• Financial Times , Friday, June 20, 2008 10:15 AM

Under a licensing agreement announced Thursday, ConAgra -- which makes such products as Orville Redenbacher's popcorn and Hebrew National frankfurters -- will be allowed to use Procter & Gamble's packaging - from non-splatter valves on plastic bottles to wrappings - to make its products more user-friendly.

It will also be able to use "nutritionally enhancing" food ingredients, such as Calsura calcium, used in PepsiCo's Tropicana orange juice, across its entire range of products.

Jeff Weedman, vp of external business development at P&G, says the deal could provide a blueprint for collaboration with other companies in areas such as manufacturing, research and marketing. A.G. Lafley set a target of having half of P&G's innovation coming from external partnerships soon after he became CEO in 2000. P&G says it hit that goal some time in the past 12 months and is now looking for bigger innovation deals.

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