Industry News
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Ringing up big changes at Supervalu
(Star Tribune) Every few months, St. Paul-based Old Home Foods likes to roll out a temporary, unusual flavor of yogurt, and right now it’s “Sugar Cookie.” But customers at many Cub supermarkets won’t see it on the shelves. (Click HERE for full story.)
Whole Foods endorses healthy lunches
(In-Store Marketing) Whole Foods Market sought to reach conscientious parents this fall with a program communicating the importance of healthy school lunches. (Click HERE for full story.)
7-Eleven elevates Bargerhuff to CMO
(Brandweek) 7-Eleven announced today that Rita Bargerhuff has been promoted to CMO. Previously, she had served as the convenience store chain’s vp of marketing. (Click HERE for full story.)
Beer, snacks top consumer satisfaction index
(Brandweek) In these tough economic times, consumers are pleased with their comfort foods, according to the latest American Consumer Satisfaction Index released this week. (Click HERE for full story.)
Impulse buying is alive and well
(Adweek) While consumer spending has certainly taken a hit during the recession, the decline has never quite measured up to the claims survey respondents routinely make about draconian, across-the-board cuts in their own expenditures. (Click HERE for full story.)
Blackstone’s Pinnacle to acquire Birds Eye for $1.3 billion
(The Wall Street Journal) Birds Eye Foods, the largest frozen-vegetable company in the U.S., will be acquired for $1.3 billion by Pinnacle Brands Corp.
Owned by private-equity giant Blackstone Group, Pinnacle is one of the country’s largest packaged-food companies with well-known consumer brands such as Duncan Hines baking mixes and Swanson frozen dinners.The deal, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals, is expected to close no later than the first quarter.
“The transaction provides meaningful opportunities to create value and strengthens our financial position,” said Pinnacle Chief Executive Bob Gamgort. He said the deal “creates a leader in both the frozen and shelf-stable business segments.”
Birds Eye, known for its branded frozen vegetables and frozen meals, is majority owned by the private-equity firm Vestar Capital Partners. It is also 40% owned by Pro-Fac, a 48-year-old New York agricultural cooperative. Birds Eye carries about $700 million in long-term debt.
Acquired by Vestar in 2002, Birds Eye is sold in most of the country’s largest grocery stores, including Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway. Birds Eye, which has about 1,700 full-time employees, has a dominant niche in frozen foods with about 25% of the frozen-vegetable market in the U.S.
It has warehouses and distribution centers across the Midwest in states including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
New Jersey-based Pinnacle was acquired by Blackstone in 2007 for $2.2 billion. It houses names well-known to consumers such as Vlasic pickles, Mrs. Butterworth pancake syrup and Open Pit barbecue sauce.
For the first nine months of the year, Pinnacle reported earnings of $10.8 million on sales of $1.23 billion.
The all-cash deal is yet another sign that private-equity funds have become more willing to make acquisitions after a tumultuous two-year period. Many private-equity funds are also eager to sell off businesses, having delivered few returns during the freeze in the credit and merger markets.
The purchase may also be another signal that lenders are willing to lend at higher leverage levels. In early November IMS Health Inc. agreed to a $4 billion private-equity leveraged buyout at five times earnings, a higher level than had been considered reasonable this year.
Pinnacle expects to fund the transaction using a combination of new-debt financing at the company and a “significant new equity contribution” from Blackstone.
Birds Eye had filed in early October for an initial public offering to raise at least $350 million. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show annual sales of $936 million and earnings of $53.6 million for the year that ended June 27, up from $868.3 million and $38 million, respectively, a year ago.
Movie theater popcorn: You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll get fat!
(USA Today) Here’s some news that may send moviegoers reeling: Theater popcorn is often loaded with calories and artery-clogging saturated fat, according to a new analysis. (Click HERE for full story.)
You, in the yoga pants, Metro is watching you
(The Globe and Mail) One of Metro Inc.’s prototypical customers is the “super-health-conscious” woman but the grocer recently found it wasn’t serving her well enough. She likes to eat yogurt, but its stores carried only a limited array of the dairy product. (Click HERE for full story.)
Vytorin, Lipitor or generic are same in analysis
(Bloomberg) Cholesterol pills Vytorin from Merck & Co. and Lipitor from Pfizer Inc. worked no better than simvastatin, a cheaper generic medicine, at keeping patients out of the hospital for heart attacks or stroke, a study found. (Click HERE for full story.)
Penn Traffic files for bankruptcy, plans to sell its P&C stores
(The Post-Standard) Two bankruptcy reorganizations and the mass closing of stores and warehouses during the past decade could not save the parent company of the P&C Foods supermarkets chain. (Click HERE for full story.)
Thanksgiving dinner costs down
(Arizona Daily Star) It may not make up for having to hear Uncle Harold’s stories for the umpteenth time. (Click HERE for full story.)
Kraft rivals mulling bid for Cadbury
(Reuters) Italy’s Ferrero and U.S.-based Hershey are reviewing options over a possible bid for Cadbury, but hostile bidder Kraft’s $16.8-billion offer is still seen as the front runner. (Click HERE for full story.)
Coca-Cola unifies juice brand designs
(Brandweek) The Coca-Cola Company has re-designed the packaging for its portfolio of global juice brands. The revamped line will make its debut this month with a new design for Minute Maid, and will expand to Del Valle, Andina and Cappy brands in 2010. (Click HERE for full story.)
IDDBA’s new value shopper finds store brands are growing fast
(IDDBA)Store brands are growing fast. This is one of the key findings in the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association’s (IDDBA) newest research, The New Value Shopper. (Click HERE for full story.)
For an ‘Educated Consumer,’ he discounted designer suits
(The Wall Street Journal) Sy Syms was a pioneer of off-price designer labels whose fame rested on folksy commercials that belied his talents as a merchandiser.
Mr. Syms, who died Nov. 17 at age 83, is remembered by many New York men as the source for their first suits, and by television viewers of both sexes as the star of late-night ads featuring Mr. Syms proclaiming, “An educated consumer is our best customer.”
