How to kill brands (and bring others to life)

The Kellogg’s Company is one of those companies everyone owns a bit of in their kitchen cabinet. When it announced a major branding overhaul in 2012 following a few years of poor performance, we wondered if their first step would be to consolidate their 100+ varieties of ready-to-eat cereal brands. While a large product portfolio could mean broader reach and more options to consumers, it also means heavier advertising costs and less focus overall.

The most obvious way to eliminate a brand fast and cheap is to kill it at once and forget about it altogether. But Kellogg’s shows us there’s a smarter way to do this by transitioning that brand over to another one. This strategy is called brand migration and conceding the time and efforts necessary to phase out a brand are more consequent than with an abrupt kill-off, the perk is that you don’t lose your customers to competitors.

Take Chocos, for example. This brand is quietly being outplaced by another chocolate-flavored brand, Choco Krispies. First Chocos endorses the Choco Krispies name and mascot. This is then flipped around for a while until Coco the monkey sends Chocos the bear to its hibernating spot permanently.

With this commending brand migration, Kellogg’s manages to discontinue a brand, decrease costs, improve focus, and drive up profitability while maintaining the same customer base. Something to raise your cereal bowl to.