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History
The cereal was created in 1963 by a team headed up by the manufacturing vice-president of General Mills, John Holahan. The team was to use the available manufacturing capacity from either of General Mills' two principal cereal products — Wheaties or Cheerios — and do something unique to them. Lucky Charms were first invented by mixing Cheerios with bits of Kraft Circus Peanuts.[2]
An advertising company employed by General Mills suggested marketing the new cereal around the idea of charm bracelets.[1] Thus the charms of Lucky Charms were born. The mascot, Lucky the Leprechaun, was also born in 1963, a cartoon character whose voice was supplied by Arthur Anderson until 1992.[3]
Following launch, the General Mills marketing department found that sales performed dramatically better if the composition of the marbits changed periodically.[1] Various other features of the marbits were also modified to maximize their appeal to the cereal's target young consumers. In focus groups and market research, more brightly colored charms resulted in better sales than dull or pastel colors.[1] Holahan called Lucky Charms a "lesson in creative marketing."[4] Currently, General Mills conducts frequent "concept-ideation" studies on Lucky Charms.[1]
For a brief period of time in 1975, Lucky the Leprechaun was replaced as the cereal's mascot by Waldo the Wizard, who performed better in focus groups and initial market tests than Lucky. Waldo was quickly retired, and Lucky once again reinstated a year later.[5]
In the 1990s the cereal was sold in the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, but is no longer retailed in any part of the UK, and neither in the Republic of Ireland. [1] The cereal can be obtained through specialty internet/mail-order companies, or upmarket stores such as Selfridges in the UK at greatly inflated prices however. (Due to the nature of importing items from the US to the UK)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Charms