Originally a seller of bargain men’s clothing and haberdashery in the Wall Street area, Mr. Syms later opened stores in suburban malls. He offered designer-label clothes at discounts he claimed were 30% to 50% and more off retail prices.
Mr. Syms’s monotone gave few clues to his background as a broadcaster. Ultimately, Mr. Syms joined the pantheon of other do-it-yourselfer admen in the New York area, such as Tom Carvel in the ice-cream business and Victor Potamkin, an auto dealer. Mr. Syms was savvy enough to set up his own ad agency to ensure that he got the agency discount when he bought airtime.
He had the ability to be a merchant, a promoter and a financier all at the same time,” says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail consulting and investment banking firm. “He is the first guy to offer discount designer suits on a major scale.”
Born Seymour Merinsky in Brooklyn, Mr. Syms was the son of Russian immigrants who started out in the collars and cuffs business. He served in the Army during World War II, studied broadcasting at New York University on the G.I. Bill, and worked as a radio broadcaster for a few years in the late 1940s, calling minor league baseball games.
In 1950, Mr. Syms joined his brother’s clothing store, “Merns,” near Manhattan’s financial district. In 1959, he left to open his own store, called “Sy Merns,” and was forced in a legal dispute to use a different name, according to an account provided by the company. He chose “Sy Syms,” and opened on Cortlandt Street, near his brother’s store and a few blocks from Wall Street.
“It was his joy to be on the selling floor from 12 noon to 2 o’clock,” says Marcy Syms, Sy’s daughter and now chief executive of the company. “That’s when the traders and bankers and lawyers would come in.” Today, salespeople are still called “educators,” she says, which follows his habit. “He loved to explain the clothes.”
The Cortlandt Street store made headlines when U.S. Steel Corp. wanted to eject Syms to make way for construction of a skyscraper in 1967. With months still remaining on his lease, Mr. Syms refused to budge and told The Wall Street Journal it would take “a minimum of $100,000” to get him to move. He soon moved for a much smaller sum.
Mr. Syms’s shop on Cortlandt Street was adjacent to the Hudson Tubes. There, trains ran to New Jersey, where an estimated 90% of his customers lived. In 1971, he opened his largest store ever in Paramus, N.J., and began more aggressively moving into marked-down brand-name suits. He also added women’s wear.
To support his expansion plans, Mr. Syms started advertising on the radio, reading the scripts himself. The first television ad came in 1974, and it was Mr. Syms who took credit for the trademark “educated consumer” phrase. It replaced an earlier slogan, “Unbelievable Syms!”
As his business expanded, Mr. Syms cut deals with big European labels such as Armani and Brioni to buy their excess production, and would then sell it at something close to wholesale.
In the early days, Syms clerks would snip the designer label out of the suit before handing it over to customers. Stores were kept Spartan, with black walls and plain racks weighed down with huge amounts of merchandise.
The formula worked, and Syms expanded in the 1970s and went public in 1983. Ms. Syms succeeded her father as CEO in 1998. This year, Ms. Syms led Syms Corp. in the takeover of retailer Filene’s Basement. Altogether, Syms now operates 52 stores.
One fan was New York Mayor Edward Koch, who has shopped at Syms since the 1960s. “I just bought two jackets there,” Mr. Koch said in an interview. “They’re both big bargains.”
| | 11.20.09 |
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Today's News Hot off the Press (Click HERE) |
Huge growth opportunities for Private Label in convenience stores
(Nielsen) Private label products, or store brands, are growing faster in convenience stores compared to other stores and represent a tremendous growth opportunity for the convenience channel, according to new research by The Nielsen Company. (Click HERE for full story.)
Target's expansion into food appears to be success
(The Packer) Target Corp.’s expansion of its food format in a handful of stores across the country appears to have been a success, and that means the retail chain’s shoppers can expect to see more food items in more stores in 2010. (Click HERE for full story.)
Loblaw sets stage for new food fight
(The Globe and Mail) The price of a boneless chicken breast, often the choice at many a dinner table, illustrates why the battle among grocers for consumer dollars promises to heat up. (Click HERE for full story.)
Coca-Cola rebrands global juice brand portfolio
(Brand Republic) The Coca-Cola Company has created a new visual identity which will cover its global portfolio of more than 100 juice and juice drink brands. (Click HERE for full story.)
Some retailers aren't happy to see cash
(Marketplace) More Americans say they'll be using cash instead of credit cards to pay for their holiday purchases this year. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports why that's bad new for retailers. (Click HERE for full story.)
Molson adds new brews to lift Canada sales
(The Wall Street Journal) Beer giant Molson Coors Brewing Co. is introducing new brands in Canada to try to reinvigorate a "beer market that has lacked excitement and news" for several years, the company's top executive in Canada said Tuesday.
Molson Coors is trying to reverse declining sales volumes in the country with the launch this week of Molson M and the recent launch of low-calorie Molson Canadian 67.
"One of the things we have to stay focused on is keeping our category exciting and relevant," and "attract people we haven't before," Dave Perkins, chief executive of Molson Canada, said in an interview.
Mr. Perkins, who became CEO in a management shake-up in June, said Canada's beer market has lagged the U.S. market in product innovation. Molson Coors controls about 40% of Canada's beer sales.
The company's new brands come at a time when the beer maker has been losing market share to smaller regional players amid heavy discounting in the beer segment.
Molson Coors's new products will face stiff competition from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV's Labatt unit in Canada, as well as small-batch "craft" beers that have gained traction in the country."I'm certainly not satisfied with where I see the top line," said Mr. Perkins, an Alberta native and veteran of Denver- and Montreal-based Molson Coors.
The company began selling Molson M in Quebec this week and intends to eventually sell it nationally. The brew is made using a proprietary process that Molson calls "microcarbonation," which is designed to remove dissolved oxygen from the beer and help preserve flavor. It will sell at a similar price to Coors Light and Molson Export.
