Products and Emotions (Part II)

Sunday, January 27, 2008 16:37

Breakfast Cereals

Post
Post is my all-time favorite cereal. Although slightly more pricey than simpler offerings from Kellogg’s and Nestle, the variety they offer is much more interesting and tastier. The cereal offered also sounds much healthier, more than just a sugar-coated cereal.

Visceral

Its clean and uncomplicated design makes it attractive and interesting. Together with bright and enticing colors, they can stand out easily when put together with all the other brands of cereal with complicated designs and gaudy colors.

Behavioral

It certainly tastes better than other brands such as Kellogg’s and Nestle, but is also significantly more expensive. However, the way they name their flavors do make them sounds a healthier choice and is a nutritional fact.

Reflective

On a deeper level, Post cereal isn’t really all that much different from cereal offered by other brands. It is slightly more expensive with a more enticing packaging. By itself, it doesn’t really tell much more about my eating habits than compared with other brands. Personally, it does make me feel happier eating it though.

Kellogg’s
Kellogg’s is probably one of the oldest and most well-known brands of breakfast cereal. Say Kellogg’s and cereal would probably be the most immediate connection. They also have the largest variety of cereal products, possibly to appeal to all manner of people, most of all the kids.

Visceral

The complicated design detracts from its overall taste. Colors used in most of their packaging are usually not a good color for food-related products either. Also, images used on packaging are also usually unrelated to the actual food inside. It is thus hard to be immediately attracted to this cereal based just on packaging.

Behavioral

It has just as much nutrition than any other cereal might have, although it might also be the most unhealthy. This particular one is really just sugar-coated cereal. However, they do have a much wider range of cereal than most other companies do and are also significantly cheaper. Their usual complement of toys will probably attract more kids to buy it, although that has absolutely nothing to do with food.

Reflective

Eating this cereal leaves me nothing to think about, other than that it’s not the most tasty or nutritious cereal out there. It may leave people with the idea that I’m unconcerned about my food and/or I’m too poor to spend lavishly on breakfast.

Kashi
Organic. Their tagline reads, “Healthy good is good. Great tasting healthy food is better.” Kashi is all about all-natural food products. They are a relatively new company, compared with Kellogg’s and Post, although Kellogg’s did buy them just a few years back. Few people would probably have heard about them by now since organic food and healthy eating isn’t high on people’s minds in Singapore.

Visceral

Very clean and simple design, even more so than Post. Although colors are not as bright and enticing, but they portray a very healthy product. This does make the packaging stand out from other more complicated brands. Also, because the actual food is prominently displayed, with related information easy to find and read, it makes it all the more enticing for the potential buyer.

Behavioral

Very expensive – twice that of Kellogg’s - but being organic, possibly the most healthy of the lot. Boxes are usually smaller than standard sizes and serving sizes will also possibly be smaller. For a simple cereal eater, or people who don’t have the time to enjoy a good breakfast in the mornings, this might be over-the-top.

Reflective

The afterthought would be that I am eating a very healthy meal and that would be a happy and healthy start to the day, assuming I am eating this as breakfast. It also gives off the impression that I am striving for a clean and lean diet.

As far as breakfast cereals and mineral water bottles go, it seems that the more visceral and reflective the product is, the more expensive they are. They also tend to offer more user satisfaction, more than just what the product is meant to do (to quench thirst, or as a breakfast). The only downside is the price. It could perhaps further be observed that buyers of the more visceral and reflective products are those who have a higher-end income and desire more than just a behavioral product.

People now want more than just products that function as they are supposed to. They want the pleasure that comes from using it and being seen using it.

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