French's campaign touts easy recipes

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September 7, 2011 News for the food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry   Company Watch    French's campaign touts easy recipes with French Fried Onions Reckitt Benckiser is giving French's French Fried Onions a new look and an ad campaign, with the slogan "The difference is indescribable." The campaign offers easy-to-prepare recipes such as cheeseburgers, meatloaf and chicken made with the crunchy bits. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (9/6)      Nestle Purina exits steel-can business Silgan Holdings has purchased steel-can manufacturing operations from Nestle Purina for $25 million. Nestle Purina uses the cans for pet food and has entered a long-term supply agreement with Silgan. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (9/6)      Other News Cargill to sell fund service unit to Wells Fargo The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model) (9/6)      Despite being a backbone enterprise application, Enterprise Resource Planning is often misunderstood. In this guide from Focus, top experts provide their suggestions and recommendations to guide you through your evaluation of the best choices. Unravel the complexities of ERP once and for all to make an informed buying decision by downloading this free white paper.   Trends  Biggest brands losing some of their best customers The best-selling packaged-goods brands saw the defection of some of their most loyal customers over the past year, per a study by Catalina Marketing, which examined shopper loyalty-card data related to the top 100 CPG brands. According to Catalina, these brands experienced a 46% dip in loyalty among their best customers, although they still managed to grow their sales by an average of 2.2% during the 52-week period examined in the study. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (9/7)      Protocol for packaging sustainability is unveiled The Consumer Goods Forum created the Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability to provide common language for companies and business partners. The protocol, a free download, was designed by retailers and manufacturers including Target, Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart Stores and Unilever. Supermarket News (9/6)      Consumer Reports finds half of celebrity-backed food "average" Consumer Reports ranked 26 food products from television chefs and other celebrities and found half to be "average," despite their higher cost. The researcher ranked three items as "excellent": Giada De Laurentiis' tomato basil pasta sauce, Mario Batali's marinara sauce and Wolfgang Puck's tomato basil bisque. Ten products were deemed "very good." Los Angeles Times/Money & Company blog (9/6)      Maximize Your Business's Potential. Choose the American Express OPEN® Charge Card that's right for your established business. • Purchasing Power • Savings on business expenses • Cash flow flexibility • More rewards American Express OPEN®. Apply Now.   Advertising & Marketing    Marketers see more social media in their futures Marketers interviewed in a Duke University survey say they will increase spending on social media from the current level of 7.1% of the total marketing budget to 10.1% in one year and 17.5% in five years. However, 22.3% of marketers said their company's social media use is "not integrated at all" with its overall strategy. MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily (9/6)      Other News Claussen Pickles plans chilly reward for contest winner MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily (9/6)      The rise of social media has broken the traditional sales and marketing playbooks. Customers are in the driver's seat with more information and buying power than ever, forcing your company to adapt. Has your company made the social leap? Learn how HERE.   Retail Spotlight    Hannaford joins e-coupon program SavingStar Hannaford Bros. signed on for coupon program SavingStar, which lets shoppers load e-coupons to their loyalty cards. The grocery bill stays the same, and the value of coupons is adding to a SavingStar account, which customers can collect, use for an Amazon gift card or donate to American Forests. Supermarket News (9/5)      With an annual growth rate over 25%, Organic Valley needed to consolidate its disparate systems into one enterprise solution to improve operating efficiencies and maintain the high quality of its line of perishable food products. Read this case study to learn how they did it.   Sponsored Content    Today In Small Business Tara Fuller 7 Mistakes Bosses Make That Drive Employees Crazy Julie Rains Putting It Out In the Universe Cameron Herold The 10 Worst Things About Owning A Business Barry Moltz 6 Ways For Business Travelers To Get A Good Night's Sleep Kentin Waits   Health & Wellness  One reduced-calorie meal daily makes a difference, study says A small study found that people who ate one reduced-calorie meal per day consumed fewer total calories that day and, overall, lost weight, according to a report in the journal Appetite. Cornell University researchers said the study data do not support the commonly held idea that if people eat less for one meal, they make up for it by eating more at other meals. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (9/5)        GMA News  GMA offers new FSMA series webinar on hazard analysis this fall As a result of the recently passed Food Safety Modernization Act, food manufacturing facilities will be required to conduct hazard analysis, develop and implement written preventive control plans and house records of both to ensure that food is not adulterated. To help build a strong foundation for these new requirements, GMA will offer the Hazard Analysis and Food Safety Control: Learning By Example webinar on Sept. 28, from 1-3 p.m. EDT. This how-to informational webinar on hazard analysis for food safety plans will provide up-to-date information on definitions and resources for conducting a hazard analysis. To get the right training from a recognized leader in HACCP-based approaches to food safety, click here today.      Learn more about GMA -> About GMA  |  Issues and Policy  |  Newsroom  |  Events  |  Research and Tools   Government & Food Safety  Senate will push for FDA budget increase, source says The Senate reportedly plans to propose an FDA budget of $350 million for fiscal 2012, $50 million more than for fiscal 2011. The Senate Appropriations Committee's effort to increase FDA funding contrasts with a House initiative, which calls for a $285 million reduction. FoodSafetyNews.com (9/7)      Position Title Company Name Location Regulatory Coordinator Baldwin Richardson Food Co. Macedon, NY Assistant Packing Manager Boston Beer Company Cincinnati, OH Click here to view more job listings.   SmartQuote  Save your rejections so that later when you are famous you can show them to people and laugh." --Meg Cabot, American 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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