Weetabix protein promotes healthy breakfast trend

Weetabix is promoting its low fat, sugar and salt content on-pack with all-green traffic lights on packs of Weetabix Original and Weetabix Protein.

The brand is now one of the few cereals to promote its nutritional content in this way.

Francesca Davies, head of category for Weetabix, said the volume of cereal sold is flat and value sales are declining, indicating that customers are valuing cereal less.

“The key way to drive the cereals category forward is to focus on health as 30% of shoppers have switched to lower-sugar cereals in the past year,” she added.

Children aged five to 15 are consuming 15% less cereal year on year as parents become increasingly aware of the negative effects of sugar. The brand hopes the move to more transparent nutritional guidelines will bring these consumers back into the category.

Kevin Verbruggen, head of brand at Weetabix, said: “These concerns are being reflected in consumers purchasing choices as higher-sugar cereals face a decline in sales, while Weetabix sales have grown £2m this year to date.”

Weetabix will roll out the traffic lights on its full range of cereal in the next few months.

Rachel Kay, shopper marketing manager for Weetabix, said: “The new packs will help retailers offer a healthy alternative.”