Kellogg's: a virtuous marketing conduct

Good morning everybody,

today I am going to talk about a virtuous example of marketing ethicality: Kellogg’s. 

The company has been awarded with the second position – within the sector food and beverages – in the list “2014 World’s Most Ethical Companies”  by Ethisphere.

Indeed, Kellogg’s built its success on an ethical business conduct and on a values-based culture.

The principles on which Kellogg’s behaviour is based are called K-values, and they are the guidelines of the firm’s interaction with its stakeholders.

Kellogg's principles for a virtuous conduct

According to an ethical point of view, Kellogg’s adopts a stakeholder-oriented approach: it takes into consideration not just its shareholders, its customers and its employees, but the communities in which it operates, health organisations and charities and governments, too. 

Kellogg’s goal is to minimize the negative impact on these groups of interests caused by its business conduct, and at the same time to satisfy stakeholders’ various needs. 

Kellogg’s refuses to please its shareholders at the expense of other stakeholders and aims at building positive, two-way relationships with its stakeholders. 

This objective is the cornerstone of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, which defines Kellogg’s ambitions – the marketplace, environment, community and workplace ones. 

Talking about marketing, Kellogg’s aims at meeting customers’ needs, selling them high-quality and healthy products, and at adopting an ethical and responsible marketing conduct. 

One practical example: Kellogg’s Breakfast for Better Day campaign underlines the importance of a healthy breakfast, and the products that Kellogg’s offers in this sense guarantee a balanced nutritional content. The focus of its campaign is fighting hunger, donating cereal and snacks for breakfast to children in need.

Kellogg's Breakfast For Better Days

With this practical case, I want to demonstrate that ethicality and success are not separate worlds: sometimes, marketers think that unethical behaviours may increase their profits, but it could be so just in the short-term. On the contrary, an ethical conduct is crucial to build a strong reputation and a competitive advantage. 

Carlotta Neuenschwander