As if the Betty Crocker brand doesn’t generate enough fruit-snacks business, its parent General Mills has latched on to Pokemon as a new banner in that category.
The new Pokemon fruit roll-ups will probably hit the market no later than early next year, insiders report.
Licensing arrangements with this Nintendo video game have mushroomed– more than 100 by a late count–and more are likely in the future, as firms seek to capitalize on a toy well-accepted by youngsters.
Big G, a trade name for Minneapolis-based General Mills, also has been rumored to be interested in marketing a Pokemon cereal. Ditto Quaker Oats Co. But a General Mills spokesman denied a Pokemon cereal was in the works. And Quaker said it wasn’t involved in a bidding competition for a Pokemon cereal.
Latest data from Information Resources Inc. shows Betty Crocker and Big G with more than 50 percent market share with no less than eight brands and/or line extensions of the $450 million-plus fruit-snacks market.
Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-ups is the top individual seller, followed by Betty Crocker Fruit by the Foot (No. 2) and Betty Crocker Gushers (No.3).
Introduction of a Pokemon fruit snack ought to increase media advertising support of General Mills’ fruit snacks, tracked at $13 million in 1998, according to Competitive Media Reporting.
General Mills has been fairly active with licensed cereals–product names based on products in other categories, movie titles and cartoon characters.
Big G’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs is said to be a $40 million-plus annual sales brand, decent but not in the same league as the firm’s well-established regular Cheerios, $360 million in annual volume. Quaker also has had licensed cereals.
The lifespan for a licensed cereal can be short, depending on how long youngsters still dig a character or a video game, in the case of Pokemon.
Anybody remember a presweetened cold cereal under the name Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Or starting out the morning with Ghost Busters, splashed in milk?
Internet for Costello: John Costello, the former Sears, Roebuck & Co. and AutoNation executive, is becoming chief executive officer of a new Internet firm backed by Benchmark Capital in Menlo Park, Calif., sources say. Benchmark also funded Webvan and eBay. A location for Costello’s new Internet operation is still to be determined. Costello still maintains homes in the Chicago area and Florida. Costello, who was in Chicago for a marketing conference earlier this week, couldn’t be reached.
Moore elevates Orscheln: Moore North America, a Lake Forest-based firm, promoted Michael J. Orscheln to vice president of marketing, overseeing the firm’s core business and the health-care and manufacturing segments of the company. Also, David Seabolt was promoted to Midwest ad sales manager at Cooking Light magazine, succeeding Vicki Pelling, who will head up a new custom-publishing division for the parent Southern Progress Corp. This Time Warner Time Inc. subsidiary also publishes Southern Living, Weight Watchers and other magazines as a subsidiary of Time Inc. Other personnel: Jack Woods, a former Y&R Chicago senior VP, to executive search firm DHR International as an executive VP . . . Colleen Nyland to director of the Illinois Restaurant Association Educational Foundation . . . Ann Rubenstein to a senior producer, Jennifer Russo to an associate producer, both at DDB Chicago.
– Publicly held AvalonBay Communities, an Alexandria, Va.-based real-estate investment trust, picked Grant/Jacoby for advertising and public relations, an account with capitalized billing of $2 million. Former Chicagoan Dirk Herrman is VP-chief marketing officer for AvalonBay, which, as of Sept. 30, owned or held interest in 39,000 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia.
– Tempus Group, the London-based parent of Chicago’s CIA-CPM media management firm, acquired The Added Value Group, said to be Europe’s largest marketing consultancy, with fee income in excess of $27 million. This acquisition gives Tempus three units, the others being CIA Medianetwork and Outrider, an interactive operation.
Strictly Personal: Birthday greetings to Richard Roedel, 50 (BDO Seidman); entrepreneur-consultant Marsh Blackburn, 70; Ted Aldrich, 31 (Delaware Place Bank); Catherine B. Simon, 35 (Johnsson Group); Pamela Patneaude, 37 (Club Monaco); Mark Sotir, 36 (Budget Rent a Car); Kendra Cleary, 33; Patti Menconi-Pagni, 32; Philip Greco, 44 (Odeum); consultant Billy W. Siegel, 51; Eric Chernik, 34 (W. W. Grainger); and Tom Kieckhafer, 61 (West Bend).
