Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
From BrandWeek | Northfield-based Kraft Foods is launching a new social media effort to continue promoting its Macaroni ‘N Cheese Dinner Cheddar Explosion. Kraft will be showing videos of its sponsored implosion of the former home of the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Stadium. One video features the voice of ESPN’s Chris Berman counting down the minutes to the stadium’s implosion.
Get the full story: brandweek.com.
Interamerican cookie chip cookies. Kraft says Interamerican has ignored requests to stop using the packaging.
By Becky Yerak |
Kraft Foods wants a rival to say goodbye to cookie packaging that it alleges is strikingly similar to its Chips Ahoy brand.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in a U.S. District Court in Chicago, Northfield-based Kraft alleges that Interamerican Foods Corp. is selling chocolate chip cookies with packaging “that is very similar to, and was clearly derived from, Kraft Foods’ package design.”
From Home Channel News | Oak Brook-based Ace Hardware has launched its first Spanish- language
ad campaign. According to the ad agency Revolucion Hispanic Communications, three 30-second advertisements have been
developed and are airing nationwide on Spanish language channels such as Univision, Telemundo, Telefutura,
Galavision, ESPN Deportes and Fox Sports En Espanol.
Read the full story: homechannelnews.com.
Associated Press | General Mills Inc. says it will cut the amount of sodium by 20 percent in a number of its cereals, soups, snacks and other products by 2015.
General Mills, which makes foods such as Cheerios cereal and Progresso soup, is the latest of several major food makers to reduce the salt in its foods as regulators and consumers push for healthier products. Other food makers that have recently announced changes to their products
to meet regulatory pressure and consumer desire for healthier products
include Kraft Foods Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc. and Campbell Soup Co.
Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal | Twitter Inc. will
start rolling out advertising to users Tuesday, the four-year-old
company’s first significant attempt to turn its microblogging service
into a profitable business.
The company plans to announce a new service called Promoted Tweets, a
Twitter spokesman said. The ads will appear at the top of search
results for searches users conduct on Twitter, a model similar to
Google Inc.’s wildly successful search advertising system. Over time,
they may appear in the stream of posts users see when they log into the
site.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch | You’d better be ready to pony up if you want the Clydesdales to show up at your event. Anheuser-Busch is now charging $2,000 per appearance.
See the full story: A-B adds hitch to Clydesdale visits: A $2,000 fee.
Texas Stadium in Irving Texas. (Business Wire)
From Bloomberg News | Kraft Foods Inc. is paying $75,000 to sponsor the demolition of the Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, once the home of the Dallas Cowboys, to promote its new “Cheddar Explosion” macaroni and cheese. Under a “Demolicious” banner, an 11-year-old who won a Kraft essay contest will trigger the explosives on Sunday.
Get the full story: businessweek.com
From Media Bistro | Sources are saying that ad agency DDB Chicago has laid off 15-20 staffers “across the board.”
Get the full story: mediabistro.com.
From Advertising Age | As part of an effort to “purchase media more effectively,” Anheuser-Busch InBev and Pepsi have joined forces to wring savings out of media companies. The two companies are the Super Bowl’s two largest advertisers, and both spent more than $1.15 billion on U.S. media last year.
Get the full story: adage.com.
(Chicago Tribune Photo)
Associated Press | The dripping red wax seal on a bottle of Maker’s Mark is not only
distinctive, it’s now exclusive legal property of the bourbon company.
A
federal judge on Friday issued an injunction preventing a rival liquor
company from using a dripping wax seal on its tequilas sold in the
United States, ending a seven year legal battle over the bottle topper. The
ruling by U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II comes in a
long-running lawsuit between Maker’s Mark and competitors Diageo North
America and Casa Cuervo over the Fortune Brands trademark on the wax
seal.
Deerfield, Ill.-based Fortune Brands owns Maker’s Mark.
Associated Press | Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services removed R.R. Donnelley & Sons
Co. from its CreditWatch list on Thursday after finishing a review of the
printing services company’s acquisition of Bowne & Co.
Standard & Poor’s backed its ratings on the Chicago company and
removed it from CreditWatch with negative implications.
A shopper trying on a hat and sunglasses at Claire’s in Old Orchard Mall. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
By Julie Wernau | Claire’s Stores Inc., the fashion accessory retailer behind the Claire’s
and Icing brands, reported modest growth in the fourth quarter and said
it plans to double capital expenditures in 2010 as it attempts to
rebrand and expand into new markets.
The Hoffman Estates-based company reported sales of $410.7 million for
the 2009 fourth quarter, an increase of $17.7 million over the previous
year that was primarily due to a foreign currency translation
effect. Same-store sales were up 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter, with
European stores faring better than those in North America. The company
said winter and holiday items were popular buys.
(Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune)
From BrandWeek | Northfield-based Kraft is trying to capitalize on the current popularity of macaroni and cheese in the U.S. by introducing ads promoting family dinners. One 30-second ad, produced by ad firm Euro RSCG Chicago, opens with a mother preparing macaroni and cheese for her family. It ends with the tagline: “Velveeta Shells & Cheese. The best side of dinner.”
Get the full story: brandweek.com.
Jack Nugent, dress as a clown holds a sign asking Ronald McDonald to retire, while talking with Michael Peavy, left, and others, across from the McDonald’s restaurant on Chicago and State today. (Abel Uribe/ Chicago Tribune)
| By Julie Wernau | It’s not that people don’t like Ronald McDonald. About two-thirds of them do, according to the results of survey released today by Corporate Accountability International. But about 47 percent of them think it might be time for him to retire. The group, which is hosting retirement parties at college campuses and |
See also • Photo gallery: Corporate mascot trivia • Read the report: “Clowning With Kids’ Health”
|
From BrandWeek | Chicago-based MillerCoors told distributors the Miller Vortex bottle, which swirls beer as it pours, would hit stores shelves later this month. It is also planning a taste-test focused marketing effort and launching Miller Home Draft as it tries to counter a 1.7 percent decline in sales last year.
Get the full story: brandweek.com
