About 500,000 boxes of Flutie Flakes "are scheduled for
distribution" to Buffalo and Boston area grocery stores
during the remainder of the football season, according to
Sharon Linstedt of the BUFFALO NEWS. Linstedt: "That's
probably enough cereal to last into the playoffs." Demand
for Flutie Flakes is so high that some stores "moved the
coveted cereal behind the service desk and limited
purchases" to two boxes. Wegmans Markets Buffalo area
spokesperson Ann McCarthy: "We've never had a response like
this for a product." Some have been willing to pay "nearly
double" the retail price by ordering the cereal for $4 a
box, plus shipping and handling, on the Bills Web site at
http://www.buffalobills.com. The team sold 300 of 600 boxes
it received last week via its Web site and expects to offer
another 1,200 boxes this week (BUFFALO NEWS, 11/11).
HERE'S WHERE THE STORY BEGAN: Flutie Flakes were
conceptualized when MA-based Woolf Associates, which handles
Flutie's marketing, met with PA-based PLB Sports, to discuss
a marinara sauce for Woolf client, Braves P Tom Glavine. PLB
then looked at other Woolf clients and focused on Flutie.
Marketing Manager Tamara Hamp: "We asked Doug what he liked
to eat and he said he enjoys having a bowl of frosted
cereal. I guess the rest is history" (BUFFALO NEWS, 11/11).
In Boston, Karen Guregian looks at "Flutiemania." Amy
Mayer, a clerk at Dick's sporting goods store in Western NY,
on Flutie Flakes: "Most people are shipping them somewhere
else. I've actually tried them, and they're not bad.
They're better than Frosted Flakes" (BOSTON HERALD, 11/12).
