General Mills shelves SmartChoice program

Golden Valley-based food maker General Mills Inc. announced they would no longer participate in the Smart Choices labeling program after the program was criticized for misleading consumers about the nutritional value of some foods.

General Mills joined Kraft, PepsiCo, ConAgra Foods, Kellogg, Riviana Foods, Sun-Maid and Unilever in phasing out the program from their packaging.

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

Cans Are Hot!

Back to basics with an increased focus on center-store innovation:

“Center store is back,” said Tom Vierhile, a research director who tracks new products at Datamonitor in New York. “People got away from it in the first place because it lacked the pizzazz and sex appeal” that’s present in categories such as the frozen and fresh produce units, he said.

BrandWeek

General Mills, Target Play on Consumers' Nostalgia

General Mills has given Target a month-long exclusive on retro box designs for some of its best-selling cereals, Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs and Trix. The package-food company is giving away T-shirts with the old designs as part of the deal. Consumers with five proof-of-purchase labels will be entitled to a free shirt at cerealwear.com. Consumers who would rather just buy one can go to the site and spend $5 to don a defunct Mills design.

Ad Age

Food Marketers Take Safer Course in Recession

As economy contracts, marketers increasingly rely on the safe and familiar:

Whereas previous years were marked by ambitious launches and re-branded lines, this meeting was mainly about line extensions or re-branding. Campbell emphasized it is reducing the sodium content across its soup portfolio, with 50% of its soups expected to have less salt than the original versions by fiscal 2010. General Mills is building on its success in the cereal category by offering new versions of its most popular brands, such as Banana Nut Cheerios. Kellogg Co. is launching savory cracker products tied to its Special K brand (a line extension), and a number of new Eggo waffles with flax and blueberries (also a line extension).

Ad Age

Fiber Being Pitched As Tasty, Sexy Even

Fiber, the chewy, gummy, indigestable substance that is said to promote both weight loss and regularity, is not known for its taste, but you wouldn’t know it from the industry’s latest spin.

BrandWeek

General Mills, ConAgra Report Good Quarters

While factors such as the lingering effects of recent high commodities prices and consumer resistance to value-priced brands had some impact, both General Mills and ConAgra reported solid financial performance for their latest quarters on Wednesday.

Marketing Daily

Economy May Be Rotten, but It's Ripe for Package Food

Campbell Soup's sales rose 13% in the most recent quarter, a phenomenon CEO Douglas Conant said was aided partly by strapped consumers embracing condensed soup as an inexpensive meal alternative. Kellogg Co.'s second-quarter sales climbed 11% to $3.3 billion, a rise CEO David Mackay told analysts was due to "a reduction [by consumers] in out-of-home consumption."

Ad Age