Great Magic Spoon Marketing!

So, the starting point for this Magic Spoon cereal  review is recognizing their remarkable marketing campaign!

These days  I can’t peep a YouTube video without the YouTuber soliloquizing about the magnificence of Magic Spoon!

Everywhere I click there’s somebody raving about the wonders of Magic Spoon cereal.

Well, the marketing worked! Congratulations! I bought four boxes of…Magic Spoon! They arrived yesterday.

What do people love about Magic Spoon?

So, the sales pitch—in brief— goes like this: “Magic Spoon cereal tastes delicious, has a bunch of protein and no sugar. It tastes like the beloved, candy-sugar cereals of your childhood without any of the bad stuff! In fact, it’s healthy!”

That’s me paraphrasing the basic gist of their marketing message. I think that’s a fair way to characterize the basic Magic Spoon sales pitch. But, is it accurate?

And, do I have a better way to summarize the cereal?

Honestly, they do a good job of communicating a message that—truth be told—has an inherent tendency towards complexity. Explaining how four grams of net carbs relates to something called “ketosis” and the importance of “low carb macros”…well, the truth is it’s inherently complicated.

Magic Spoon, however, prints on the shipping container’s side: “Healthy cereal that doesn’t taste like this box.” Now, that’s great, clever stuff! I like that.

Naturally a skeptic about Magic Spoon and everything else

So, I’m very interested in what these days gets referred to as “health and wellness.”After my spinal fusion surgery—as I’ve documented in-depth here—physical well-being…with an emphasis on pain-reduction and reducing inflammation…has been a major focus of my life. And, strange as it may sound: that does include cereal because it’s part of my nutrition and physical health.

There’s a whole industry of so-called Health Wellness bloggers and some of them seem to be doing quite well. But, deep-down…I have problems with trust. I know I’m not alone in that. I can’t help it. I had a lousy childhood filled with various betrayals and frightening alcoholism and gaslighting and similar. I’m not trying to sound dramatic. I’m just honestly telling you that skepticism comes quite naturally to me.

So, when I see all the Magic Spoon chatter, my natural inclination is to think this is a hype-money train and there’s ad dollars behind it.

With that said, though, there are instances in this life when the hype is justified.

Is Magic Spoon a rare exception to the generally disappointing pattern that has contributed to the middle-aged cynicism of me and so many others?

I want to know. Congratulations Magic Spoon: you got this man curious.

I ordered 4 boxes of Magic Spoon

So, I ordered the four box Magic Spoon deal. After the discount, this set me back about 40 bucks.

As I earlier explained,  just like many these days, I’m trying to get this body into better condition. I’m particularly interesting in reducing general inflammation and pain. I’ve read a lot of material saying that sugar and gluten and carbs will contribute to inflammatory pain. As mentioned, I had a spinal fusion surgery about 18 months ago that I’ve been rehabbing…

…and, it really changed my overall mindset knowing that I have metal rods attached to my spinal column and a spine that’s actively fusing itself back together. Although the surgeon tells me that the bones are 85% fused…that’s not 100%…and, the truth is that this rehab will continue as long as I’m alive.

I work out at the gym just about every day: so, I also am trying to increase my protein intake. So, it just—generally speaking—makes sense for me to start the day off with a good nutrition source.

And, the marketing got into my grey matter. Derek Plates was going on about it. And, Derek Plates has been so YouTube successful, I believe, because he generally tries hard to tell it straight. I think…

So, I order the 4 box pack and I used the promo code, so I got the 4 boxes for about $40.

Flavor choices?

At the moment, it looks like these are your options: Fruity, Cookies and Cream, Peanut Butter, Blueberry, Cocoa, Frosted, Oatmeal and Graham, Cinnamon, and Maple Waffle.

If I’m not mistaken, special flavors are sometimes made available for limited time periods.

Size of the boxes?

So, the Magic Spoon boxes I received are NET WT 7oz / 198 g. This is no insignificant detail because later when I’m determining whether I think Magic Spoon cereal is a good deal that’s worth the purchase price, I’ll need to consider just what it is you’re getting for your money. The truth is when I’m holding the Magic Spoon box, I am NOT thinking: “Now, that’s a big box of cereal!”

Beautiful Magic Spoon Artwork!

I know this is a quick review about whether this Magic Spoon cereal is a legit product worth the money…or, whether we’ve encountered another overrated, hype machine…but, I am a guy who appreciates nice artwork…and, props to the Magic Spoon organization for presenting some beautiful, creative and really fun artwork on the boxes. Please see the pictures below for a better appreciation of these Magic Spoon boxes.

How’s the Magic Spoon taste?

Okay, so there’s no way around this being a subjective type conclusion.

I think it tastes pretty damn good. Now, I don’t think the “Fruity” tastes “just like Fruit Loops!” No, I don’t think so. I do think Fruity tastes remarkably amazing for a cereal that’s got 0g sugar, 4g carbs and 13g protein. Yes, I certainly do!

Let’s have a look at the Nutrition Facts on the side of the box:

Yes, with an ingredient list like that: this stuff tastes AMAZING! It appears you can do miraculous things with Allulose and Monk Fruit these days!

