Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco are test-marketing a moist ground tobacco popular in Sweden called snus--rhymes with "loose"--that a user tucks between the cheek and the gum. Unlike chewing tobacco and moist smokeless tobacco, snus requires no spitting. Snus contains nitrosamines, the same cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes, but at lower levels. Snus also contains nicotine, which doctors say has dangerous metabolic effects. Thanks partly to the popularity of snus, advocates say Sweden has the lowest smoking rates in Europe. It also has fewer incidences than its neighbors of smoking-related diseases. But critics claim smokeless tobacco is …

Proctor & Gamble has retained Blackstone Group LP to auction off its Duracell, Folgers and Pringles brands, according to unidentified sources quoted by The Financial Times. P&G spokesman Terry Loftus says that the company doesn't comment on speculation about possible divestitures, but reported in August that it was taking a look at businesses that were at the lower end of its sales growth goals of 4% to 6%. Fourth-quarter sales for its snacks, coffee and pet care segment, which includes Folgers and Pringles, increased 2% over the previous year. Duracell and Braun, the small electrical appliances maker obtained …

With prices for ketchup ingredients rising rapidly -- 4.7% in the quarter ending Aug. 1 -- Heinz is developing sweeter tomatoes that could cut down on its need for corn syrup, as well as varieties that resist disease and stay fresh longer. Tomatoes that Heinz has already developed could be used in its ketchup in another year or two, and the company is in the early stages of developing varieties even 5% to 10% sweeter than those. The company won't be broadcasting the new ingredients. Heinz faces risks any time it changes the tomatoes in its ketchup, which …

Three or four strategic buyers are believed to be the most likely buyers for the $1.1 billion business Unilever North American laundry business: Henkel, Church & Dwight, Vestar (majority owner of leading U.S. private-label detergent maker Huish) and Phoenix Brands, an orphan-brand consolidator that previously bought Colgate-Palmolive former laundry brands. But the two biggest players could be put off by some of the same factors that make Unilever want to forgo the business in the first place--its relatively slow growth and the overwhelming scale and marketing-spending advantages enjoyed by Procter & Gamble. That leaves Huish and Phoenix, …

McDonald's expects that a blitz of new lattes, cappuccinos and other specialty drinks will add more than $1 billion a year to sales next year, according to company planning documents. The drinks also will require the most extensive revamping of its 14,000 U.S restaurants this decade. Specialty beverages such as lattes have a high profit margin. In memos outlining the plan, McDonald's estimates the U.S. beverage market at $60 billion a year. It hopes to equip 1,500 restaurants to sell the new drinks by year's-end, with the rest on board by late 2008, the planning documents indicate. The move is …

James Press has a simple view of his new role as vice chairman and chief product strategist for Chrysler: "To be the voice of the consumer and to represent the needs of the dealers in the marketplace." While he praises Chrysler's engineering and design--the "bones of the product"-he suggests that the organization needs to listen more closely to the needs of its customers. As Toyota's top North American executive, Press enjoyed a stellar reputation as perhaps the savviest sales and marketing executive in the business. He is expected to have considerable power over Chrysler's product plans under Cerberus' …

In an announcement reminiscent of the dot-com bubble of seven years ago, EBay says it is taking a $1.4 billion write-down for Skype, the Internet phone company it bought two years ago. EBay has struggled to turn Skype's popularity into profits as its membership rolls have swelled past 220 million. Skype does not charge its users for calls to other Skype users. There is only a small fee for calls to land-line numbers and cellphones. This year, Skype added a "yellow pages" directory and ways for its users to rate businesses. Neither of those features has drawn …

Kraft is devoting a campaign to the glorification of the grilled cheese sandwich in the hopes of reviving its flagging Kraft Singles sliced-cheese brand. The campaign's centerpiece is a contest that begins on Oct. 15 on MySpace (myspace.com/haveahappysandwich). Computer users will be asked to create video clips that celebrate grilled cheese; the winner gets $50,000 and a chance to have his or her video produced as a commercial. In campaigns from the longtime previous agency for Kraft Singles--the Chicago office of JWT--the brand was peddled on functional benefits like calcium content. Under its new boutique agency, Nitro, "what we're promising …

In an industry obsessed with youth, creating hype among young consumers is vital to making a fashion brand desirable--and profitable. But Dior has decided that too much of a young following risks damaging a brand's prestige and potentially dents its prospects for long-term growth. The French fashion house is replacing T-shirts and pink logo bags with $4,500 python-skin purses. After years of fashion shows inspired by homeless people and biker chicks, CEO Sidney Toledano promises an "elegant" collection when Dior puts on its semi-annual women's ready-to-wear fashion show today in Paris. The evolution at Dior is part of a subtle …

Microsoft says it will offer a free, Web-based service that works with Word, Excel and PowerPoint to let people store and access files online. The service, dubbed Office Live Workspace, also will let users collaborate on documents remotely over the Internet. Editing and creating documents will still take place on the PC desktop, requiring a regular version of the Microsoft Office software. The file can then be uploaded to the Web, with subsequent changes synchronized from the desktop to the online copy. By focusing just on Web-based document storage and collaboration, Microsoft is combating one of the main reasons people …