Touch points of "healthy cereals"

Today, we have decided to go directly on the field to see how healthy cereals, more particularly Fitness and Special K are promoted in-store. So, we went to Carrefour Antibes to get real insights of the different touch points.

The first thing to notice is that cereals are mainly sold in supermarkets, in large-scale distribution such as Carrefour, Casino or Leclerc. It is quite logical for a food product which is part of the "feeding routine" of a substantial number of French people.

The first thing we note when we arrived in the cereals aisle is that around 20% of the total surface of the aisle were displaying "healthy cereals". By "healthy cereals", we mean cereals that are sold as being good for your shape and helping you to keep fit.

In the shelves, if we have a look on the "healthy cereals targetting women", we can see clearly the repartition which is made between the different products.

As you can see, 10% are dedicated to the distributor brand: Carrefour Stylesse & Carrefour Form. 

Another interesting point is that these two kinds of products are located exactly at the level of the customers' eyes. 

In fact, it is not unusual to see that distributors put their own products forward in order to benefit from the best exposition and so to multiply their chances to sell their products rather than Special K or Fitness. According to merchandising rules, the placement at the eye level is the best one: when the customer is stading up, his eyes immediately look at the products put at this place. 

As we can also notice, the different kinds of cereals are stored according to their brands and then according to their ingredients: red berries, milk chocolate or honey and nuts...

Let's have a look at the different packaging.

Firstly, we can easily identify the brand to which each pack belongs to. Fitness and Special K have placed their logo in the middle of the pack while Carrefour has put it on the upper part.

Then, there is a common "motto" on these three packagings: the figure of a thin and very deminine woman. However, the three brands have their own way to deal with this common pattern. Fitness and Carrefour are dealing with it quite the same way: we easily recognize the figue of a woman, raising her arms and feeling good. With Special K, it is much more subtle: the "healthy" part of the product is suggested through the movement on the right part of the pack. It evokes the curve drawn by the woman waist.

Generally speaking, the packaging which has the largest number of elements on it is the one of the distributor brand. It reflects the positioning of the distributor which is a bit messy compared to Fitness or Special K. You can get the brand logo, the taste, the figure, the size content, the RDA, pictures of ingredients, a spoon with the product, a blue Carrefour label and the name of the range product "Form". In other words, you can find eveything you want. For Special K, things are really different: the overall look is much more refined and elegant.

If we have a look at the reading sense of the visual/wording on the packaging, we note that Special K is delivering this specific message to every customer that looks at it: "Special K is offering you to get a good body shape and keep fit, eating cereals made of wheat and red berries". This virtuous circle is the perfect answer to your need. Even if you are not really aware of this message, it is what your eyes and your brain are recording, watching at this packaging. 

It is all about subliminal messages...isn't it the point of any effective visual?