Patriot Computer and Intel are shaking the cereal box with Kellogg Canada, and hoping a successful marketing campaign will pour out.

The campaign involves a contest outlined on the back of Kellogg’s cereal boxes that gives consumers a chance to win one of 20 Pentium-based Patriot multimedia computers, with Microsoft software.

The goal is to take advantage of Kellogg’s penetration into the family market, and to capitalize on the cereal maker’s well-established identity.

By putting information about its product on the breakfast table of millions of Canadians, Patriot is hoping to raise its profile in the family market.

Patriot has done similar campaigns with Campbell’s Soup, and Skippy Peanut Butter, and is hoping to do more in the future, likely with a large soft drink maker.

‘The whole concept is to hit people at home – sort of cross all the media barriers,’ says John Durst, vice-president sales and marketing, Patriot Computer.

‘Exposure for everybody’

‘The idea is to partner together with complimentary products to get exposure for everybody,’ Durst says. ‘We can handle a bigger promotion because we can share the costs.’

To further promote the Patriot label, the company sponsors a radio spot on Toronto’s 680 News radio station, called ‘Computer Insider,’ and sells an 80-minute instructional video called Simply About Computers, through the Business Depot.

‘Most people, when they advertise, do a few big bangs, and then they’re gone,’ says Durst.

‘There’s stability’

‘With this [radio spot,] the customer is hearing about us over and over again,’ he says. ‘There’s stability, and that’s important in the computer business.’

Patriot has an in-house ad department.

In 1993, about 30% of Intel-made processors were sold in the home market, a trend that is expected to continue into 1994 and 1995, according to Intel.

The contest closes Dec. 15.