Coca-Cola purchases minority stake in L.A. Libations Coca-Cola's Venturing and Emerging Brands group has purchased a minority stake in L.A. Libations, which was started by three former Coca-Cola employees. L.A. Libations has contributed many of VEB's expansion strategies, including expanding the presence of Coca-Cola's brands in drug, warehouse and supermarkets. L.A. Libations is behind the creation of the Aloe Gloe aloe water brand and Arriba!, an energy horchata that is available exclusively in 7-Eleven stores. BevNet.com (5/14) How innovation drives sales for B&G Foods B&G Foods credits innovation and product development with helping the company maintain sales and market share in a competitive field. Its Ortega brand launched new flavors of skillet sauces, flat-bottomed taco shells and fish taco seasoning mix, and sales have increased from $80 million 10 years ago to $150 million today. New dry seasoning mixes and dip mixes also revived B&G's Mrs. Dash brand, and the company also expanded its Pirate's Booty and Rickland Orchards product lines. FoodBusinessNews.net (free registration) (5/14) Leaf Brands plans to bring back the Hydrox cookie Leaf Brands recently acquired the unused trademark to Hydrox cookies, and the Oreo-like cookies could be on store shelves by September, according to Ellia Kassoff, CEO of Leaf Brands. The brand is well-known to baby boomers but may be unfamiliar to the younger millennial generation. The company plans to use social media to introduce the brand to the younger consumers. USA Today (5/11)  | Is Your Small Business Using Social Media?
Three in five business owners expect to spend the same or more time on social advertising in the coming year. Social media continues to be a valuable resource for small businesses looking to drive sales, increase brand awareness and reach new customers. Download your free white paper, Going Global: Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses, and learn why it is important to be strategic in choosing your social media platforms. |
 | Datamonitor: Snack makers underestimated consumers' desire for indulgence Many snack makers misread consumers' desire for nutritional ingredients as more important than the desire for indulgence, and their efforts to fortify snacks has only confused consumers, according to Mark Whalley of Datamonitor Consumer. "The snacks category is perhaps not developed as much towards the idea of positive nutrition as maybe we would have thought it would a couple years ago," Whalley said. "It will be not necessarily about developing more and more sophisticated functional ingredients; it will be about experiencing different cultures and tying healthy messages into something that might be a little less familiar to consumers." BakeryAndSnacks.com (France) (5/13)  | White Paper: An Uncanny Solution
Today's retail market is more challenging than ever, with the average supermarket carrying nearly 47,000 products. Well designed packaging is a brand's greatest tool to engage with the overwhelmed consumer. Download this white paper to find out how the right packaging can influence shoppers in the store and after they've taken your product home. |
 |  | Going Local: Expanding Ad Relevance Using Search
A location-based search strategy can help audiences get the relevant information they need to take immediate action. New research shows that over half of smartphone searches done on the go have local intent. Read about the power of local search and download the full study on Think with Google. |
 | Survey: A sustainable supply chain needs strong leadership support A survey of supply chain professionals revealed that lack of leadership support is a large barrier to supply chain sustainability. According to the survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers and APICS Foundation, sustainability strategies must be supported by mandates, incentives and resources to generate positive results. The survey also named other barriers to supply chain sustainability, including inadequate sustainability education and training, confusion about company supply chain sustainability goals and unaligned employee performance measurement and incentives. Environmental Leader (5/8) | A.1. Sauce looks to expand beyond steak with new campaign A.1. Sauce is dropping "Steak" from its name and rolling out a TV campaign from CP+B, Los Angeles, featuring people with odd habits putting A.1. on nontraditional foods. The "For Almost Everything. Almost" campaign is a return to TV after five years and also includes a digital spot where A.1.'s Facebook presence "friends" green beans, fish tacos and other foods. The campaign is a response to research showing that the brand's top fans used the sauce on chicken, pork and french fries, among other items, said Kraft brand manager Cindy Halvorsen. Advertising Age (free access for SmartBrief readers) (5/14) Mondelez: Mobile's transformative powers require new thinking Companies must embrace mobile marketing, but the medium's transformative potential requires new thinking, according to Bonin Brough, vice president of media and consumer engagement for Mondelez International. While 24% of consumers' media consumption happens on mobile devices, mobile only attracts 1% of a typical marketer's budget; marketers need to adjust their ideas about return on investment, Brough suggested. Mondelez has adopted an attribution model using "connection planning" to determine how social and mobile activities impact results. CMO.com (5/15) | Food Lion changes direction to focus on customers Food Lion unveiled a new logo Wednesday, along with a strategy to bring in more shoppers and reposition itself as a competitive grocer in a crowded market. The retailer will remodel all of its 1,100 stores, expand its selection based on different markets and retrain its workforce of 63,000 employees to focus on customers. "For our customers to trust us, they need to be able to go into any Food Lion store and have a consistently great experience. This is why our efforts to improve customer service and ensure our products are always fresh are so important," Food Lion CEO Beth Newlands Campbell said. The Charlotte Observer (N.C.) (5/14) | Product recall management training available in 2 locations Product recalls can be costly for any company, but when they do occur CPG companies have to act and communicate quickly. GMA will provide industry resources, the latest technology and mock recall training at the Efficient and Effective Product Recall Management training on June 4 in Chicago. A second session will be held in San Diego on Sept. 24. |  | Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't." -- Erica Jong, American writer | | | Please contact one of our specialists for advertising opportunities, editorial inquiries, job placements, or any other questions.
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