Kellogg’s: who invented your breakfast cereal

A thought is started with a breakfast. Thinking of a belief and I believe- a better breakfast makes a better day. Kellogg’s is the first name that homes around the world called for, as the first food of the day. Kellogg’s has become a synonym to breakfast, without which many not boast of starting a healthy day. With a history spanning over a hundred years, Kellogg’s has a rich legacy that’s recalled here. Let’s have a look at the journey of Kellogg’s brand through the century and the story behind a signature that made the big difference to our mornings.

It’s all about inventing

<Inventors of corn-flakes:

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg

Kellogg’s story started with two brothers; Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg (famously called as ‘W.K Kellogg’) belong to Battle Creek, Michigan in United States. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was a practicing physician. Though Will Keith Kellogg lacked a formal education beyond the sixth grade, he was known for his intelligence and inventiveness. They belong to the Seventh Day Adventists Church who preached of having good health through good vegetarian diet and clean living. During 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was the superintendent at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan where Will Keith Kellogg worked as a book-keeper. The Kellogg brothers experimented with different types of grains and breads to create a much healthier diet for the patients admitted in the Battle Creek Sanitarium. They tried to come up with breakfast items more wholesome but easier to digest than the meat which was common for breakfast those days. They experimented with boiling wheat and rolling it into sheets to roast, then grinding it.

One day, after having boiled some wheat for rolling, Will Keith Kellogg accidentally gone away to attend some urgency. After long hours he came back to find that the wheat was already cooked and cooled down, inappropriate to run through rollers. However, instead of throwing it into garbage, he ran the cooled wheat through the rollers imagining that he could make a sheet of dough. For his surprise, each grain was flattened into separate flake. He toasted the flakes to create crispy, crunchy flakes, and thought it as a health food. Soon the wheat flakes became the favorite food of the patients at the Sanitarium. Patients after getting discharged from the Sanitarium, started asking for the flakes’ parcels through mail order. Since Dr. John Harvey Kellogg had least interest in such business, Will Keith Kellogg took up the responsibility to send packed flakes to such mail orders. Will Keith Kellogg kept experimenting and during 1898  tried the same process using corn instead of wheat, and one of the most popular breakfast item ‘corn flakes’ were invented.

In 1898, absorbing the big opportunity to market the new breakfast item, Will Keith Kellogg formulated a working partnership with ‘The Sanitas Nut Company’, in which W.K. Kellogg lead the operations as a General Manager. As the result of such business association, ‘Sanitas’ was the brand for first corn flake package introduced by W.K. Kellogg.

In the year 1906, Will Keith Kellogg formed the “Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company”, but continued to mention “Sanita’s” as the brand name on the packets.

By inventing corn flakes, Kellogg had opened doors for other enterprises to start producing their own corn flakes. At the same time, Will Keith Kellogg wanted to maintain their product to be identified in the market place. The question was, but how? The problem was solved with the bright idea by the inventor himself. He decided to sign on each box of corn flakes by himself. Thus, the signature of ‘W. K. Kellogg’ on the packaging was the first ever presentation of the brand made before it’s consumers. The statement “None genuine without this signature” was inscribed above the signature on the packets.

1914: Going global

Soon, with success knocking at the door from all corners of U.S., W. K. Kellogg decided to go beyond the home ground. In 1914, the brand was introduced in Canada under the name of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. The advert carried the trademarked Kellogg’s signature. The Kellogg’s signature was printed just below the name ‘Toasted Corn Flakes’ on the packaging box with ‘Made in Canada’ flashed across. It was still marketed under the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flakes Company.

Kellogg’s brand was launched in United Kingdom in early 1922  and soon a factory was commissioned in Sydney, Australia.

1922: 

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, produced and marketed by the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company was hugely successful and in 1922 the company was renamed as “Kellogg Company” and the product packets were presented with the brand-name ‘Kellogg’s”. The demand for the corm flakes and wheat flakes got enormously increased. The breakfast habits of masses underwent a vast change into lighter, healthier and tasty choices marketed by Kellogg Company. The Kellogg’s signature was treated as the mark of trust presented by the brand, and such authenticity made consumers pick a pack of Kellogg’s from the departmental store shelves. The logo was originally designed in 1922 exactly in lines with the signature of Will Keith Kellogg, given with a bright red color, which remains the same till date.

1970:

During 1970, the logo used by Kellogg’s underwent a polishing of the design. The original signature design has not changed much, but with the advancement of presentation, the logo was made more refined, legible, so better presented. The 1970’s version was rather thicker than the 1920’s version. The alphabets appeared bolder and brighter than before.

2012: A touch-up

Not undergoing any massive changes since the last 4 decades, Kellogg’s logo was put-up with certain precision changes in 2012. The new motif had parts of it’s body trimmed down to look thin. All the alphabets except ‘K’ are joined beautifully like in a hand-writing ligature. The changeover is minute and one may have to be pointed out specifically to see the difference in logo design. You may think there is no point in making changes when one hardly notices it. Well, according to the guys in the Kellogg’s marketing department, the small change was intentional as the refreshed look is able to connect with the consumer as the original and genuine one. Well, I think people in Kellogg’s still reinstate the idea of W. L. Kellogg, the founder of the brand, who wanted his patrons to trust and remember his product as the original one. In order to keep his legacy alive, the minor changes are only made through times to reinvent the brand, but keeping its roots of the signature-style intact.

While I log-off now, at some part of the world, a considerable mass is relishing on the ready-to-eat cereals called “Kellogg’s” as they break the fast for a dynamic day ahead.

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