Swedish simplicity flavors U.S. snacking trends

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December 27, 2011 News for the food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry   Company Watch  Musician turns family tradition into food business Musician-turned-DJ Kheedim Oh added food entrepreneur to his resume with the launch of Mama O's Premium Kimchi, an enterprise born in 2009 after years of failure to find commercial kimchi that tasted like the kind his mom makes. "Kimchi is like wine. It ferments, so it takes time to develop." The Business Insider/American Express OpenForum (12/24)      Post plans to revamp strategy as stand-alone company Cereal maker Post will become its own company in 2012 and adopt a fresh strategy. The company will revamp its marketing department, use social media more and update merchandising initiatives. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/25)      Shearer's builds LEED facility in Ohio town Shearer's Foods put the town of Massillon, Ohio, on the map when it built its Millennium Manufacturing Facility. The building is the first platinum-certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design food-manufacturing plant in the world. The Independent (Massillon, Ohio) (12/22)      Earn 2X rewards points on advertising costs with The New Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN. Designed to earn Membership Rewards® points faster: • 3X points on airfare • 2X points on advertising, gas, shipping • 1X points on everything else LEARN MORE AND APPLY   Trends    Swedish simplicity flavors U.S. snacking trends Health-conscious Americans will increasingly adopt the Scandinavian custom of simple snacks and sweets that don't lead to overindulgence, says Gevalia Brand Manager Samantha Greenwood. "Consumers will start to look for more treats that satisfy that quick indulgence, while not sacrificing their health, which Scandinavian treats are able to fulfill." SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Restaurants (12/27)        Active Directory (AD) is the heart of your IT infrastructure, so a solid monitoring and backup and recovery solution is vital! In this Quest tech brief, discover best practices for protecting your AD environment, and how to understand — and resolve — performance problems in record time.   Corporate Social Responsibility    New bottling law could help ailing redemption centers in Mass. Several factors have contributed to the demise of bottle redemption centers in Massachusetts; curbside recycling is up, as is the costs to run facilities. If the bottle law is updated, it would widen the mandated deposit to include juices, sports drinks and bottled water. The Boston Globe (tiered subscription model) (12/26)      Logistics is a powerful tool that can save your business time and money, while stimulating growth and leveling the global playing field. And nobody can put logistics to work for your business like UPS—the company and the people who understand the power of logistics better than anyone. Start tapping into logistics by downloading this free guide.   Advertising & Marketing    Santa brings big gains for advertisers loyal to him Ace Metrix reported that four ads featuring Santa -- out of 35 this year -- scored big with viewers. The Apple ad topped the list while spots by Macy's, Coke and Aleve also topped the list. MediaPost Communications/MediaDailyNews (12/24)      Inside-ERP experts have new research on the state of the ERP market today. Read this brief to understand the ERP market and how it affects your business. Whether you're considering a new solution or just want to see what’s changed, our brief has you covered. Download the report now!   Retail Spotlight    Topco CEO will step down Topco Associates President and CEO Steven Lauer is set to retire. Executive Vice President Randall "Randy" Skoda will take over as interim president. Crain's Chicago Business (12/23)      Making a big change starts with keeping a small promise. Like us on Facebook to share your promise and view the promises of others.   Hot Topics  Top five news stories selected by GMA SmartBrief readers in the past week. Kraft prepares to launch 70 products in Q1 (Crain's Chicago Business) Study finds marketing opportunities in behavior trends (Progressive Grocer) 2011 shopping trends focused on health and coupons (Supermarket News) Flavor predictions show global influence (BevIndustry.com) Eggnog's rich history spans hundreds of years (Time.com) Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.   Sponsored Content    3 Things I Learned This Year RIEVA LESONSKY Why Brand Image Is Important To The Tiniest Of Businesses Julie Rains How To Deal With Competing Priorities Mike Periu The Entrepreneur's Dilemma: For Love Or Money? Justine Grey Going E-Global: A Guide For Online Retailers Debbie Kuehn – FedEx Small Business Team Most Popular Headlines from Last Week Stop Doing These 4 Things in 2012 Mike Michalowicz The 5 Hiring Mistakes You Need To Stop Making Now Karlee Weinmann A Workaholic's Guide To Staying Healthy Katie Morell Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.   Health & Wellness  Industry, health advocates struggle to agree on nutrition labels The U.S. has found it difficult to create a simple nutrition-labeling system to help consumers choose healthy food, despite years of research and multiple approaches. While food manufacturers support the Facts Up Front label program, health care advocates want a more interpretive system with stars or checks to indicate which products are best. Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.) (12/26)      The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS) Topco Associates LLC Announces Retirement of President and CEO Interested in learning more about advertising with SmartBrief? Click here for detailed industry information and media kits.    GMA News  Achieve efficiency and increase profitability at ProductivityPlus Distribution professionals are expected to do more with less. To beat this challenge, join your retailer and manufacturer trading partners at ProductivityPlus on Jan. 25 in Orlando, Fla. Co-located with the FMI-GMA Supply Chain Conference, ProductivityPlus offers real-world, tactical solutions for improving the shared supply chain in a condensed time frame. Registering for the Supply Chain Conference entitles you to attend ProductivityPlus at a discounted rate. Can only get away for a day? The ProductivityPlus event gives managers and directors tactics that can be taken back and applied immediately to current business processes. Your participation in the Supply Chain Conference and/or ProductivityPlus will provide you with a well-rounded perspective on both the strategic and tactical opportunities for improving the shared supply chain. Attend one or both conferences!      Learn more about GMA -> About GMA  |  Issues and Policy  |  Newsroom  |  Events  |  Research and Tools Position Title Company Name Location VICE PRESIDENT, KELLOGG USA NUTRITION Kellogg Company Battle Creek, MI Key Account Sales Representative Foster Farms Cincinatti, OH Click here to view more job listings.   SmartQuote  If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." --Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman military leader and author          This SmartBrief was created for cpgbrokers@gmail.com   Subscriber Tools       Update account information | Change e-mail address | Unsubscribe | Print friendly format | Web version | Search past news | Archive | Privacy policy Advertise Associate Publisher, Food Service:  Chris Warne (212) 450-7970 Download Media Kit Job Board:  Jackie Basso (202) 407-7871   Read more at SmartBrief.com A powerful website for SmartBrief readers including: Industry Home Readers' Choice Search Archive Who's Hiring? 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