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Great Moments in Kiddie Marketing
Cereal TV - Cap'n Crunch
Created by ad agents and brought to life by Jay Ward (Rocky & Bullwinkle, Quisp) and Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss) in 1963, Cap'n Crunch became the ninth best selling cereal within two years. By 1966 Quaker Oats was test-marketing a line of products including cookies, "munch box" snacks, and a powdered oat flour drink (mmm . . .). Here are a couple of other standard cereal marketing strategies employed by the Cap'n Crunch people: PREMIUMS. aka the "prize" that comes with cereal. Cap'n Crunch had a
slew of them: comic books, treasure chests, banks, plush dolls, membership
clubs, and others. Premiums had come with ready-to-eat cereals practically
since the beginning. As the king of the premium business, Gordon Gold,
put it in 1919: "for the cost of pennies each, you could get a child to
work for you" (beg mom, collect box tops, etc.). Source: Cerealizing America: The Unsweetened Story of American Breakfast
Cereal, by Scott Bruce and Bill Crawford. For more info, see Scott
Bruce's Flake web site.