The company previously said it would launch Molson M and Molson Canadian 67 during its earnings conference call earlier this month. Molson Canadian 67, named for the brew's calorie level, went on sale in Ontario and other parts of Canada in recent weeks. It is aimed at women, as well as men who are 30 and older.
Molson Coors lost a percentage point of market share in Canada in the latest quarter. The brewer said the Canadian division's underlying pretax income in the third quarter fell 7.7% to $139.3 million. Its sales to retailers slipped 3.2% by volume.
Canada is the biggest source of profits for Molson Coors, which co-owns MillerCoors LLC, the No. 2 U.S. brewer, with London's SABMiller PLC. The company's main rival in Canada is Anheuser-Busch InBev, which reported a 43% share of the market last year.
Molson Coors will also in the coming months unveil a new advertising campaign for Molson Canadian, a brand that "has wandered some over the years," Mr. Perkins said. Molson Canadian's share of the Canadian beer market fell to 7.2% this year from 9.2% in 2005, according to market-research firm Euromonitor International.
Mr. Perkins said consumers in Canada are showing similar levels of thrift when buying beer at stores as they do in the U.S., where industry volume is also down. However, in Canada there has been little "trading down" to cheaper brands, but rather consumers taking advantage of promotions by brewers within the same price segment.
"There is a cautiousness that we are seeing with consumers," Mr. Perkins said. "We need to ensure that we have brands that suit all occasions and all price points."
Online retail makes marketers' dreams come true
(destinationCRM) E-commerce wants to be marketing's new best friend. Online retail, although mostly thought of as a destination for customers to click "purchase" on the Web, holds greater opportunity for marketers than most think. (Click HERE for full story.)
New beverages creating category excitement
(Convenience Store News) Though long dominated by big brands mass marketed by the major soda companies, the U.S. beverage market is being shaken -- perhaps transformed -- by niche drinks targeted more specific consumer needs, occasions and benefits, according to recent research and industry players. (Click HERE for full story.)
Sara Lee attracts new suitor
(The Wall Street Journal) S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. has joined the bidding for Sara Lee Corp.'s air-freshener business, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially creating a formidable player in Europe with the combination of S.C. Johnson's Glade brand and Sara Lee's Ambi Pur.
The bidding for the unit, which pits S.C. Johnson against consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co., could fetch more than $700 million but could still be weeks away. S.C. Johnson is also interested in other parts of Sara Lee's international household-care business, which includes insecticides and Kiwi shoe polish, the people said. S.C. Johnson's board will meet this week to discuss a possible deal with Sara Lee, one of the people said. Sara Lee declined to comment, as did S.C. Johnson, of Racine, Wis.
The emergence of competition for P&G, which makes the air freshener Febreze and whose interest in the air-care business surfaced last month, could facilitate Sara Lee's goal of selling its international household and personal-care business. The company officially put the operations on the auction block in March and hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help sell them. In September, Sara Lee reached a deal to sell the personal-care business to Anglo-Dutch consumer-products company Unilever NV for about $1.9 billion.
Sara Lee Chief Executive Brenda Barnes has reshaped the Downers Grove, Ill., company since she took the helm in 2005, when it was a sprawling consumer-products giant. The sale of the international brands is part of a four-year effort at the company to slim down. Shedding the household and personal-care brands would revamp Sara Lee into a conglomerate mostly focused on food and beverages.
A person briefed on the matter said a number of possible bidders are still in the running for other parts of the household-products business and that all of the operations could be worth more than $1 billion. That could bring total proceeds from the household and personal-care sale to more than $3 billion—higher than some analysts estimated the businesses would fetch when they were first put up for sale.
The protracted auction had led to speculation among bankers that Sara Lee would either have to accept a lower price for the assets than it hoped or pull some of them off the market.
Ambi Pur had about $470 million in sales last year.
Hershey, Ferrero are ‘Reviewing Options’ on Cadbury
(Bloomberg.com) Hershey Co., the maker of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Italian chocolate maker Ferrero SpA said they’re reviewing their options about Cadbury Plc, the U.K. candy maker approached by Kraft Foods Inc. (Click HERE for full story.)
Tesco doubles Polish food range as Polish exodus ends
(The Telegraph) Sales of Polish food – once the fastest growing category of food in Tesco – fell sharply last year after at least 200,000 of the estimated 1.2 million Poles in Britain returned home during the recession. (Click HERE for full story.)
Target considering smaller stores to expand in cities
(Bloomberg.com) Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, is considering opening smaller-format stores to expand in cities. (Click HERE for full story.)
| | 11.19.09 |
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Today's News Hot off the Press (Click HERE) |
Who needs Santa when you have social media?
(Brandweek) Tis the season for social media. Seventeen percent of U.S. consumers plan to leverage social media sites to assist in their holiday shopping this year. The majority (60 percent) will do so to seek discounts and sales, according to Deloitte’s 24th Annual Holiday Survey. (Click HERE for full story.)
Most Fortune 100 companies don’t get Twitter
(Mashable) In August we reported that a large number of Fortune 100 companies have embraced Twitter, but how well are they actually using it? (Click HERE for full story.)
Arm & Hammer diaper pail finds fresh use for baking soda
(Brandweek) Church & Dwight has found new usage for baking soda: A vented diaper disposal system. The brand tapped baby care maker Munchkin to launch Arm & Hammer Diaper Pail, which hits stores this week. (Click HERE for full story.)
Talking back to the TV
(The Wall Street Journal) A host of nifty technical tricks has brought much-needed razzle-dazzle to Web ads. Now, the once stagnant television commercial is having its star turn.
This month, Burger King Holdings Inc. will roll out an interactive TV ad campaign that is part of the fast-food company’s elaborate movie tie-in with “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” the second film in the popular vampire-werewolf series. Viewers of the ads, which will appear on the satellite DirecTV service, will be able to use their remote controls to take a quiz testing their knowledge of the film.
Marketers are eager to bolster the performance of TV ads. In a 2008 study of big advertisers, more than 60% said TV advertising had become less effective over the past two years. Consumers are unhappy with the large amount of ad clutter that appears during commercial breaks, leading to the explosion of devices that allow viewers to circumvent TV ads altogether.
