Noted Barilla America president Kirk Trofholz, “Sharing [dinnertime] stories with others helps us make plans for the future, reminisce about the past and nurture the vital social nature of family dinners.” Behind the new program is new research by Barilla revealing that U.S. families want better-quality dinnertime interactions — with more conversation and fewer distractions — along with better meals prepared together.

The promotion, which runs through Feb. 22, uses San Diego-based Brickfish, a social media solution providing brands with a platform that energizes viral sharing among consumers via the social Web.

The particularly clever twist here is to encourage old-fashioned family unity — what could be more time-honored than breaking bread with your loved ones? — through a cutting-edge Internet venue. This way Barilla can have its cake and eat it, too, so to speak, by celebrating age-old virtues while resolutely embracing the future. Plus, of course, it gets to tout its products while doing both of those things.

Visit http://brickfish.sharethetable.com/ to get a look at the promotion.

And that place at the table is very specific – marketers need to be the voice of the consumer in the room. Marketers need to be oriented to understanding how consumers think and understanding what they want. And marketers need to be the advocate for the consumer when new technology is being considered. The role is very specific and very important.

Technologists are good at evaluating technology from two important perspectives – is it different and will it work. And clearly, no new technology should be adopted unless it works and provides a difference. But marketers provide a third, critical perspective – does it matter? Will consumers care about the new technology? Will the new technology fundamentally improve their experience as customers of the store?

Technologists tend not to ask that sort of question, and it is appropriate that they NOT ask these questions, because they do not have experience understanding those questions. But someone needs to ask these questions, and that is the marketer. And it is why marketers need a place at the table when new technology is being evaluated and considered.

Please do not take this comment as an attack on technologists – they are central to the process of new technology adoption – but they should resist the temptation to act alone. Before new technology is implemented, retailers need to think about how consumers will be affected and how they will benefit – and it is the marketer who is skilled at making those evaluations

The new online tool enables consumers to create unique sandwich combinations from a list of over 120 ingredients, including everything from cheddar cheese to cucumbers, and sprouts to salami, while calculating the sandwich’s nutrition values in real time with each added ingredient. According to the iconic product line, a division of Irving Texas-based Hostess Brands, Inc., the Sandwich Wonder-izer can create billions of sandwiches and simultaneously offer users guidance on how to get the daily recommended amounts of key vitamins and minerals.

Sandwiches dreamed up from scratch can be given names and shared online with friends through such social media sites as Facebook and Twitter. As well as facilitating the creation of new sandwiches, the tool provides a menu of pre-made sandwich recipes, among them an Elvis Presley-inspired banana-and-peanut-butter combo and better-for-you choices featuring vegetables. The Sandwich Wonder-izer can additionally recommend ingredients to increase the amount of calcium, fiber, iron and protein in a given sandwich.

According to Stephany Verstraete, VP of marketing for Wonder Bread: “The Sandwich Wonder-izer is a fun and easy-to-use tool that not only builds delicious and nutritious sandwiches, but also provides an excellent opportunity to teach family members of all ages about the importance of getting enough vitamins and minerals in our diets.”

In addition to bringing the venerable craft of sandwich-making firmly into the Internet age, the tool transforms the chore of preparing lunch to tote to school or work into an entertaining, shared enterprise, with a an eye on ways to make lunches healthier. With a promotion as clever as this, consumers should be eager to bite.

“It’s clear that despite economic trouble this year, the world’s chocolate lovers didn’t deviate from their favorite treat,” said Mintel global food and drink analyst Marcia Mogelonsky. “Chocolate is a small, affordable indulgence for shoppers who are cutting back on spending elsewhere. Even in countries not known for chocolate consumption, sales are on the rise.”

Seeing consumers’ need to satisfy their collective sweet tooth, grocers should offer sweet relief in the form of increased product selection (including both value products gourmet items discerning shoppers can trade up to), eye-catching displays, and mouthwatering sampling sessions to introduce customers to such unusual combinations as chocolate and wasabi or curry. Offering recipes incorporating chocolate in fairly novel ways for U.S. consumers (turkey molé, anyone?) is also a good idea, since shoppers in search of food-related solace are no doubt spending more time eating at home and preparing their own meals.

