Great Starts, Great Stories (Kellogg's, Scholastic and Books for Kids Foundation)
Kellogg’s believes that a great breakfast can help kids get a great start to their day and wanted a way to connect this message to the all-important mom demographic during the highly competitive back-to-school shopping season. Their own internal research revealed that 75% of moms of school-age children indicated “products that offer free books directly to their children would likely or definitely influence their purchase behavior at the grocery store”.
To differentiate their brand in a way that had a positive impact on both consumers and schools Kellogg’s teamed up with Books for Kids Foundation and Scholastic Inc. to create ‘Great Start, Great Stories’. The cause marketing initiative provided moms with a compelling on-pack offer that provided free books for their children and/or the opportunity to donate books to schools in need. This direct-to-consumer donation was a way for Kellogg’s to differentiate its cause marketing from competitors like General Mills’ Box Tops for Education, in which donations were directed to schools.
The back-to-school promotion began at Walmart in June—September of 2011 and was rolled out to all retailers nationally for the 2013 season. Consumers had a choice to either redeem codes for free book(s) for their families, or donate their earned books to a school in need. Kellogg’s and Scholastic teamed up with the Books for Kids Foundation to distribute the donated books.
As of January 2014, 420,000 books have been delivered into homes, resulting in a program participation over 3 times original estimates with more than 1.4 million product codes entered. Of those participants, 64% are new to the Kellogg’s Family Rewards Program.
At Walmart, where the program originated, consumers redeemed more than double the amount of books vs. the prior year.
In addition, 50,000 books were delivered to the Books for Kids Foundation to distribute to more than 20 schools in need and family literacy events hosted on behalf of the program served more than 1,000 children and families.