Advertisers believe that the longer they can keep viewers engaged with an ad, the more likely they are to buy. So companies such as Unilever PLC, Johnson & Johnson and Kraft Foods Inc. are increasingly turning to technologies that add interactive capabilities—games, coupons and informational videos—to their TV pitches.
Response Time
Interactive features, which are available from cable and satellite services as well as from technology companies such as TiVo Inc., provide more proof that viewers are watching ads—an important issue for those on Madison Avenue—as opposed to leaving the room or fast-forwarding. They also allow marketers to know which ads viewers are responding to.
“It’s the digital online experience, but you get it on your big-screen TV,” says Rob Master, Unilever’s media director of North America. “We are very bullish on interactive ads.”
Unilever—one of the world’s largest ad spenders and maker of brands such as Dove, Lipton and Vaseline—says it is making interactive TV ads a bigger part of its marketing playbook. It has done more than 40 interactive ad campaigns and says all of its brands are involved.
After discovering that young men were confused about how to use Axe body spray, Unilever used an interactive TV spot to show them how to apply the product. The ad featured freestyle motocross champion Adam Jones performing a motorbike stunt called “Double Pits to Chesty.” The bike move showed Mr. Jones doing a back flip while ripping off his shirt and spraying the body spray across his chest—from armpit to armpit.
DirectTV viewers could see an overlay that asked them to go to Channel 115 to “learn the move.” DirecTV Group Inc. says the interactive channel hosts a menu of videos and Flash-enabled pages created by marketers and DirectTV that can be navigated using the remote. In a video associated with the Axe ad, two talk-show hosts dissected the bike stunt while, at the bottom of the screen, tabs appeared. Using the arrow keys on the remote control, viewers were able to select a tab that brought up a videogame that let players perform a simulated version of the bike stunt using commands on their remote. Other tabs brought up a slow-motion version of the move and information about Axe body spray.
Unilever deployed the ad to 60 million homes that have either DirecTV or Dish Network Corp. service in July. The consumer-products titan says that in just a few weeks, 3.5 million people watched the video and spent an average of five minutes playing with the ad. “That kind of engagement with consumers leads to sales,” says Mr. Master. He declined to reveal specific sales data.
Tailored for TiVo
In July, Procter & Gamble Co. began running an ad for Charmin toilet paper with interactive features available to TiVo subscribers. When the animated ad, which features bears, appears on the television of a TiVo customer, a green thumb appears in the right corner of the screen that says, “Apply now for a valuable coupon from Charmin.”
When viewers click the thumb using their remote control, the program they are watching freezes and they are taken to a screen that asks if they would like a Charmin coupon. Using the remote, they can choose that option; the coupons are sent by mail. The program resumes once the viewer completes the interactive ad. TiVo declines to provide results for the ads, since the campaign is still running.
Such an ad requires marketers to give their ads to TiVo, which applies coding. The ad is sent back to the marketer and distributed to TV and cable networks around the U.S. Once the ad airs, TiVo boxes automatically pick up the coding, which triggers the set-top box to bring up the interactive component of the commercial for TiVo subscribers.
Still, interactive advertising isn’t easy; marketers have long bemoaned the laborious process of creating interactive ads. Advertisers are used to reaching large swaths of TV households with one ad. But interactive ads require advertisers to customize each campaign for each TV company, because they all use slightly different technologies.
Game Controls
For the Axe commercial, BrightLine iTV, a New York ad firm that specializes in interactive marketing, created two overlays since DirecTV and Dish Network have different-numbered channels for their interactive ads. It also had to create two versions of the game. In one, viewers controlled the bikes using the arrow keys. On the other, players could use both the select and arrow keys, which gave them more control.
The technology differences between TV platforms also forced BrightLine to create two entirely different games for an interactive campaign for Unilever’s Breyers ice cream. In the game for Dish, players tried to match the scoops of ice cream. The game for DirecTV let viewers create a dream sequence.
Regardless of the challenges, advertisers say they can’t wait for the bugs to be worked out and are plowing ahead. “For one-to-one interaction, it is worth the extra work,” says Jen Soch, director of advanced TV at Mediavest, a media-buying firm owned by Publicis Groupe SA.
Companies seeks insurance health through wellness programs
(Chicago Tribune) If you don’t have a wellness program at work, one likely will come your way soon. And count on your employer aggressively urging participation. (Click HERE for full story.)
Why are food allergies on the rise in children?
(Submitted by Nickie Dash, Associate Business Manager, Stop & Shop/Giant Landover, Quincy, MA)
(Sphere) The number of children with allergies to certain foods is rising at an alarming rate. (Click HERE for full story.)
How to reduce holiday stress
(redding.com) Thanksgiving can be one of the most joyous and fulfilling holidays of the season. But it can also create a great amount of stress and anxiety. (Click HERE for full story.)
Consumers love their supermarket apps
(Marketing Daily) ShopRite just announced that it’s launching an iPhone app, making it easier to search the sale prices from its weekly circulars. Shopper, currently the No. 1 grocery app, recently added weekly fliers from such grocery chains as Target, Giant and Walgreens. Click HERE for full story.)
National retail sales increase
(Philadelphia Business Journal) National retail sales in October — not counting vehicle sales — increased for the third-consecutive month, an encouraging sign for the hard-hit industry, according to a Retail Industry Leaders Association report released Monday. (Click HERE for full story.)
Satisfaction index a sign of optimism for holidays
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Stressed-out consumers want comfort food and comfortable clothes at the right price, and the fact that they’re relatively satisfied overall with what they’re getting may boost holiday shopping. (Click HERE for full story.)
Familiar brands satisfy customers, index shows
(Freep.com) It’s the simple pleasures that satisfy. Click HERE for full story.)
A key for unlocking memories
(The Wall Street Journal) One of the raps on iPods is that users tend to close themselves off from other people and retreat into their own private world
But with stroke and dementia patients, iPods and other MP3 players are having just the opposite effect.