The current chocolate boom also gives food retailers the opportunity to play up the treat’s nutritional benefits. While no one’s going to mistake a candy bar for health food any time soon, chocolate —particularly the dark varieties — is loaded with flavanols, which act as heart-disease-fighting antioxidants. Flavanols can also help lower blood pressure, promote healthy blood flow and balance certain hormones in the body. Consumers have no doubt heard something about the positive effects of chocolate, but why not provide them with the full picture? Doing so can help a much-needed indulgence during bad times metamorphose into a regular (but still delicious) way to maintain health, regardless of the state of the economy.

Such strategies may go a long way toward boosting annual spending on chocolate in the United States from its current average of $55 per consumer. That may sound like a lot, until you consider that the Swiss shell out a whopping $206 each — but then they’re famous for their chocolate confections. The trick is to encourage more Americans to develop their own chocolate habits, by positioning the product as a beneficial and relatively inexpensive way for consumers to pamper themselves.

“Nestlé lets fans of all ages feel like kids again, so you can bet they have definite opinions about what we’ve changed in our secret recipe,” noted Tricia Bowles, a spokeswoman for Nestlé Confections & Snacks at Glendale, Calif.-based Nestlé USA, a division of the largest food company in the world, Nestle S.A. in Vevey, Switzerland. “Some firmly believe we’ve made the milk chocolate more intense and rich, while others are equally confident that the rice crispies are packed with more crunch than ever before.”

The recipe change to the venerable product, which has been around since 1938, was first revealed on the Nestlé Crunch 800 number, and has since garnered 400,000 calls from fans.

The company also maintains contact with the candy’s enthusiasts through a Web site, NestleCrunch.com, and a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NestleCrunch.

While Nestlé reports that consumer reaction for the new and improved taste of its namesake Crunch bar has been overwhelmingly positive, the specter of a “New Coke” experience inherently looms over any reformulation of a well-known product. It certainly helps that Nestlé Crunch, although highly popular, is nowhere near as ubiquitous as Coke. Most important, though, is that the update is perceived by consumers as really being for the better, and not just change for the sake of it. Otherwise, consumer product companies eager to shake things up in the aisles may usher in an unwanted kind of brand reinvention, as shoppers stay away from the reformulated item in droves.

My primary exhortation in all of this writing has been to create a sense of urgency for retailers which drives you all to implement electronic couponing sooner rather than later. And I now have the opportunity to supplement that enthusiasm with a short White Paper which provides retailers with a few simple rules and guidelines in implementing this approach. Basically, the White Paper offers retailers a list of what they need to do to implement electronic couponing and an approach for how to do it.

And my editors at Progressive Grocer have allowed me to post the White Paper for all to see. In fact, all you need to do is follow the attached link, and you will find the White Paper waiting for you.

My hope is that this White Paper, in combination with my unbridled enthusiasm, will spur retailers to action. The tools are there and the technology is available. It is time to make it happen

Click here to download the white paper.

According to the Washington-based nonprofit health advocacy group, symbols should appear on the fronts of packages to give shoppers a quick snapshot of the key nutrients, and the FDA should crack down on misleading claims by manufacturers, such as whether a product really boosts immunity or lowers cholesterol, or how much fiber or whole grains an item actually contains.

Additionally, CSPI’s reworked Nutrition Facts panel places more emphasis on calories, and notes when a food contains high amounts of saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium or added sugars. Only fiber from whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables is listed on the organization’s preferred nutrition label.

The group is also in favor of clearly presented ingredient lists, with major ingredients separated from minor ones; manufacturers of foods containing several types of sugars being required to combine them, so that they would show up higher on the list of ingredients; and the disclosing of percentages of key ingredients.

While CPG companies — and many retailers — may not care for CSPI’s admittedly heavy-handed approach casting most food industry players as intentionally deceptive bad guys, many consumers form their opinions from the reports of such advocacy groups, and food companies must take these sources into account as they develop workable solutions, in concert with government and consumer representatives, to cut through all of the competing nutritional information now jostling for attention in the marketplace. While no strategy is guaranteed to please all sides, a good-faith, broad-based effort incorporating the viewpoints of all three camps stands the greatest chance of long-term success.

