YET ANOTHER
AWARD ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
FROM THE GLITTERING CAREER OF
ALAN BROWN, BREAKFAST CEREALS ENGINEER
          BY JAMES HOGWOOD
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For now, it is enough to know that JAMES HOGWOOD shares his name with a police officer from Chattanooga. He himself is a copywriter from London whose writing has appeared in Surgery of Modern Warfare and Monkeybicycle, among others. He will use the agreed codeword should he ever require your help.

triple5james AT hotmail DOT com

I Am Learning To Appreciate Beautiful Things <<

© 2008 James Hogwood
OH GOSH ... OH WOW ... HA! I don't even have a speech prepared, I just was really not expecting to win! So, okay, first of all, I would like to say I am the biggest fan of the other nominees in the category of Best Breakthrough Cereal. Valerie Johnson, I'd like to say, in particular, has been taking whole grains into a whole new world over this past couple of years. New shapes ... new colors ... everything. If we could, I would have liked us all to be winners tonight.

Okay, so ... ha ha ha ... sorry, I'm just so excited. To be here. Again. Um, okay. I'd like to thank everybody at the company: Bill Salt, for not being afraid to try something, while not exactly new, wasn't in the mainstream at the time. Syed, and all of the other guys in the lab, for believing in the vision. Janet and the whole brand marketing team for working so hard to add emotional attachment to this and our entire stable of sugar- and sugar-substitute-coated breakfast foods. There's no way I'd be up here collecting this award again without all of you behind me.

You know, when I talk to people outside of the industry about what we all do, I always remind them that every breakfast cereal is a partnership, right from concept through the development process—including packaging—to the guys stacking shelves at the supermarket. Y'know, that should never be taken for granted by any of us in this room. And if you manage that partnership right, as we seem to have done with CornyBerry DinoPuffs, you'll soon be shifting eight million bowls across the country each morning.

I've given breakfast cereals a lot of thought over the last fifteen years I've spent in this business we all love so much. And, I guess, what I wanted to say with CornyBerry DinoPuffs was that it's time for us, or me and my company at least, to go back to basics. Y'know, so much great work has been done recently in rolled oats and freeze-dried fruits and everything else, and this evening pays testament to that fact. But there's something about keeping it simple. This one was really all about a bowl, a spoon, a splash of milk, and a thirty-gram serving of purity. And I'm really proud of how it turned out.

Just before I go, I just want to dedicate this Golden Bowl award to my wife, Linda, and my twin boys, Adrian and Andre, for always believing in me. Thanks everybody. Have a great night! Yes!


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