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Say what? A Wheaties beer? Yup, and it’s called HefeWheaties

Breakfast food retailer delves into a new product line, just like high-end fashion retailer Lululemon. One hint: it comes with foam on top.

August 13, 2015 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

Think "Breakfast of Champions" and Wheaties cereal comes to mind and vice versa. The iconic marketing slogan has outlived more than a few trends in breakfast retail brands and likely isn’t going to lose steam going forward.

Especially when they're busy devising unique marketing products that don't fit the traditional brand. How many people, after all, think beer for breakfast?

But then again, how many retail consumers think beer when perusing Lululemon's male-brand fashion line?

Apparently Wheaties has had the same epiphany as the high-end fashion retailer. And not surprisingly, Wheaties is going for the "tall-boy" brew and christening its beer line as "HefeWheaties."

In a blog post explaining the new product, Wheaties said it is partnering with Minneapolis craft brewery Fulton to produce a limited-edition Hefeweizen beer. And, no, there are no Wheaties in the beer. But, as the blog post explained, there is wheat.

“And that connection helped both brands try something interesting,” explained Kevin Hunt, manager of social media in global communications at General Mills, who authored the blog post.

For Fulton, the unique product offered more than one compelling customer engagement opportunity.

“We were intrigued from the get-go on this idea for many reasons, including that we’re both Minneapolis companies, and that the beer and the cereal both started from the same place in terms of raw ingredients and the same city,” Fulton President and Co-founder Ryan Petz stated.

The Hefeweizen is a south German wheat beer, traditionally brewed with over 50 percent malted wheat.

It’s Fulton’s first Hefeweizen and features water, malted wheat, malted barley, hops from Germany, the U.S. and Australia, and a yeast strain specifically developed for fermenting American-style wheat beers, states the blog.

The unique product collaboration was spawned between employees at the two companies who began talking about cross-over synergies.

The beer, as of Aug. 26, will only be available in the Twin Cities market in a 16-ounce tallboy can. It will not be available for shipment or purchase outside of Minnesota.

If HefeWheaties proves to be a hit, the companies said they will consider doing another craft beer in a larger distribution.

About Judy Mottl

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Judy Mottl is editor of Retail Customer Experience and Digital Signage Today. She has decades of experience as a reporter, writer and editor covering technology and business for top media including AOL, InformationWeek, InternetNews and Food Truck Operator.

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