Hershey's 'Pure' Campaign Aims to Melt Hearts

The current spot is the work of Wallace & Gromit creators Aardman Animations. It takes viewers inside a Hershey's candy bar that melts into an animated scene of a girl on a swing, which morphs into another scene showing the girl and her boyfriend driving in a chocolate convertible. Chocolate bunnies chase the couple as they ride into the sunset and "I Melt With You" by Modern English provides background music. A female voiceover asks: "What Makes a Hershey's bar pure?" She then answers: "pure simplicity," "pure happiness," "pure delicious."

Brand Week

How Whole Is Whole Grain?

The dispute points up the growing popularity of whole-grain breads and cereals. The whole-grains drumbeat started in the U.S. after 2001, when concerns over increasing obesity rates grew, and dieticians and nutritionists began looking for ways to improve Americans' diets. In 2003, an Agriculture Dept. analysis found that Americans were consuming an average of 10 servings of grain a day, but just a little over one serving of that was whole grain.

Business Week

In bad taste. . .

Commercial Innovation

A new buzz

San Franciscans have been serious about coffee before. But these are heady times for the cast and castaways of a growing subculture—the artists and eccentrics, addicts and obsessives—that populates the specialty-coffee business. And they are curious times for the rest of us, who wonder not only who these oddballs are, but also whether their coffee is worth the fuss.

“It’s subjective, clearly,” says James Freeman, owner of Blue Bottle Coffee Company. “Does coffee brewed from single-origin beans in a siphon or a Clover taste more yummy than, say, Folgers from a percolator? I believe it does. But it would be hubris to suggest that we’re making better coffee than anyone ever has. My feeling is, there are already enough places where you can get a cinnamon latte and a muffin wrapped in plastic. Why would I want to build another one of those?”

San Francisco Online

Tug of War in Food Marketing to Children

The F.T.C. seemed to applaud the progress that the coalition had made. “The committee’s primary recommendation is all food and beverage companies adopt and adhere to” nutritional standards for products marketed to children, said Lydia Parnes, director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, at a news conference in Washington. She said that joining the coalition would be “a useful first step” for companies.

But critics of the self-regulatory approach said they were troubled by the lack of industrywide definitions on what advertising to children entailed and on what “better” food meant.

New York Times

Pricier Products Pump Up Kraft's Profit

It was an appetizing quarter for Kraft. The maker of food products ranging from Oreo cookies to A1 barbecue sauce announced a jump in sales and earnings Monday, thanks to increased prices and a weak dollar.

Forbes

Slam dunk for Starbucks?

In the latest twist in New England's coffee wars, Quincy grocery chain Stop & Shop will drop Dunkin' Donuts stores from inside 130 supermarkets next year and likely replace them with rival java giant Starbucks, according to a Dunkin' franchise executive and a supermarket union official.

boston.com

SBUX Goes All BFY

starbucks.com

Health trend continues as obesity rates rise

Jonathan Thomas, principal market analyst for Leatherhead Food International, told FoodNavigator-USA.com that food manufacturers are capitalizing on the continued growth in demand for healthier products.

FoodUSANavigator.com

Hershey 2Q profit, sales up after price increase

A price increase and streamlined production lines helped Hershey to a dramatically higher second-quarter sales and profit, the company said Wednesday, as the nation's largest candy maker absorbs spiraling commodity costs and puts new emphasis on marketing muscle.

Yahoo Finance

A Maize Maze for the Golden Arches

Adweek

A Corner Deli With International Appeal

“Places like Zingerman’s are important for two reasons: they become arbiters of taste in America’s booming artisanal food industry simply by what they choose to put in their stores; and second, they are fundamental middlemen between the artisan producer and the consumer,” Mr. Ruhlman said. “There’s not a lot the consumer can do, really, to get Iberian ham, but Ari can.”

NY Times

Smucker gets green light on Folgers

The J.M. Smucker Co. has won federal clearance to purchase the Folgers coffee business from Procter & Gamble Co., in a $3 billion tax-free stock deal.

Business Courier

Full Throttle Energy Drink gives coffee a ‘kick’ with launch of new Full Throttle Coffee

Made with 100 percent premium Colombian Arabica coffee and Full Throttle’s energy and vitamin blend, Full Throttle Coffee is sure to rev up taste buds in mocha, vanilla and caramel flavors. It will be available in 15-ounce aluminum cans.

BevNet

Kohler Chocolates

thedieline.com

ConAgra's Linne: Keeping Iconic Brands From Languishing

The task, as he sees it, is to make ConAgra's advertising more engaging and memorable. Mr. Linne, 47, admits his company has lately fallen short in that regard. But he has an enviable budget with which to get started: In terms of measured media, ConAgra's spending was up sharply in 2007, to $199 million from $149 million in 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

Ad Age

Spice Girls

Every once in a while, a packaging idea comes along that changes a food category. Pringles proved you could stack potato chips in a can. Heinz showed you could sell an upside-down ketchup bottle. Now Katie Luber and Sara Engram are hoping they've hit on a paradigm shift for the spice industry: single-use, premeasured packets that reflect how cooks actually use seasonings--one teaspoon at a time.

Time Magazine

Starbucks closing 600 stores in the US

Starbucks Corp. said Tuesday it will close 600 company-operated stores in the next year, up dramatically from its previous plan for 100 closures, a sign the coffee shop operator is still feeling the pain from the faltering U.S. economy.

Associated Press

BK Kids Meals Go Green, Healthy

BK is making its Fresh Apple Fries with low-fat caramel dipping sauce, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Hershey's 1% low fat milk Kids Meal a permanent menu item beginning this month. All Kids Meals' will now be packaged in bags made from 100% recycled materials. Beverage cups will be made from 10% recycled materials. New packaging will feature information on recycling and other steps kids can take to make a positive impact on the environment.

Brand Week

Campbell Buys Wolfgang Puck Soups

The king of condensed soups is taking a big step upscale by acquiring the Wolfgang Puck soup business from Country Gourmet Foods for an undisclosed sum. Campbell has also entered into a licensing agreement with Wolfgang Puck Worldwide for the use of the Puck brand to market soup, stock and broth products throughout North America.

The move not only allies Campbell with a celebrated chef but brings it further into the growing realm of organics; Mr. Puck has been vocal about his desire to use organic ingredients at all of his restaurants and in all of his packaged-food products.

Ad Age