General Mills cooks up a diet plan


By JANET ADAMY
Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - Page B11

The company that's home to Cheerios, Yoplait and Betty Crocker wants to repackage itself as a weight-loss guru.

General Mills Inc. plans to announce today the launch of a comprehensive weight management campaign that features food from all 80 of its brands. The program, dubbed Brand New You, is designed to help people lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks by creating customized meals and exercise regimens for people who register on a company website. General Mills said it's the most comprehensive health-oriented campaign in the company's 138-year history.

General Mills plans to kick off the campaign, developed in-house, by placing stand-alone ads in major newspapers nationwide for three Sundays in January, the peak of the diet season. The company won't disclose its budget for the campaign but says it also will distribute coupons and food samples in 6,000 supermarkets.

Food makers have long touted the slimming benefits of their healthiest products. But in recent years they've taken it a step further by holding customers' hands to ensure they actually lose weight eating their offerings. Such campaigns allow food companies to design targeted pitches that are more direct than traditional forms of advertising.

To participate in the General Mills program, customers are asked to detail their cooking habits by listing how many dinners they prepare at home each week and what types of recipes they want to receive. Those kinds of in-depth consumer behaviour data typically come through focus groups or costly home-observation studies. With customers' e-mail addresses, General Mills can drop coupons directly into participants' inboxes.

The campaign is targeted toward mothers in their 30s. Experts will create the weight-loss plans based on consumers' body mass index, a metric that gauges body fat, calculated using height and weight information they submit to the website. Recipes include items such as spicy Asian lettuce wraps and caramelized pork slices and won't be limited to General Mills brands.

"There is a strong consumer need to find healthy solutions," says Mark Addicks, chief marketing officer for Minneapolis-based General Mills.

The company doesn't plan to play down its more indulgent lines, such as Betty Crocker baking mixes. "This is very much about moderation," Mr. Addicks says.

Food advertising campaigns focused on less visible health benefits such as heart disease prevention have had limited success, says John Stanton, a professor of food marketing at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Health claims also fall under strict regulatory guidelines. But those that promise weight loss tap into the American obsession with diets.

General Mills started its weight-loss program a year ago as an in-house initiative to help employees trim pounds. When Mr. Addicks lost 22 pounds on the plan, his team decided to broaden it into an advertising campaign using customers. The 500 workers who participated lost a combined total of 2,990 pounds, according to General Mills.

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