Betty Crocker's Recipe for Success

[From iSource Business, October/November 2002] She looks like a typical soccer mom, someone you'd see at your local grocery store pushing a cart full of food while keeping track of several rambunctious kids. Her shiny brown hair is cut in a bob that frames her smiling, nondescript face. However, this woman is anything but nondescript: Her name and that all-American face are plastered on magazines, catalogs, cookbooks and food products, and she has come to represent one of the most widely recognized manufacturers of consumer products in the United States. She's Betty Crocker, and she is 81-years old.

Betty Crocker might not be "young" in terms of years, but that hasn't stopped General Mills from breathing new life every so often into her look, which has been updated about seven times since her first official portrait was painted in 1936, as well as into the brand she represents and the things that brand offers to General Mills' consumers.

General Mills is a multi-billion dollar global manufacturer of consumer products, like Hamburger Helper, Old El Paso, Wheaties and, of course, Betty Crocker. The company has nexus in all 50 states, and its international division markets General Mills' brands in more than 100 countries around the world. After acquiring Pillsbury back in November of 2001, the company now claims about 29,000 employees.

Besides having customers like Kroger, Super Valu, Albertsons, Target, Wal-Mart and other large retail stores, General Mills also markets and sells its products directly to its end consumers