Alpen looks to ‘wake sleeping giant’ and take muesli mainstream in marketing push

The ad will be supported by a PR campaign and a complete redesign of the brand’s cereal packaging to reflect a “more positive, modern view of health” with nutrition information more clearly communicated on the front of the pack.

It is also an effort to tap into the influence of busy mum Holden to push the brand as a “trusted” nutritious start to the day amid other cereals that often have high sugar content.

Alex Murphy, Alpen’s senior brand manager, told Marketing Week that the brand has seen a rise in the number of consumers looking for healthy breakfast solutions, but that muesli has rarely been seen as a “credible alternative” to porridge.

“Muesli is a sleeping giant in the breakfast cereal market,” he said. “We want to make muesli mainstream and relevant to the audience.”

He added: “Amanda is a brilliant fit for what we’re trying to do as a brand, and she make us more mainstream and relevant in the modern day healthy consumer mind set.”

In the past the brand has focused on the product and its ingredients in its marketing, according to Murphy. The new campaign is a move to showcase “a real confidence in our products” and shift the brand to reflect “how people are in a modern day world looking for breakfast”.

In order to target this group of consumers looking for healthy choices, the brand is targeting an attitude, not a demographic or age, which Murphy calls an “old school” tactic.

“There is a group of consumers who share the same attitude – they reach a certain point in their lives where they look at what they’re doing in everyday life and the small, smart choices they can make,” he added.

Alpen has grown its value by 2% in the muesli category so far in 2015 according to Murphy while the category has declined by 3%. Its volume has also grown by 8% while the category has remained relatively flat at 1% growth.

“We’re performing well in a historically tough category,” he added. “The challenge is to raise the profile of the muesli category but also the role Alpen plays within that.”

The campaign is the biggest investment in the Alpen brand in years, spend that is set to continue.

“It’s not a one year, one hit campaign,” he added. “It’s sustained investment backing the brand and driving it forward over the next five, 10 or 20 years.

“Our long term vision is to help people across the nation wake up to positive nutrition in the morning. Muesli as a category, and particularly Alpen, is different to what’s out there and we want as many people to be attracted to it as possible.”