Category Captain: Refrigerated Baked Goods: General Mills

Pillsbury is the dollar share leader in refrigerated dough, with a focused effort to lead and accelerate customer growth by providing leadership on insights leading to winning solutions for customers.

In fiscal 2010, Pillsbury increased household penetration, buy rate and average number of items handled. The increase in number of items handled reversed a multiyear decline, a fact which the brand attributed to the innovation and incremental nature of its Sweet Moments cheesecake bites. While total category dollar volume growth didn’t increase for this period, Pillsbury boosted share over two years ago and held flat over last year, and unit volume was up in the last two years.

The brand has increased its consumer spending, reaching consumers via digital, magazines, billboards, blogger outreaches and newspapers. Pillsbury provides retailers with meal solution ideas for various months of the year to drive consumers to the various categories within the dairy aisle.

The brand has expanded its refrigerated dessert offerings with Sweet Moments Bites and a special-edition lemon cinnamon roll, and launched Simply Buttermilk Biscuit and Simply Rustic French Bread, which don’t contain high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors or flavors, or trans fats. Both Simply products contributed a whole share point to the refrigerated baked goods (RBG) category as a whole in dollar and unit volume last year.

General Mills continues to provide leadership in RBG for its retail customers by helping to grow the category, incremental innovation, product differentiation, marketing plan execution and solution-based thought leadership.