Why That Worked #34: Magic Spoon—How One Tagline Dethroned Sugar and Disrupted a $65B Industry (RE-RELEASE)

Aug 27, 2025

Discover how a cereal brand transformed the market by focusing on storytelling and messaging, rather than just the product itself. Magic Spoon's clever tagline and health-conscious narrative struck a chord, dethroning sugar in the process. Learn the secrets behind effective product naming, innovative branding, and the impactful use of public relations for small businesses. This discussion highlights how fresh marketing strategies can disrupt industries and resonate with consumers, creating strong connections in a crowded space.

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INSIGHT

Lead With What It Is

A clear tagline must tell people what your product is immediately to save their mental energy.
Magic Spoon uses "Healthy cereal" first to make the product instantly understood and reduce confusion.

INSIGHT

Open A Story Loop With Your Tagline

A strong tagline both explains and opens a curiosity loop that compels action.
"That tastes too good to be true" stops objections and makes people want to try the cereal.

INSIGHT

Anticipate The Brain's Objections

Good taglines anticipate and halt the customer's automatic skeptical thoughts.
Magic Spoon counters the assumption that healthy means bad taste by finishing the tagline with a taste claim.

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Exciting news, Hero Makers! We’re sharing a new episode of Why That Worked – Presented by StoryBrand.AI, with Donald Miller back in the host seat. This new show uncovers why certain ideas, brands, and strategies succeed—so you can think differently and apply those insights to your business and life. Hopefully you're getting a chance to recharge this summer—but that doesn’t mean you have to lose momentum. Fall is just around the corner, and before you know it we’ll be heading into the final stretch of the year. That’s exactly why we’re rereleasing several of our high-impact episodes—designed to give you clarity, sharpen your message, attract the right customers, and ultimately drive more revenue, so you’re not stuck playing catch-up when it matters most! -- It’s not enough to have a great product. You have to position it so customers instantly understand the value. That’s what separates the brands that break through from the ones that disappear. Magic Spoon didn’t invent cereal, they just told a better story: one where protein replaces sugar, and taste isn’t sacrificed for health. And they did it with a smart tagline, a well-defined villain, and a brand voice that made people pay attention. So how can you sharpen your positioning to you stand out like they did?

In this episode, Don and Kyle break down the marketing genius behind Magic Spoon’s rise in a crowded cereal market and how it became a household name. From tackling the sugar-loaded bad-guys of the breakfast aisle to delivering a tagline that opens a story loop and closes the sale, Magic Spoon gives us a playbook worth copying. Tune in to learn how to identify your brand’s real enemy and position your product so it’s instantly understood.

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Learn how to make your marketing and messaging work using a proven framework in the updated book, Building a StoryBrand 2.0. Order it now on Amazon or wherever you buy books!