Listening to rap and reggae on a borrowed iPod every day has helped Everett Dixon, a 28-year-old stroke victim at Beth Abraham Health Services in Bronx, N.Y., learn to walk and use his hands again.
Trevor Gibbons, 52, who fell out of a fourth-floor construction site and suffered a crushed larynx, has become so entranced with music that he’s written 400 songs and cut four CDs.
Ann Povodator, an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in Boynton Beach, Fla., listens to her beloved opera and Yiddish songs every day on an iPod with her home health aide or her daughter when she comes to visit. “We listen for at least a half-hour, and we talk afterwards,” says her daughter, Marilyn Povodator. “It seems to touch something deep within her.”
Caregivers have observed for decades that Alzheimer’s patients can still remember and sing songs long after they’ve stopped recognizing names and faces. Many hospitals and nursing homes use music as recreation, since it brings patients pleasure. But beyond the entertainment value, there’s growing evidence that listening to music can also help stimulate seemingly lost memories and even help restore some cognitive function.
“What I believe is happening is that by engaging very basic mechanisms of emotions and listening, music is stimulating dormant areas of the brain that haven’t been accessible due to degenerative disease,” says Concetta Tomaino, executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, a nonprofit organization founded at Beth Abraham in 1995.
Dr. Tomaino, who has studied the therapeutic effects of music for more than 30 years, is spearheading a new program to provide iPods loaded with customized playlists to help spread the benefits of music therapy to Alzheimer’s patients even at home. “If someone loved opera or classical or jazz or religious music, or if they sang and danced when the family got together, we can recreate that music and help them relive those experiences,” she says.
Dr. Tomaino says she frequently sees dementia patients make gains in cognitive function after music therapy. In one unpublished study she led a few years ago, with funding from the New York State Department of Health, 45 patients with mid- to late-stage dementia had one hour of personalized music therapy, three times a week, for 10 months, and improved their scores on a cognitive-function test by 50% on average. One patient in the study recognized his wife for the first time in months.
David Ramsey, a music therapist and psychologist, holds twice weekly sessions at Beth Abraham, where small groups of patients can sing and dance to familiar songs like “Under the Boardwalk” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Mr. Ramsey will sometimes stop singing and let residents fill in the blanks on their own. When they do that, he says, “they are exercising their cognitive function—just like they are exercising in physical therapy.” And unfamiliar songs quickly become familiar, another sign that even advanced Alzheimer’s patients are forming new memories. “One of our therapists played, ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’ I know they had never heard that one, but it became an anthem,” he says.
Dr. Janata hopes to study whether the same phenomenon occurs, in the same part of the brain, with older test subjects and eventually with Alzheimer’s patients. He says that activating memories with music cannot reverse or cure neurological diseases like dementia. But playing familiar music frequently can significantly improve a patient’s mood, alertness and quality of life.
Music therapy isn’t used more widely with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients largely because of a lack of manpower and money, experts say. There are only about 5,000 certified music therapists in the U.S., and fewer than 20% work with geriatric patients. That’s why the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function is trying to bring music therapy into patients’ homes.
Caregivers or family members can use records or tapes at home, or program their own iPods. The institute provides suggested songs by era and genre on its Web site, www.imnf.org. But those who don’t have the time or technical skills can send an iPod to the institute after filling out a questionnaire about the patient’s musical tastes, and the institute will program a customized iPod for them. (See the Web site for prices and package information.) The institute is also seeking donations of iPods that are no longer in use to load with music and send to Alzheimer’s patients who can’t afford their own.
Dr. Tomaino advises caregivers to listen as long as the patient seems interested. A patient may want to listen alone through headphones or through speakers so that a friend or family member can listen along. “Then they can reminisce together about what the music reminds them of or just hold hands to be more connected,” she says. She also suggests involving the whole family in interacting with the music. “The kids can drum along while Grandpa listens to Big Band sounds,” she says.
One possible downside: Dr. Tomaino says sometimes a song can evoke unhappy memories, such as the death of a loved one or a relationship gone bad. She recalls a Holocaust survivor at Beth Abraham who became very upset upon hearing a Wagner opera.
“If family members don’t know what music would be appropriate, think in generalizations,” she says. “If a parent loved to go dancing in their teens, picking the most popular songs from that era tends to be pretty safe.” Music from a person’s teenage years seems to be especially evocative of memories, for reasons not well understood.
How to market your business with Facebook
(The New York Times) Business owner, you might want to friend Facebook. (Click HERE for full story.)
One in seven Americans short of food
(Reuters) More than 49 million Americans -- one in seven -- struggled to get enough to eat in 2008, the highest total in 14 years of a federal survey on “food insecurity,” the U.S. government said Monday. (Click HERE for full story.)
Specialty foods avoid recession’s bite
(The Seattle Post-Intelligencer) The recession may have hit Seattle gourmets in the pocketbook, but they haven’t let it hit their taste buds. (Click HERE for full story.)
| | 11.18.09 |
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Today's News Hot off the Press (Click HERE) |
Wal-Mart looks to bolster suppliers
(The Wall Street Journal) Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is seeking to leverage its scale and its AA credit rating to offer about 1,000 suppliers an alternative to their traditional means of financing deliveries to the retailer.
The move could give the world’s largest retailer by revenue more power over its suppliers in the wake of the bankruptcy filing by lender CIT Group Inc.
Wal-Mart informed its suppliers in a Nov. 2 letter of its new “Supplier Alliance Program,” in which eligible suppliers can get payment for their orders in 10 to 15 days within its receipt of goods, compared with the more typical 60 to 90 days.
Under the program, suppliers can sell their Wal-Mart invoices to the retailer’s partner banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc., according to the letter, at interest rates based partly on Wal-Mart’s credit rating. In traditional factoring, lenders give manufacturers cash for their receivables and collect payments on those invoices.
Wal-Mart’s move comes after CIT, a lender to nearly a million small and midsize businesses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. CIT’s factoring unit finances nearly 2,000 manufacturers and importers. A spokesman declined to comment on the Wal-Mart program but said it continues “to do business as usual.” It has said it expects to exit from Chapter 11 by year-end.
