Weet-Bix
Chia first exposed the breakfast item in May and repeated it several times, creating product awareness and boosting demand in China. YouTube/Ode to Joy

Thanks to a box of Australian breakfast favourite Weet-Bix prominently placed in an episode of “Ode to Joy,” a Chinese drama, business is booming in China for the manufacturer of the flaky wheat cakes. Sanitarium, the maker of the breakfast item, is currently shipping 125,000 boxes of Weet-Bix monthly to the Asian giant.

Because of the numerous exposures provided by Alyssa Chia, a Taiwanese-Chinese reality star and a cast of “Ode to Joy,” sales of Weet-Bix has surged the past two to three years even if the brand was introduced to China eight years ago. Chia first exposed the breakfast item in May and repeated it several times, creating product awareness and boosting demand in China.

Financial sales in China for Weet-Bix jumped more than 50 percent, Mark Roper, international marketing manager of Sanitarium, shares. He adds the bulk of the higher demand cam during the last quarter after the multiple exposures in the Chinese drama, News.com.au reports.

Weet-Bix Box
A box of Weet-Bix sells up to $50, purchased from Australian online seller daigou, which also sells other green and clean local produce, including baby formula and vitamins exported to Asia. Sanitarium

A box of Weet-Bix sells up to $50, purchased from Australian online seller daigou, which also sells other green and clean local produce, including baby formula and vitamins exported to Asia. The market possibilities are wider in China since only 15 percent of Chinese households buy breakfast cereal compared to 90 percent in Australia, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Roper explains the high demand for Weet-Bix to Chinese consumers interested in western diet, especially food manufactured in Australia and New Zealand perceived as having high food safety quality, Stuff.co.nz reports.