The PRS Effectiveness Award Winner 2004

Bryan Urbick, director of research at CKC/KidsLink Research, has won the second Prosper Riley-Smith Effectiveness Award for his innovative approach to researching Kellogg’s Froot Loop cereal brand. He shares it with Sarah McDonald from Kellogg’s market research team and Carolina Polo, senior brand manager, based at the company’s headquarters in Battle Creek, USA.

Bryan, asked to determine why sales of the brand were declining, devised an imaginative methodology to assess children’s emotional response to it, working with Kellogg’s market research and brand management team. It combined the use of story completion with in-depth ‘creative’ interviews to encourage children aged between six and ten years old to identify their feelings about the brand. This led to a new style of communication with children that has prompted a considerable turnaround in sales.

"It was a difficult task to identify children’s connection to this brand, but Bryan’s team’s showed real creativity in tackling the challenge and achieved a highly successful end result for his client," says Anne Hastings, who organised the contest and was one of the judges.

Mike Mickunas, Director of Market Research for Kellogg’s USA Morning Foods division comments, "In working with long-standing, well established brands, teams can often fall into the trap of conducting very routine research that only revisits common knowledge. Sarah, Carolina, Bryan and our ad agency team challenged themselves to dig deeper and find a path to more powerful insight. Their effort has paid off in the development of a series of campaigns that further kids’ connection to Froot Loops and grow the brand."

The judges also commended Nick Newell of CML for his work researching ways to reduce crime on-line.