Wal-Mart, of Bentonville, Ark., said the move was aimed at improving the stability of its supply of merchandise, not replace existing relationships. “We know that many of our suppliers are dependent upon factoring and financing companies that are reportedly in financial distress,” Theresa C. Mercado, Wal-Mart’s senior director for product extension, said in its letter, which was sent to a group of about 1,000 of its suppliers, primarily apparel manufacturers. In all, Wal-Mart has about 60,000 suppliers.
But some lenders say they are concerned nonetheless. “It is somewhat of a threat” to traditional factors, said Michael Stanley, a managing director at factor Rosenthal & Rosenthal. “Some vendors are going to say, ‘Hey, I have to sell my soul to the retailer here. I don’t think I want to do that. I’d rather get my own financing,’“ he said. Mr. Stanley predicted the Wal-Mart-sponsored program would probably appeal to suppliers in a weak financial condition or those that were forced to use CIT and couldn’t find another factor to finance them.
A few retailers have begun experimenting with supply chain finance programs as alternatives to traditional factoring. In July, Kohl’s Corp. sent its suppliers a letter promoting a “reduced” 3.5% annual percentage rate of interest through its Supply Chain Finance program. The program, developed by PrimeRevenue, lets suppliers get paid early once their invoices are approved for payment, it said. The suppliers sell their invoices to Bank of America at an interest rate based on Kohl’s credit rating.
Kohl’s, based in Menomonee Falls, Wisc., offered the program to 41% of its suppliers, and so far 11% have signed on, said Kohl’s spokeswoman Vicki Shamion. “This is not about CIT, but rather a proactive opportunity” for Kohl’s and its supplier partners, she said.
Suppliers might be more inclined to give certain retailers “preferential treatment” because of such programs, said Pratap Mukharji, a partner with consultant Bain & Company. It’s possible the arrangement could influence “how a supplier would look at a Wal-Mart, especially if, in a difficult economy, this program lets a supplier stay in business or make more money,” Mr. Mukharji added.
Many retailers fear that once the economy recovers, their suppliers may struggle to fulfill the increase in shopper demand for certain products because they may not have access to the increased working capital needed to boost production. “The lack of visibility that retailers have into the true economic condition of some of their smaller suppliers is a big concern,” Mr. Mukharji said.
Wal-Mart says it hopes the program will result in a more stable supplier base and more predictable supply of merchandise. Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley said its AA rating should result in “more attractive” interest rates for many of its suppliers than they could otherwise get. At Fitch Ratings, for instance, Wal-Mart is currently the highest-rated retailer, with a AA rating, while Kohl’s is rated BBB+, a Fitch spokeswoman said.“This isn’t about CIT,” Mr. Simley said. “It’s about the factoring environment generally.”
P&G, Walmart, Unilever, General Mills are major marketers on a mission
(Advertising Age) If you haven’t touched and improved more lives more completely lately, you probably wouldn’t last long as a Procter & Gamble Co. marketer (Click HERE for full story.)
Marketing helps Del Monte thrive during the recession
(Brandweek) When Del Monte Foods appointed Bill Pearce as its first CMO in May 2008, the goal was to deliver category-changing marketing that would drive the organization forward, the company said at the time. (Click HERE for full story.)
Companies go all out to woo bloggers
(Hartford Courant) On most days, Andrea Deckard can be found in her home office, digging through stacks of coupons and grocery receipts for money-saving tips and recipes that she can share with readers of her MommySnacks blog. (Click HERE for full story.)
Ahold ready to dig into cash pile
(The Wall Street Journal) Dutch-based international supermarket chain operator Ahold NV says it’s finally ready to use its €2.6 billion ($3.7 billion) cash pile to make targeted acquisitions, a move analysts say is meant to boost a lagging share price and ward off would-be buyers.
Ahold said Nov. 5 it was appointing operational managers for the Europe and U.S., where it runs Stop & Shop and Giant Landover freeing up the board members responsible for those areas to spend more time on expansion projects.
An Ahold spokesperson said that the company will look at growing in its existing continents, and that a combination of acquisitions and organic growth is possible in markets where it is already active, or adjacent new markets. He declined to comment on whether the company is currently in takeover talks.
The move was seen by analysts as a first step to end several years in which Ahold has underperformed the market and its European and U.S. peers, such as Carrefour SA, J. Sainsbury PLC, Supervalu Inc. or Safeway Inc., following an accounting scandal in 2003 that brought the company close to bankruptcy.
While Ahold has been battling to regain investor confidence since the accounting scandal six years ago, it has built up a cash pile of over €2.5 billion and hardly any debt. Its net debt stood at €1.16 billion at the end of July this year from €1.37 billion in April and is expected to go down further.
While some investment bankers say the 2003 events still make international investors reluctant to buy the stock, analysts have been eager for Ahold to make use of its excess cash position. ING Wholesale Banking analyst John David Roeg says Ahold is undervalued on all metrics, in spite of being highly cash-generative. Its price-to-earnings ratio, a measure commonly used by analysts, is 12.48, compared with 16.74 for Carrefour, 15.29 for Sainsbury or 13.49 for Safeway.
An Ahold spokesman said that the company had learned from the past and now had a “careful and cautious approach to acquisitions.” But the same factors that are pushing Ahold to make acquisitions also make it an attractive target. Earlier this month, ING Wholesale Banking analysts said in a report that U.K.-based Tesco PLC could be a possible buyer. Tesco declined to comment on market rumors.
Ahold’s takeover drive “may be a step by management to protect the group from becoming a potential target itself, due to its low valuation and lack of defined growth strategy,” said Standard & Poor’s analyst James Monro.
Ahold, however, could also prevent a hostile takeover by issuing cumulative preferred shares. This gives the receiver, the Stichting Continuiteit Ahold, up to 50% of the voting rights. Such a poison pill construction, though unique to the Netherlands, is quite common among Dutch listed companies.