Please, note that this isn’t plant protein. This is your traditional Milk Protein blend that contains casein and whey protein concentrate. Normally, I’m trying to avoid anything dairy, but I’m making a little bit of an exception with this.

Below, we see that, per serving, you’re getting 15g Carbs, – 2g fiber, – 9g Allulose for a 4g Net Carbs total. Honestly, I’m not an expert with this info, but I’m leaving it here for your educational purposes. This topic of “Net Carbs” is something that I’m presently researching further.

Magic Spoon in respect to different diet models?

So, I’m not a dietician or nutritionist, but this is my reasoning on how Magic Spoon might be interpreted or critiqued by some different diet models:

Regular folks just trying to get healthy and maintain a good diet: I’d say Magic Spoon is a perfect match. It’s got no sugar. It’s got the protein. Sounds like a fine first meal of the day.

Keto diet or low-carb diet: Magic Spoon should work just fine with its 4g of net carbs.

Paleo: There are dairy-based proteins in here along with Allulose and sunflower oil: so these would quite likely be sticking points for a paleo diet.

Vegan: Same objection as the paleo diet. This has dairy-based protein.

Nut Allergy: I’d say avoid the Peanut Butter flavor for the obvious reasons.

Is this Magic Spoon stuff worth the money?

So, if you’ve got the $5 off promo code, each box of Magic Spoon ends up costing you about $10. (The deal is that you get four boxes of your choice for $40.)  I’m going to sort of presume that these promo codes won’t stop any time soon (if ever). But, no guarantees on that! I’ve got not inside information on the pricing. It’s just that I sort of think they got the price point correct and that it might not go as well if you try pushing much higher…

Anyway, that’s ten bucks for a rather small box of cereal: as mentioned it’s 7 ounces.

Okay, so this ain’t the only cereal in the world. There’s plenty of competition in this healthy cereal niche. Now, plenty of them absolutely do not have the beautiful artwork and wonderfully brilliant marketing. That’s definitely true. But, not everybody goes for that. There are a lot of folks who are looking for a healthy cereal at a good price…

So, let’s just talk here for a second. Bear with me…

For instance, you can go over to Costco and get 43 ounces of Kellogg’s Special K Red Berries Cereal for about ten bucks also.

Now, I know this isn’t the magical spoon’s 0 sugar, 13g protein, Keto goodness…Yes, I get that.

But, I’m just thinking aloud about an average consumer who’s not in the weeds with this stuff. I’m thinking about an average shopper who’s just looking for a “healthy cereal” in a general/generic sense. I don’t think you’ll convince that guy to spend 6 times as much money for a “grain-free” cereal.

But, this obviously isn’t the consumer Magic Spoon targets.

They’re after someone who wants something with 0g sugar, 5g Net carbs, 13g Protein, that’s also gluten-free. I could imagine the average Magic Spoon consumer’s thought is something like this: I want low sugar, high protein, low carbs.

So, who would be the Magic Spoon competition?

In determining whether Magic Spoon is worth the money, there’s simply no way around comparing it against its rightful competitors.

To my mind, Magic Spoon is competing against brands like Forager Grain Free Cereal, Three Wishes, NUCO Certified ORGANIC Grain and Gluten Free Coconut Crunch Cereal, One Degree Foods Organic, Barbara’s Original Puffins, Catalina Crunch Keto Protein Cereal, and similar.

How does Magic Spoon measure up against its competitors price wise and otherwise?

So, the truth is that when I look at the size of the Magic Spoon box and the cost: my first thought is that “this stuff is a bit pricey.”

Honestly, that’s what I think. But, a couple of things…

When you look at competitors in this healthy cereal niche: none of them are cheap. They’re all sort of pricey: in some cases more expensive than Magic Spoon.

The other thing I noticed is that not many of them had the same high-level of protein as Magic Spoon. The Magic Spoon boxes in front of me have protein at 13 grams.

How much Magic for the money?

Now, the Magic Spoon box says that the serving size is about 1 cup and that you’ll get about 5 servings per container. So, that’s what the box says.

Let me give you my real world interpretation and opinion.

I’m a man who’s 6’3″ and 180 pounds. This 7 ounce Magic Spoon box for me is 2 legitimate servings. It could be 3 if I went a little easier. I’m just being honest here. I am not getting five servings out of this.

I’m getting two maybe three. So, a serving of Magic Spoon is getting me about 33g of protein, 13 net carbs, etc. for about 5 bucks. And, it tastes pretty damn good.

Money well spent?

I’m at a place in life where I consider this money very well spent. As mentioned, I’m rehabbing a major spinal surgery and trying quite hard to optimize my exercise, sleeping and nutrition. So, the whole notion of starting the day off with a good protein source that’s low carb and no sugar: that sounds like a very damn good idea to me that I’m willing to pay for…

It took a bit for my mind to compute that a breakfast consumed at my own kitchen table’s costing me (after the almond milk and OJ) around six or seven bucks.

But, when I look at the nutrition facts and consider how damn good the stuff tastes…I say it’s worth it for me personally. And, the ultimate question is probably: Will I be ordering more boxes? And, the honest answer is that I will. And, I’m looking forward to trying out more flavors: Maple Waffle here I come.