As one of the highest profile examples of the global reach of Florida’s fresh signature products, the strawberry retail promotion in Ireland is part of the ag department’s division of marketing and development ongoing “Fresh from Florida” campaign, which since 2000 has partnered with grocery chains around the globe to feature more than two dozen fresh-from-Florida products in numerous retail promotions. 

Over the years, the number of retail partners has increased from two grocery chains and 298 stores to 40 chains and more than 10,000 stores. Participating grocery chains agree to include ads for Florida products in their advertising circulars. On average, about one-fourth of the ads are in Florida, half are in the continental United States, and the remaining one-fourth in Canada, the United Kingdom, Central America, the Caribbean and South Korea.

In terms of the new deal with SuperQuinn, Florida’s Agriculture Commish, Charles Bronson, is pumped about the partnership that “will enable shoppers throughout Ireland to enjoy delicious fresh Florida strawberries during the holidays” – and for good reason. After working with SuperQuinn’s produce buyers in August to develop the well-timed campaign, Florida ag department marketing team then enlisted strawberry growers and produce handlers that could facilitate the increased product demand. To link the Florida suppliers with the overseas retailer, the marketing reps then located freight-forwarders that are able to ship directly from Tampa and Orlando into Dublin.

Florida’s strawberry crop hits its peak in December and January – the earliest strawberry crop to be harvested in the United States – which makes it a highly prized, delicious treat to help brighten cold, wintery days. Florida strawberries are grown primarily in the west-central part of the state near Plant City (not far from Publix Super Market’s Lakeland-based headquarters), which is known as the “Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.”

As a renowned buy-local backer, I applaud the move by SuperQuinn to bring its shoppers some of the tastiest berries on the planet, as well as help promote — and celebrate — one of Florida’s finest homegrown staple products during a key seasonal selling period. Indeed, despite the au courant topics of  “food miles,” “Slow Food” and “locavores” – all of which go hand-in-hand with the burgeoning locally-grown movement that shows no signs of a slowdown – the intricacies of the global produce supply chain are truly a thing of beauty. Yet at no time during the calendar year is its magnificence more vividly displayed and appreciated than during the upcoming peak winter selling season, when supplies of nearly any locally-grown fresh produce item are appreciably non-existent, not only in Ireland, but also throughout most of the U.S.

For more about, visit http://www.Florida-Agriculture.com or http://www.superquinn.ie.

After fooling around with various versions of paperless, electronic couponing for almost a decade, the stars have now aligned and it is ready to become a reality. Consumers want coupons delivered to their computers, their phones and their PDAs, they don’t want to have to carry little slips of paper, and, most importantly, they want the coupons that they want. These things are now ready to happen.

The combination of the current economic climate, the willingness of key leaders (P&G, Safeway and Kroger) to make it happen and the maturity of the enabling technologies means that after years of creeping forward, electronic couponing is ready to dominate. All you need to do is review the pages of Progressive Grocer, which has featured at least one major announcement of a new electronic couponing program by a major player in each of the last five issues.

Retailers and manufacturers need to be ready for these innovations. Those who are not will be left behind. And marketing services companies have huge opportunities to create new businesses supporting this emerging industry

“The holidays are the perfect time for fun household projects that bring the family together,” noted TV personality and celebrity designer Tracy Hutson, who is helping to promote the cookie house sweepstakes. “Building a cookie house is a great way to make memories at home, express creativity, and begin or continue a special family tradition.”

To help people build their own dream cookie houses, Pepperidge Farm is providing an online video, at http://cookiehouse.pepperidgefarm.com, featuring step-by-step directions for creating one. Through 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 31, 2009, site visitors can access the cookie house recipe using Pepperidge Farm cookies. By uploading their photographs and stories, consumers will be entered in the contest for a $10,000 gift card to a home improvement store, so they can enhance the houses in which they actually live.

The promotion is a perfect dovetailing of brand, occasion and the idea of home. After all, taking the time to be with those important to us is the essence of any successful celebration. Pepperidge Farm gets that, and other CPG companies, as well as retailers, should be mindful of it as well. Of course, selling more of a product in the process of reminding people to create special memories with their families and friends is fine, too.