Product Spotlight: SpongeBob conquers animal crackers

Insights

Cookies are about the brand, secret recipes, maybe extras in the cookies … moist, chewy, melt in your mouth chips, fresh out of the oven. They are as much about making them with your mom or grandmother as about eating them, ideally straight from the oven.

Our Crave It! database innovatively integrates 30 conjoint studies to generate a database that can be used to understand the experience of foods (from product, situation, emotions, and brands/ benefits) in the marketplace.

The key attributes of cookies are taste, texture and aroma. They are a snack that can take us back to a memory from childhood. Cookies tend to be consumed after lunch, mid-afternoon or late evening.

Key trends are healthfulness and the opposing trend of indulgence.

Healthfulness: Manufacturers in the cookie category have faced a number of nutrition issues concerning carbohydrates, calories, trans fatty acids and obesity. These issues helped to contribute to sales declines in both dollar and unit sales.

Indulgence: Pleasure is important in this busy world. We have seen many products focused on healthy aspects, but the pleasure of indulgent cookies is still a strong trend. Consumers use sweet carbohydrate-based snacks to deal with the stress and chaos in their world.

The experience

Keebler SpongeBob SquarePants Animal Crackers are available in a 13-oz. stand-up bag selling for $2.99. The bag is bright with the colors of the SpongeBob character and the world he lives in under the sea. The brand logo is “Animals” in bright white on black. The SpongeBob image is large and very friendly, almost saying “hello.” A couple of crackers are shown on the bag, so gatekeeper mom can figure out what is really inside.

Flavor (aroma and by mouth), texture and appearance are critical to the perception of quality in cookies. The flavor is the bland comforting flavor of a sweet, faintly vanilla cookie. The texture is dense and melts in your mouth, not rapidly but fast enough. The appearance is a definitive version of SpongeBob and his friends. The cookie leaves very tiny bits of cookie on your fingers that you either lick or wipe off. Licking is better. SpongeBob’s image is more crisp and clean than that of other animal crackers.

Fascinating understanding: In order to create a fast version of an image, 8 years ago, Nabisco utilized an Imaging Lab (all researchers involved were sworn to not talk about the technology, so Nabisco could get up the learning curve very quickly, before other competitors could gain access to the technology). Think of it as PhotoShop on steroids.

A development team could meet in the Imaging Lab (set up to be a creative location), create images on the computer with marketing, product development and operations team members inputting the issues they could foresee (i.e. how would future promotions be built in, how would the formulation react, and might there be yield issues upon baking?). This was done in a 2-hour session. Images were created and shown to consumers. The consumer chosen images were overnighted to Nickelodeon for approval. When approval was given the next day, the PhotoShop image was sent to the die manufacturer, to create the new die insert.

This took what was previously a 9-month process and reduced it to 8 weeks. This vision appears to be realized with SpongeBob for Kellogg/Keebler.

Our taste testers felt this cookie had a good flavor, a good image and enabled the kids to create imaginative play with the products. While other animal crackers have different bases and some flavor coatings, the imaginative play options with SpongeBob was the key comment every time.

Does the product deliver?

This brand is about goodness, wholesomeness and fun. The licensed character fits all these goals. (If you haven’t seen or heard SpongeBob, check him out on TV some time.) The cookie’s flavor, texture and image do not get in the way of this fun.

Older consumers felt they could easily consume the animal crackers with their kids, so many gatekeeper moms felt is was a good product that would fill the need for a snack. Teens were able to have an edgier character and still be taken back to the comforts of childhood play.

How to make the idea bigger

What a great character! When compared to other animal characters, this one plays for all age groups. One way to make this bigger is to continue to use the flavor and texture to not get in the way of the play value. Other shapes and images can be created to generate more imaginative play. Games could be added on the back of the stand-up bag.

With consumers (at least their parents) focusing on healthfulness, generating a line extension that uses a base formulation that is perceived to be healthier would be an opportunity. Keebler has figured out the licensed character game, now it needs to figure out how to maximize its play value and its financial value to the company.

Rating: The product delivers on all the promises.

Market Potential: Good for the line. It may help the category keep its head above water with a character that is more up-to-date than animals.