There's an interesting lesson to be learned about business and oversaturation in your brand, looking at the General Mills Monsters. You mostly hear about Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry. But there is/was also Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy. Fruit Brute was introduced in 1974. And discontinued in 1982. But Fruit Brute was well and truly irrelevant before then, as evidenced by this flexi record. Came out in 1979 and there's no mention of him.
Why? Because 3 is enough mascots. 4 characters and there isn't enough ad time to keep each mascot relevant. On top of that, there are only so many flavors you can give cereal. Case in point, Cocoa & Fruity Pebbles. You've got your fruity cereal, and your milky sweet cereal. Outside of that there isn't much room for variety. And that's doubly so with a marshmallow cereal. How many flavors can cereal come in? Chocolate, Fruit, Honey, Cinnamon, and None. Now how many of those are marshmallow compatible?
EDIT: Also sugar. And whatever Lucky Charms are. I'm guessing Sugar. But that might as well be None.
This is why they eventually kept things simple for a while with just Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry. You've got your chocolate cereal, and the only two kinds of fruit cereal that anyone can even taste the difference between. So generic were Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy that they had to have their flavors reinvented for the re-release. Moral of the story: The scariest monster of all is feature creep. Keep your product simple and commit to it. You'll be proud of what you make.
Why? Because 3 is enough mascots. 4 characters and there isn't enough ad time to keep each mascot relevant. On top of that, there are only so many flavors you can give cereal. Case in point, Cocoa & Fruity Pebbles. You've got your fruity cereal, and your milky sweet cereal. Outside of that there isn't much room for variety. And that's doubly so with a marshmallow cereal. How many flavors can cereal come in? Chocolate, Fruit, Honey, Cinnamon, and None. Now how many of those are marshmallow compatible?
EDIT: Also sugar. And whatever Lucky Charms are. I'm guessing Sugar. But that might as well be None.
This is why they eventually kept things simple for a while with just Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry. You've got your chocolate cereal, and the only two kinds of fruit cereal that anyone can even taste the difference between. So generic were Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy that they had to have their flavors reinvented for the re-release. Moral of the story: The scariest monster of all is feature creep. Keep your product simple and commit to it. You'll be proud of what you make.
Last edited:
