically share links to articles promoting the benefits of
starting your day with a healthy breakfast. The majority of our respondents answered they spend
up to three hours a day on social media, so creating attention-grabbing content on these platforms
would be a great way to attract this audience to the intended message. General Mills has an
advantage here because of its already strong presence on Facebook, multiple Twitter accounts, as
well as a strong Instagram followership.
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Another suggestion General Mills may consider would be to take advantage of YouTube
video content as well. Perhaps creating a mini-series on how their cereals are made with a focus
on prioritizing the customers’ feeling as if they are behind-the-scenes and are aware of what is
being put in their favorite cereals, and then put into their bodies. This would also provide more
social media content pertaining to health consciousness.
Running a series of commercials or digital advertisements of the importance of
eating breakfast would benefit the company for a multitude of reasons. Creating content for
television as well as the internet will spread the message most efficiently, reaching as large of an
audience as possible.
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Appendix
Question 2: Are you currently enrolled as a student at a four-year university?
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Question 3: Are you between the ages of 18-24?
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Question 4: On a scale of 1-7, how likely are you to purchase one of General Mills’ cereal products in the next month?
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Question 5: Drag and drop the following cereal brands into the categories below based on how you feel about them. (Lower number is more favorable).
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Question 6: Which factor most heavily influences your breakfast choice? Rank the following, 1 being the greatest influence and 6 being the least.
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Question 7: How often do you eat breakfast?
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Question 8: How often do you eat cereal for breakfast?
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Question 9: How often do you eat cereal for meals other than breakfast?
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Question 10: How often did you eat cereal as a child? (under age 12)
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Question 11: If you have a roommate, or roommates, how often do you believe they eat breakfast?
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Question 12: How many hours a day do you spend on each of these media platforms?
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Question 13: As a child, what were your favorite cereals?
Below you will find a word cloud created in Qualtrics. This shows the most common responses.
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Question 14: Have your cereal preferences changed since childhood?
21 people said yes
40 said no
4 said slightly or somewhat
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Question 15: Do you consider cereal to be a valid snack? Why or why not?
Here are some example responses:
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Question 16: How much money do you spend on food and groceries each month?
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Question 17: Describe your living location as pertaining to this question.
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Question 18: Please select the gender you identify with.
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Question 19: Describe your ethnicity.
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