IAST poised to launch “Jaggy the Jaguar Cereal” next month

Jul 27, 2020 News

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…DESPITE COVID-19 CRISIS

Last week, Kaieteur News focused on Part One of a two-part examination on how a local company, Morning Glory Inc., is taking bold steps to grow during the COVID-19 crisis.  As a reminder, the company put together a task force which made the following recommendations:
1) Local public companies have a responsibility to the public and should be driven to sustainably alleviate the impact on the public without endangering financial viability;
2) The flexibility that can be driven locally to address needs of Guyanese is a source of central competitive advantage: large brands produced in foreign countries cannot adapt to the local need;
3) The ability to address local needs at a time when foreign products are harder to access and steadily becoming out of reach of the lower income segments of the Guyanese society creates an opportunity to grow;
4) The COVID-19 constraints provide an imperative to seek technology solutions to drive efficiencies and reduce costs;
5) COVID-19 presents opportunities to partner with non-traditional partners to seek solutions that are both business oriented and socially conscious; and
6) Disruptive environments present opportunities for growth and branding.
Today, Kaieteur News will continue its examination of how the Morning Glory brand is maintaining its viability in the face of an unprecedented crisis. 
Launching a Brand New Cereal

The Morning Glory original molasses flavoured cereal has been a truly transformational product. It has penetrated the marketplace rapidly, acquiring national brand recognition in a rapid time span. Its superior nutritional profile can be compared to the world’s leading brands of cereals, its superior packaging, its uniquely Guyanese appeal and its production from 99% locally sourced raw materials set it apart from the rest. Its production in the heart of a rice-growing region in Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast has also played a role in this meteoric success.  Remarkably, only after two years in commercial production, the product won the Guyana National Bureau of Standard’s (GNBS) National Quality Award and Green Initiative Award for Agro-processing.  It is, as the popular slogan goes “We Own”.
However, the company is also focused on ensuring that all segments of the cereal consuming population are being satisfied with its offerings.  Therefore, to ensure that Morning Glory provides as much choice to its customers as possible, the Company is launching a brand new cereal in August 2020, which will join the original molasses flavoured product on the nation’s shelves.  According to the Director of the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), Professor Suresh Narine, this new cereal is formulated to appeal to the young and the young at heart. Staying true to its brand as a uniquely Guyanese product, the new cereal is branded “Jaggy the Jaguar Rice Krunch.”  Rather than using the plethora of cartoon characters available, Narine said that the evocative Guyanese Jaguar was chosen because of its role in representing the majesty of the country’s biodiversity.
Narine and well-known Guyanese Cartoonist, Paul Harris, are collaborating on the publishing of a children’s book featuring Jaggy the Jaguar and a group of animal friends. The book will focus on uniquely Guyanese places in the hinterland and will seek to educate about Guyana’s geography and biodiversity in a fun and colourful series.  The new cereal, available in August 2020, also features new, environmentally friendly packaging and will be available at extremely competitive prices.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, EFFICIENT PACKAGING 
The company has also taken the opportunity during this period to retool its packaging.  It is completely eradicating the use of paper/cardboard packaging.  Although plastic packaging will still be utilized, the company is also actively focusing on even further reducing its environmental footprint.  The environmental impact of the new packaging, which will now be used for both the original cereal and Jaggy the Jaguar has been significantly reduced.  It also allows more mechanization of the process, resulting in less waste, increased efficiencies and ultimately big wins for the Company’s customers via reduced costs and environment benefits.  Additionally, both Jaggy the Jaguar and the original Morning Glory Cereal will now be available in both 225g packs as well as 500g economy sizes, providing more economical choices to Guyanese.
AGGRESSIVE MARKETING CAMPAIGN 
In keeping with the IAST/Morning Glory task force recommendations, the Company is also launching a massive advertising campaign to further familiarize Guyanese with its products at the end of July and for the remainder of the year.  Morning Glory has set its sights on becoming the iconic, immediate and always choice cereal of Guyanese.
It is aiming to do so through technology, branding, staying local, being environmentally responsible and ensuring it leaves no Guyanese behind in its pricing.  Most of all, the company feels it will be able to attract and retain loyal customers through the superior nutrition of its product compared to any other cereal offered for sale in Guyana.
In order to further bring the products into everyone’s kitchen, Narine appears every Wednesday at 9:30 am on 89.5 FM and every Thursday at 9:15 am on 93.1 FM, where matters relating to Science, Technology, Development, Guyanese Identity, Guyanese Potential and Local Products manufactured by IAST, including Morning Glory, are discussed. The Company shall be erecting multiple billboards, increasing its radio, television and social media presence and shall continue to use this disruptive period as an opportunity for expansion and branding.
The Company will also continue to attempt to penetrate the Caribbean marketplace; it has all the right elements to do so; it can be cost competitive and flexible; it is a Caribbean product attracting Caribbean tariff entablements and it does not need to be shipped from thousands of miles away.  And it is produced right here in the bread basket of the Caribbean.  After all, Narine reminds, it is “We Own”.

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