You can laugh if you want to, but some companies actually take the suggestions that they get from their social media feeds pretty seriously. Anyone who has spent any time on social media knows that it can be a place full of nasty comments and irrelevant banter, but it can also be a place that changes the types of products that we find on supermarket shelves as it turns out.
Kellogg’s, the owner of the Pop-Tarts brand, took the comments that it got from social media users very seriously when it rolled out some new flavors of the popular breakfast food. Consumers are constantly barraging Kellogg’s with new flavor ideas for products like this, and the company has listened and responded. They easily could have done what most other companies would have done in the situation that they found themselves in and ignored what the consumer had to say, but they decided to go a different route. Why not actually try it out?
The customers asked for a pretzel-flavored Pop-Tart with a sweet filling inside. That is exactly what they got when Kellogg’s decided to roll out some Pop-Tarts like that. They hit the store shelves, and they have been flying off of those same shelves at a rapid pace. In fact, they have been so popular that the company intends to run a commercial during the Super Bowl to promote them says Adweek.com.
The CEO of the company has stated that this is one of the most successful innovations to a food product in the history of the company. The best part for Kellogg’s? They didn’t have to hire in an expensive team of testers or opinion researchers to figure out what might go over well with the public. Instead, they just listened to the people sending them Facebook messages or tweets and latched on to that.
Not every suggestion from social media is helpful or destined to be the next big thing in food, but there are some good ideas floating around out there that should not be ignored. Kellogg’s happened to be the lucky recipient of this particular idea, but they can come from anywhere, and the chances are pretty good that there will be more ideas like this that are to come. Keep an eye out for those pretzel Pop-Tarts at your local store and buy some if you can. They are so popular that they are hard to come by sometimes.
Dil Bole Oberoi
