Malt-O-Meal cold cereal is being trotted out in a new marketing campaign that includes TV, a medium the budget brand's owner doesn't often use.
Plus, Lakeville-based MOM Brands will be adding two new cereals to its Malt-O-Meal lineup: S'mores and Peanut Butter Colossal Crunch.
In the ready-to-eat cereal business, Malt-O-Meal is known for its knock-offs of major brands. For example, Peanut Butter Colossal Crunch resembles Quaker Foods' Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch.
With such a strategy, Malt-O-Meal can essentially piggyback off the advertisements of major brands.
Indeed, Malt-O-Meal didn't do any TV advertising from 2006 until the third and fourth quarters of 2013. And the 2013 TV campaign was in 15 markets, whereas the new campaign is national.
Malt-O-Meal's new 30-second TV spot features the brand's cereals being taste tested by a panel of kids. The ad will run for 26 weeks on network and cable channels, including during the morning news and prime time.
The new Malt-O-Meal campaign will also include digital and social media,.
"While Malt-O-Meal brand cereals have very high consumer loyalty, they have low consumer awareness," Linda Fisher, a Malt-O-Meal spokeswoman said in an e-mail to the Star Tribune.
The new campaign has been in the works for months, well before MOM Brands announced on Jan. 26 that it will be acquired by Post Foods for $1.15 billion.
