Lose an Hour, Win a Waffle

After studying conversations on social media, Kellogg’s Eggo Waffles found that the morning after daylight saving time starts is one of the highest-pressure mornings for parents as they deal with cranky, sleep deprived kids. This in mind, the brand has cooked up a catchy tool and matching campaign to measure (and reward) parental stress during the pandemic.

Dubbed the L’Eggometer, after the waffle brand’s signature “L’eggo my Eggo” slogan, the social listening tool is launched to kick off in line with daylight savings time and includes celebrity spokespeople Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Ingram II, both of whom are parents. Eggo has been working to improve hectic mornings since last January, when it added a variation of its signature tagline: “L’Eggo with Eggo” as a way to diffuse a particularly rowdy toddler tornado. Waffle fans can also take delight in Eggo’s decision to give away a whopping 1 million waffles this year as part of a social media campaign that asks parents to share their maddest, messiest mornings using the hashtag, #helpmeleggo.

Not only has consumer (especially parents) stress skyrocketed since the pandemic began, so have consumer cravings for comfort foods, especially those they may have enjoyed in their childhood. Eggo Waffles fits this narrative perfectly and its new campaign lets longtime fans in particular know that life may change, but you can always have a waffle or pass one on to a whiny kid when needed. Additionally, highlighting the Eggo Waffle name in its campaign and hashtags is an excellent way to spark up branded searches and is a tool that leading labels in Gartner’s Digital IQ Index: Food & Beverages have been leaning into this year to combat getting buried beneath nonbranded results.

Nostalgia has become a go-to marketing tactic for brands of all backgrounds, including Eggo Waffles, which brought back Apple Cinnamon Waffles after fans begged for their return for four years. But while nostalgia is a great way to tap into what makes consumers tick, pinpointing their current pain points adds a new layer of dimension and understanding that can deepen Eggo Waffles’ relationship with its audience and improve its brand recognition as the breakfast space continues to crowd.