Ahold’s Chief Executive John Rishton, who got appointed in 2007, has repeatedly said he feels comfortable with the company’s cash buffer in the current economic climate, which has made some analysts skeptical whether Ahold is really ready for an aggressive buying spree to snap up struggling competitors.
Bernstein analyst Chris Hogbin, who rates Ahold’s shares at outperform, says the company has spent the last three years at fixing the business and should now focus on growing it.
In both Europe and the U.S., the economic downturn has seen bitter fighting between retailers for market share amongst consumer down-trading and price declines.
For Ahold, the U.S, where it generates around 60% of its sales, could offer tempting takeover opportunities. ING’s analyst Roeg says the U.S would be the most obvious hunting ground for Ahold because of its fragmented market containing a large number of smaller regional players. With operating profits evaporating in the current environment, there should be interest among family- and private equity-owned medium-sized chains in selling out to a bigger entity such as Ahold, he said.
Ahold spokesman Jochem van de Laarschot said the U.S. is a tough environment where you can expect the strong, well positioned companies to become stronger and the weak to become weaker. “As the US market continues to be fragmented further consolidation is inevitable and Ahold is well positioned to go after opportunities that will arise”, he said.
Ahold is currently active on the U.S. East Coast through stores such as Stop & Shop, Giant Carlisle and Giant Landover. It generated almost $22 billion of sales in the U.S. in 2008.
In Europe, a merger with Belgian supermarket operator Delhaize Group has been the subject of speculation for two years, ever since Delhaize CEO Pierre Olivier Beckers said in 2007 that Ahold and Delhaize could be a good fit, were Ahold to sell its U.S. food distribution services U.S. Foodservice, which it in fact sold later that year. Delhaize declined to comment to comment.
In the U.S. the combined activities of Ahold and Delhaize would create an $40 billion turnover food retailer with a strong market position covering the entire east coast. In Europe the combination would produce a strong market position in the Benelux countries, with activities also in Sweden and Greece.
As Ahold said growth in adjacent markets is also a possibility, this could mean expanding its presence in Central and Eastern Europe where it’s already active in the Czech Republic. But analysts deem this unlikely for the moment since it has yet to turn a profit on its Czech operations.
Mr. Hogbin said he expected Ahold to spend its cash on some combination of organic growth through building new stores, acquisitions and returning cash to shareholders. “Any detail on timing and shape of investment at the Q3 earnings should be well received by investors, especially around the type and size of any likely acquisition targets,” he said.
Ahold will present its third quarter earnings results on Nov. 18. Mr. Rishton said earlier that the company would provide more details on a new cost-savings program at the results announcement, since the previous €500 million cast-savings program, running from 2007 to 2009, will be successfully completed this year. “Details on such a program should reassure investors that Ahold can maintain its margins and support continued investment,” said Mr. Hogbin.
Save-A-Lot to double store count, target Atlanta
(American City Business Journals) A discount grocery chain is planning to help metro Atlantans Save-A-Lot. (Click HERE for full story.)
Supervalu takes some holiday ‘Short Cuts’
(In-Store Marketing) Supervalu chains are billing themselves as the place to complete “your holiday list for less” in a campaign delivering helpful hints along with reduced prices. (Click HERE for full story.)
Shoppers stretch, diversify grocery dollars
( The Coloradoan) In the current economy, consumers are doing everything from stockpiling coupons to driving less in order to save money. (Click HERE for full story.)
America’s hottest brands
(Advertising Age) Consumer spending may have gone cold in 2009, but that didn’t stop these marketers from turning up the temperature. Here Ad Age chooses the upstarts and established brands that are setting the pace for innovation -- and getting results -- right now. (Click HERE for full story.)
New Carrefour stores to spur revenue growth
(Business Times) The anticipated improvement in the economy and opening of additional outlets will help spur growth, its chief executive officer Guillaume de Colonges said. (Click HERE for full story.)
FDA requests proof of safety of alcoholic energy drinks
(Los Angeles Times) The agency has been urged to scrutinize the health risks of the beverages’ caffeine-alcohol mix. Twenty-seven makers of such drinks have been targeted. (Click HERE for full story.)
Defining candy and soft drinks not so easy for Colo. tax purposes
(The Denver Post) With Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposal to start imposing sales tax on candy and soft drinks, the devil is in the details, says Lou Langdon. Or, in this case, a Twix wrapper. (Click HERE for full story.)
For men at 40, risk of cardiac death 1 in 8
(The Wall Street Journal) Researchers said men at age 40 in the U.S. have a one-in-eight chance of suffering sudden cardiac death over the rest of their lives, a stark indication of the toll cardiovascular disease exacts on society.
For women, researchers said, the risk is 1 in 24. The prevalence has long been of concern to heart and public-health experts, but lifetime risks for the condition haven’t previously been estimated, researchers said.
Some 300,000 Americans a year suffer sudden cardiac death, an event generally defined as death resulting from coronary heart disease within an hour of the onset of symptoms. Heart attack is the most common cause, but valve disease, infections and heart-beat irregularities can also result in sudden cardiac death.
“Sudden cardiac death is one of the most devastating manifestations” of coronary heart disease, said Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist at Northwestern University, Chicago, who led the effort to calculate the estimates. It is particularly problematic because “it strikes without warning” and can happen to young people as well as old, he said.
“It’s fairly astonishing data,” said Muriel Jessup, a cardiologist at University of Pennsylvania who headed the program committee for the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions here, where the findings were presented Sunday, and who wasn’t involved in the study.
The condition may get less attention because of a belief that little can be done to prevent it, she said. But she and other scientists said steps can be taken to prevent the problem.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones made the estimates by compiling information from three community-based longitudinal studies of heart disease. Among them was the Framingham Heart Study, the half-century-old project that has yielded information on how blood pressure, cholesterol and other factors increase risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. The Cardiovascular Health Study, which focused on people 65 years old and over, and the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, which has enrolled people ages 45 to 64, were the other data sources.
