General Mills' Wheaties brand beginning today will "try to tap into three affinities of younger consumers -- working out, technology and nontraditional sports -- while offering a prize rooted in its heritage: a chance to appear nationally on the Wheaties box," according to Stuart Elliott of the N.Y. TIMES. The Wheaties Next Challenge promotion will "ask consumers to vote for one of five athletes selected by Wheaties to win the appearance on the package" in early '15. In "one twist, the athletes are stars of sports like mixed martial arts, lacrosse and motocross rather than the mainstay sports like baseball and football." In "another twist, fans of each athlete may vote through Aug. 31 by exercising and then logging their workouts through websites and apps" from fitness tech company MapMyFitness. General Mills execs said that the promotion "represents the first time that consumers are being given an opportunity to decide who appears on Wheaties boxes distributed nationally." General Mills Marketing Manager for Wheaties David Oehler said that the new promotion "is not out of character for the brand because it offers 'stories about great athletes who embrace that championship mentality' for which Wheaties is long known." UFC Senior VP/Global Marketing Partnerships Michael Mossholder said of fighter Anthony Pettis participating in the promotion, "As we continue to mature as a sport, the opportunity to have one of our champions on the box -- the same place where the Michael Jordans and the Lou Gehrigs and the Muhammad Alis of the world have been -- is an honor for us." Elliott notes other athletes eligible are Ryan Dungey (motocross), Blake Leeper (track & field Paralympian), Rob Pannell (lacrosse) and Christen Press (women's soccer) (N.Y. TIMES, 7/1).
