• Delta Revamps Mileage Program With Three-Tier System
    Beginning next month, Delta Air Lines will implement a three-tier system in its frequent flier program. It is reinstating a feature called "last seat," which allows a frequent flier to book any remaining seat on a plane, whether or not it is designated for a member of its mileage program. Previously, Delta offered frequent-flier tickets for domestic coach travel at either 25,000 or 50,000 miles. Under the new system, travelers will need 25,000, 40,000 or 60,000 miles, depending on when they book their tickets, and where they are traveling. Alaska Airlines announced a similar three-tier program last week that …
  • Pepsi Will Use Stevia To Sweeten New Sobe Life Drink
    Within the next few weeks, Pepsi plans to introduce an enhanced water drink with a sweetener that is derived from a promising but controversial herb called stevia. The SoBe Life drink will be rolled out in several Latin American markets, starting in Peru, pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S. Coca-Cola, meanwhile, has teamed with Cargill to market its own stevia-based sweetener in its beverages. It plans to introduce a soft drink with the new sweetener in a few U.S. markets before year's end, according to a person familiar with the company's plans. …
  • Survey: Organic Market May Be At A Plateau
    Although the number of consumers using organics increased from 55% to 73% between 2000 and 2006, there has been no notable change between 2006 and today, according to a survey by The Hartman Group. In fact, the report shows a slight decrease in use from 2006 to this year -- from 73% of consumer to 69%. "There is still a lot of opportunity to be found but food manufacturers now have to be a lot more judicial in where they put their innovation dollars into going organic," says Shelley Balanko, vp of ethnographic research for The Hartman Group. Consumers are …
  • Study: Ads With Thin Models Boost Brands, Lower Self-Esteem
    Ads featuring thin models make young women feel worse about themselves but better about the brands featured, according to a study by business professors at Villanova University and the College of New Jersey. Women in a sample of 194 college students aged 18-24 express more negative feelings about their sexual attractiveness, weight and physical condition after seeing thin models than before. The professors are still preparing a written report on results from a second phase of the research, which finds that despite the negative effect on their body image, women prefer ads showing thin models and say they are …
  • Bacardi Opening Concept Store To Connect With Consumers
    Bacardi is opening a store in downtown Nassau, Bahamas, today that will sell all of the Bacardi portfolio of brands, plus a variety of branded accessories never available to the public in an independent retail store. Brand concept stores have grown in popularity as a way to make a direct connection with the consumer. While the bright red exterior of the two-story store features the Bacardi name and trademark, the selection inside will also include spirits from Grey Goose vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin, Dewar's Scotch whiskey, Cazadores tequila and other Bacardi-owned brands. You'll also find Bacardi red wind-breaker jackets, …
  • House Votes To Let FDA Regulate Tobacco Industry
  • Starbucks Posts First Quarterly Loss, Ever
  • Coca-Cola Testing Brews Inspired By Chinese Medicine
    Coca-Cola has been working quietly to perfect prototype beverages using Chinese herbal cures. Analysts and executives suggest the project, which is shrouded in secrecy, could be as important to the company's future as its original formula was to its past. Zhang Huaying, Coke's director of a research center opened with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing last October, says the company is developing specific beverages but declines to provide details about what is in them, when they might be released or how much the company is spending on the effort. "We're really working on it, and …
  • Dell Music Prototype Is Key To Broader Strategy
    Dell has been testing a digital music player that could go on sale as early as September. Launching the player -- along with an online download service and related software -- would be part of a strategy that Dell CEO Michael Dell hopes will move the company into a broader range of consumer markets than it has served before. The music player features a small navigation screen and basic button controls to scroll through music play lists. It would connect to online music services via a Wi-Fi Internet connection, and Dell executives say they would likely price the model …
  • Court Overturns Ruling For Whole Foods-Wild Oats Merger
    Almost a year after Whole Foods purchased the 110-store Wild Oats chain for $565 million, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington overturned a lower-court ruling that allowed the merger to go through. The ruling was a surprise to antitrust experts. When the two companies announced plans to merge in early 2007, the Federal Trade Commission moved to block the deal, arguing that it would give Whole Foods too much of the organic and natural foods market. A federal district court ruled against the FTC, saying it had not made a case for delaying the …
« Previous Entries