Essay, Research Paper: Kellogs Internet Marketing

Kellogg's strategy was to produce a web site provided specific product line and brand information to interested consumers. The page displays particular product descriptions, nutrition information, and recipes. Provided as well are company contacts allowing direct consumer response. Corporation facts and financial statements are also available. The overall goal of these sites are to reinforce the brand images portrayed by the companies' other advertisements, such as, television commercials, radio spots and print advertisement. Kellogg's does this by posting additional information about its products. New products are promoted in this site to entice those familiar with the Kellogg's name into trying new line extensions. Parents, those with illnesses or allergies, and exercise enthusiasts will find nutritional information about their favorite products. The site is easy to navigate through and does not bombard the consumer with overwhelming amounts of information in a cluttered manner. The site is concise and allows the company's messages to be readily absorbed. General Mills produced a web site that has an abundance of company information and hyperlinks to individual product and service pages. Its many product categories, line extensions and brand names allow the company to post diverse information in accordance with the different product positions. It also uses this web site to promote new products. The General Mills web site itself only posts company information, line extensions, news, and online shopping opportunities. The sight's links give access to a variety of information. Parents have the option to explore the Cheerios parent page and educators might be interested in the Box Tops for education program General Mills sponsors. Health conscious consumers would be attracted to Cheerios heart healthy news and kids may check out the "you rule your school" page. The information provided by this site is varying and a dispersed widely over many different web pages. This may be problematic for consumers who are not too familiar with surfing the net. Its broad layout may lead to confusion in finding or difficulty in discovering specific product information. Post Cereal's web site displays health related question and answer forums, product line information, recipes and snack ideas for their cereals. Those looking for new and alternative uses for pre-existing brands. Parents and house-wives may be those specifically targeted. It also attempts to enhance the image of the Post brand overall by providing historical information. This is in an attempt to distinguish the company as on that has established itself and also provides quality products. Those who produced this page may not have taken into consideration the possibility that loyal Post Purchasers may not know that Kraft is Post's parent company and must go through Kraft's web sight to access Post's page. Breakfast cereal is a product that requires little involvement on behalf of the consumer. The customer knows likes and needs and bases his purchasing decisions of them. One consumer may like cereals with a lot of sugar while others may look for those high in fiber. Once a consumer finds a cereal that he/she likes they tend habitually purchase it. Most cereal purchasers have a select few cereals they are partial to and routinely buy them. (Speaking from personal experience) The Web can be used to establish familiarity and allow consumers access to updated product information. Those navigating these product sites are most likely loyal brand buyers and are in search for more information. They are more willing and open to the messages and advertisements displayed by the manufacturers. Loyal customers also are exposed to the company's Web address because it is generally printed on the product labels. This almost forces the habitual buyer to memorize it. The enormity of the Web may lead consumers to become lost or may make finding the site itself difficult. Also not all buyers have access to computers or may be computer illiterate. The Web is a useful tool for keeping old consumers loyal and up to date in regards to their favorite brands. Web pages provide a cost effective means to distribute additional product information. Consumers go to the web site seeking the company's message. It offers a means of direct consumer feedback by encouraging buyers to e-mail their opinion of the brands. It can also be used as a research tool by counting the number of "hits" there are for a particular products web page. This recording my reflect consumer interest in the product. Web masters may find difficulty in making accessibility and navigation simple enough for all users. Exactly what message and information should be posted and consumer awareness of the web site itself may also prove to be obstacles to be overcome by sight producers.

Bibliography
Reprot based on information found at the following web sites: Kelloggs.com Kraft.com Generalmills.com