Cholesterol Crunch
Kellogg is using a clever continuity program to launch Ensemble, its newcholesterol-healthy grain products.
Either that, or Kellogg is using the launch to get into the healthcarebusiness. Or both.
In March, Kellogg bowed the 22-item line in five states, supported byEnsemble Services, a coaching service that links consumers by phone withpersonal trainers to lower cholesterol. Four full-time trainers withhealthcare backgrounds help consumers set diet and exercise changes.Consumers pay $150 for six coaching sessions. Trainers follow up each phoneconversation by mailing more info on fiber, fat, exercise, and weightmanagement.
Kellogg plans to take Ensemble national by year’s end in an estimated $50million to $75 million marketing push. The first leg targets doctors anddietitians. “We want people to hear about this from their doctors,” saysStephen Benoit, president of Ensemble Functional Foods Co., the subsidiaryKellogg set up in late 1996 to develop health foods. Ensemble plans todevelop foods (and services) for other health conditions like diabetes andhigh blood pressure.
Ensemble Services is a classic continuity program from a classic packagedgoods marketer, but with a healthcare twist. “Our first objective ispatient support,” says Benoit. “From a marketing perspective, it looks likea continuity program. But if we provide something valuable to doctors andconsumers, we get doctors’ endorsements, and consumers feel like they getan added value from their doctors. Then it’s worth paying for as ahealthcare service, not just a line item in a marketing budget.”
Kellogg tapped nutrition and behavior management pros to “set thescientific core” of Ensemble Services, then tackled marketing “just as youwould with any new product,” Benoit says. Sudler Hennessy Group, ahealthcare agency owned by Young & Rubicam, handles marketing, along withY&R and sister shop Wunderman Cato Johnson, New York City. Direct mail,video conferencing, and sales calls target docs; print ads and direct mailtarget consumers.
Kellogg chose call service center TeleRx to administer Ensemble Servicesbecause the Merck subsidiary specializes in fielding medical calls fromconsumers. Kellogg worked with TeleRx to hire healthcare pros who can builda quick rapport with callers. Four TeleRx staffers are dedicated full-timeto Ensemble calls. Counselors follow up with program “graduates” once perquarter via mail or phone.
Kellogg set up Ensemble as a separate company to be nimble enough to get tomarket faster than the 90-year-old behemoth could. The products and serviceare different enough from Kellogg’s base business to work better outsideday-to-day operations, Benoit explains.
Kellogg needs a home run. Sales for 1998 were down one percent to $6.76billion, and new-product performance has been weak. Kellogg restructuredlate last year to cut costs and jump-start product introductions. CarlosGutierrez replaced longtime ceo Arnold Langbo in April, and Kellogglaunched K-Sentials fortified cereals for kids and Country Inn Specialties.Ensemble lets Kellogg branch into new day parts, and Ensemble Servicescould serve as a marketing model for other launches – if that’s what thedoctor ordered.
Functional foods – items with some health benefit, like antioxidants orsoluble fiber – are expected to become a $30 billion to $40 billionbusiness by 2010.
In 10 years, experts predict that half of all foods in supermarkets will befunctional foods.
Kellogg isn’t the first to develop a health-based continuity campaign.Schering Oncology Biotech won acclaim for a 1997 “Crossing Bridges” programthat kept chemo patients from quitting a rigorous yearlong treatment. DuganValva Contess, Morristown, NJ, handled.
