If Wheaties were launched today, could it have the same kind of impact on popular culture?
Yes, I believe so, and we may see that coming to us in the future. The fundamentals of Wheaties are about a cereal designed to help athletes perform at their best, which never goes out of style. There are certain elements of any brand that are timeless. When a legacy brand is not performing well, one of the first places we always go back to is the time when the brand and its category were at its peak. Then we ask, what would be the translation of that today? That tends to unlock a lot of growth and good ideas. For example, there was a saying on the original Hamburger Helper package, “one pound, one pan, one happy family.” That was something we brought back into today’s language, and it worked really well. What’s going to become of Hamburger Helper when the recession ends? Hamburger Helper is a great brand and product experience that will continue to do well. There will always be times when your brand really fits the moment and times when it doesn’t fit quite as well. So, you need to fi
