Tub of Cool Whip too Challenging? Try the Can†

Kraft Wants to Prove It Can Innovate by Unveiling Slew of Even-Easier-to-Use Products

Advertising Age, May 5, 2008 — Kraft Foods, which has made a business out of making meals easy, has heard from consumers that its products still weren't easy enough. And so Kraft is preparing to unveil to grocers some 80 new products at the Food Marketing Institute show in Las Vegas next week designed to appeal to even the laziest Americans.

The launches come as the company negotiates a complicated turnaround. It is beset with an unwieldy portfolio, old-but-storied brands and sky-high commodity costs. In order to hold prices and still drive demand, Kraft has boosted marketing spending, reformulated products such as Maxwell House and Oscar Mayer franks, and attempted to make its products more convenient and portable.

At Starbucks, Low Key Vet Plots Course†

Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2008 — For the past two months, Howard Schultz has been the public face of Starbucks Corp.'s effort to turn around its coffee empire.

But the person crafting many of the strategies is a 40-year-old chemical-engineering graduate who was behind the success of Starbucks's Frappuccino line.

Tomorrow , Michelle Gass will sit in one of the front rows at Starbucks's annual shareholders meeting in Seattle while Mr. Schultz stands on stage and unveils fresh details of plans to revive the company. Mr. Schultz is expected to address how Starbucks will reassert its position as the world's coffee authority, reignite what the company calls its emotional attachment with customers and carve out new areas for growth.

Ms. Gass has been Mr. Schultz's right-hand person in... continue reading

Fix the Actual Process of Developing New Products†

Get Going: There Is Much That Can Be Done Very Early in the Game

Advertising Age, March 3, 2008 — An article published Oct. 1, 2007, in Advertising Age sported the provocative headline, "Want New Products That Get Noticed? Change the Process." The article offered data regarding marketers' views of product introductions.

And it's a dismal picture: Even marketers believe most new products have little innovation or reason for being. And they don't expect to be doing genuine innovation in the near term.

Author Barry Curewitz did a great job of laying out the many ways creativity is not a core value, is not rewarded and is not invited into typical marketing management. My belief is that beyond introducing more creative content, the process of product development can be improved as well. In fact, there is much that can be done to improve the... continue reading

The Pepsi challenge

Can this snack and soda giant go healthy? CEO Indra Nooyi says yes, but cola wars and corn prices will test her leadership.

FORTUNE, March 1, 2008 — Pepsi can have a strange effect on people. The company, that is, not the beverage. No sooner had PepsiCo president Indra Nooyi gotten word 18 months ago that she was to become the next CEO than she hopped on a plane to Cape Cod, where Mike White, her main challenger for the job, was vacationing. The two had worked together for years. Both had been CFOs and rising stars. Both loved music. When they'd been kicked out of a board meeting the previous month while their fates were being discussed, they went to the Jersey Boys musical on Broadway and sang along to all the Frankie Valli songs.

As Nooyi's plane landed on Cape Cod, there was White waiting for her at the airport with a card he'd written to congratulate her. They took a long walk on the beach. Back... continue reading

Hoping to Make Phone Buyers Flip

New York Times, February 29, 2008 — These days, designing a new mobile phone can seem like something out of an episode of “Dr. Phil.”

LG Electronics, the maker of the Chocolate and Voyager phones, begins by asking focus groups to keep a journal, jotting down feelings about features they like most. Participants can call a toll-free number to share their emotions about the phone they are testing. And sometimes they are asked to draw pictures that represent their mood when they hold the phone.

“Our job is to be behaviorists and psychologists,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, LG’s vice president for product strategy and marketing. “We constantly have to be reminding ourselves that we tend to be geek types and our customers are not.”

Executives and industry analysts say it has become... continue reading

Fortified Water Has Gone to the Dogs†

Beverage Makers Target Canines and Kids as They Chase Shares of Booming $1.46 Billion Category

Advertising Age, February 25, 2008 — How many more ways can marketers possibly target "enhanced" water? At least two: for kids and dogs.

Cott Corp. earlier this month introduced Fortifido, described as the "first-ever fortified water for pets with real functional benefits." The brand comes in vitamin-enhanced formulas to promote healthy bones, healthy skin, fresh breath and healthy joints in flavors including spearmint, parsley and peanut butter.

Meanwhile, Bot Beverages, which markets a line of kid-targeted waters in orange, grape and berry flavors that have no artificial sweeteners and preservatives, is looking to support its growing distribution with an inaugural marketing campaign.

Stimulus Plan for Candy: Pack It Full of Caffeine†

Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2008 — The candy industry is rolling out new sweets packed with more than just sugar.

Buzz-inducing candy, spiked with caffeine and, often, vitamins, are the low-growth, $29 billion U.S. candy, gum and chocolate industry's answer to surging competition from energy drinks. And just like those beverages, the caffeine-infused candy often sports a controversial name that critics say evokes illegal drugs.

Navistar to unveil luxury heavy-duty truck

Crain's Chicago Business, February 7, 2008 — Navistar International Corp. will begin offering a new heavy-duty truck aimed at the high end of the market where the company has struggled to sell trucks in the past.

The Warrenville-based company’s will unveil its new LoneStar model today at the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place.

The big highway tractor attempts to combine daring exterior styling and lots of interior comforts with the Navistar’s latest performance innovations, such as better fuel mileage and improved suspension.

Seemed Like a Good Idea Inc.†

Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2008 — Blue french fries. A colorless soda that tastes funny. A frozen soup-and-sandwich convenience food that turned out to be inconveniently labor intensive.

These products not only failed in the marketplace, but did so predictably, at least in the eyes of Calvin L. Hodock, a marketing guru whose "Why Smart Companies Do Dumb Things" is all about the many ways that innovation can go wrong. Mr. Hodock knows a thing or two about the subject, and his book offers considerable wisdom, some of it conventional and some of it not. Despite having a wooden writing style and a propensity for stating the obvious, he raises a handful of matters worth thinking about.

Refilling Kraft's Cookie Jar

CEO Irene Rosenfeld is banking on a raft of new products to boost sales. Can she whip them up before investors lose patience?

BusinessWeek, December 13, 2007 — Oh, the lunchtime dilemma. That turkey-on-whole-wheat sandwich you brown-bagged from home is properly frugal but so boring. That takeout panini with rosemary chicken, sun-dried tomato, and aioli, on the other hand, is tasty but sure takes a bite out of the paycheck. The chefs at Kraft Foods (KFT) think they've found a middle option: Oscar Mayer Deli Creations. The $2.99 kits, rolled out in grocery stores in August, have the makings of a hot meat-and-cheese sandwich, with bread that even gets toasty in the microwave.