I want cereal, not a relationship

I love my mom. Understand that I am not a mama's boy, but I love that she still has things to teach me, whether she knows it or not. A little while back, I helped her solve a technical challenge on her new pc, which resulted in my somehow being designated as her personal help desk. I certainly didn't mind, but there are many people far more able to help her than I could. It feels great to give back though, so I was glad to help as I was able.


As she continued to get more accustomed to both the functionality of the pc, she began venturing out to explore the information and resources that were available on the web. One day after one of our "help desk" discussions (yes, the quotes are a necessity here!), she changed topics to talk about cereal. She had just discovered a national brand of natural cereal and granola (name withheld!) at the grocery store, liked it and was interested in what else they had to offer.


I too had just become familiar with this brand and enjoyed it myself. As it happened, I had recently googled it and found what was a pretty informative and engaging website. It included product info, nutrition info and other helpful stuff, including newsletters you could subscribe to. Pleased with my own new discovery, I shared the info with Mom. While she appreciated all of it, she had this to say to me: "I want cereal, not a relationship."


Isn't it just like a mom to make things so clear? Now, good-for-you cereal would seem to score rather high on the consumer involvement scale, so if there's any product category that should be ripe for engaging the consumer, this should be toward the top. There are certainly other product categories that are far lower-involvement, and where you would expect no more than simple commodity or transactional relationships. I'm thinking duct tape, wood chips, toothpicks, those kinds of household items.


In our effort as marketers to engage consumers and create relationships, we have to keep perspective and not take it personally that not everyone wants to be our friend, our +1 or our Tweeps. Some consumers just want the cereal. Let's just get it to them.