Among 2,261 men and 2,733 women in the Framingham study, for instance, researchers found 374 cases of sudden cardiac death. Based on that and data from the other studies, they calculated that at age 40, a man had a 12.3% chance of developing sudden cardiac death, while women had a 4.2% chance. For African-American men, the rate was higher than white men; there wasn’t a difference between black and white women.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones noted that causes for sudden cardiac death, as in the case of heart attack, are largely preventable and include eating healthfully, quitting smoking and getting exercise as well as taking medicines when necessary to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels that are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
“This is the first time we’ve really seen these numbers,” said Elliott Antman, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. “This is a major public-health message. There is something you can do to reduce the risk.”
Among the 300,000 annual cases, 3,000 to 5,000 occur among children, adolescents and young adults. In contrast to older adults, such cases are typically caused by a genetic mutation. How to identify people at risk because of their genes is the focus of much attention.
Michael Ackerman, an expert in the genetics of sudden cardiac arrest at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said that in about 50% of cases, warning signs -- including frequent episodes of dizziness or fainting, or an unexplained drowning or car accident involving a family member -- can indicate risk. “We can reduce sudden cardiac death right now just by being more aware of the warning signs,” he said.
Is Facebook the future of micropayments
(CNN Tech) Editor’s note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media. He is writing a weekly column about social networking and tech for CNN.com. (Click HERE for full story.)
‘Midwestern mentality’ propels Hy-Vee’s growth
(Des Moines Register) In the current economy, “I think our people reacted firmly and swiftly (with sales and new ideas) to help people deal with financial issues that are affecting their families,” he said. (Click HERE for full story.)
Retailers hope free shipping turns you into a regular
(USA Today) Two words have become mandatory music to the ears of holiday shoppers: free shipping. (Click HERE for full story.)
Q&A: Costco CEO Jim Sinegal talks about recession, succession
(The Seattle Times) A few days before flying to Colorado for the opening of Costco Wholesale's 561st store, co-founder and CEO Jim Sinegal sat down at its Issaquah headquarters to talk about the country's third-largest retailer after Walmart and Kroger. (Click HERE for full story.)
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Today's News Hot off the Press (Click HERE) |
Water found on moon, scientists say
(The New York Times) There is water on the Moon, scientists stated unequivocally on Friday, and considerable amounts of it. (Click HERE for full story.)
Safeway tops cranberry sauces
(San Fran Chronicle) On Thanksgiving Day, most cooks agree that the cranberry sauce is by far the simplest part of the meal to prepare. Dump a bag of whole cranberries in a pot with some sugar and spices, and you can turn your back on the stove - in less than 10 minutes, the berries will gurgle and pop into a jellied sauce. (Click HERE for full story.)
Target to add produce section
(Glendale News-Press) The success of Target’s new produce sections has laid the groundwork for the company to add fresh fruits and vegetables at its Glendale store by next year, a company spokeswoman said Thursday. (Click HERE for full story.)
Del Monte’s College Inn gets steamed up
(Marketing Daily) Looking to make the most of America’s return to the kitchen, Del Monte has rolled out its largest campaign to date for the College Inn broths brand.
(Click HERE for full story.)
Tesco forms China venture to build ‘substantial’ business
(Bloomberg) Tesco Plc, the U.K.’s largest retailer, said it formed the first in a series of joint ventures to build shopping centers in China as retail sales growth in the world’s most populous nation accelerates. (Click HERE for full story.)
Deal with Safeway a boon for Hanford firm
(The Fresno Bee) Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Or so Ralph Waldo Emerson said in the 19th century about the power of innovation. (Click HERE for full story.)
Asda predicts ‘aggressive’ Christmas for retailers
(Telegraph) The increase in like-for-like sales, excluding petrol and VAT, slipped to 5.6pc in the three months to September 30 from 7.2pc the previous quarter. (Click HERE for full story.)
E. coli outbreak traced to company that halted testing of ground beef
(The New York Times) A deadly outbreak of E. coli has been traced to a large producer of ground beef that stopped testing its ingredients years ago under pressure from beef suppliers. (Click HERE for full story.)
Dollar General comes back to market
(Nashville Post) Middle Tennessee’s third initial public offering of 2009 is just about in the books now that Dollar General has slapped a $21 price on the more than 34 million shares it and its majority owner are selling. (Click HERE for full story.)
FamilyMart to buy rival retailer for $133 million
(The Wall Street Journal)—FamilyMart Co. said it will buy smaller rival am/pm Japan Co. in a deal valued at 12 billion yen ($133 million), as the Japanese retailer moves to expand its network of outlets and generate new sources of revenue.
Japan’s third-largest convenience store operator by both revenue and store numbers will buy all the shares currently held by am/pm’s parent, restaurant chain operator Rex Holdings.
FamilyMart said it and am/pm Japan aim to complete the acquisition by March 2010. The deal will help strengthen FamilyMart’s competitive edge by giving it a total network of up to 8,700 stores carrying its name, closing the gap on Lawson Inc., the second-biggest chain with 9,665 stores at the end of October, according to company figures.
There are 40,000-plus convenience stores in Japan and industry leader 7-Eleven had 12,471 of them at the end of October. FamilyMart had 7,601 and am/pm had 1,108. Of those 1,108, am/pm Japan owns 856, and these are expected to be transformed into FamilyMart outlets by the end of the fiscal year in 2012.
The remaining 252 am/pm stores aren’t owned by am/pm Japan and are run by other franchisers.
However, FamilyMart will seek to have these stores renamed and incorporated into its chain of outlets, although their sales won’t translate into FamilyMart’s revenue.
“The move to rename am/pm stores is good news,” because it strengthens the brand and is more efficient in terms of merchandise procurement and distribution, said SMBC Friend Research Center analyst Shun Tanaka. He added that sales at am/pm stores may also benefit from FamilyMart’s strength in merchandising. FamilyMart said that the acquisition will have no impact on its earnings for the current fiscal year.
Healthy eating winning the battle at the shopping cart, new Colman Brohan Davis study finds
(PR Newswire) A new study by Chicago marketing firm Colman Brohan Davis finds consumers are making food purchase decisions based on healthy ingredient and nutrition considerations. (Click HERE for full story.)
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