General Mills, which received thousands of grateful emails and phone calls after it released a gluten-free version of its Chex cereal last July with little fanfare, is expanding its efforts in the niche, Ilan Brat reports. Its Betty Crocker brand is offering gluten-free mixes for cookies, brownies and cakes. (Gluten is a protein in wheat that many people react badly to.) The thrust is indicative of a change in thinking by big marketers, indicates Ann Simonds, General Mills' president of baking products. "It used to be, as a marketer in the food industry, you needed a $50 million idea …

Kellogg hopes to gain a competitive edge with the debut next month of its line of fiber-enhanced foods -- including the revamped Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks that were chosen to kick off the initiative because they are widely available and among the market's bestsellers, according to Celeste Clark, Kellogg's svp of global nutrition and corporate affairs. Jaclyn Trop reports that Kellogg could be striking into profitable territory as the first consumer packaged foods maker to focus on fiber, which has been associated with a host of health benefits, including reducing risk of heart disease, preventing cancer and managing …

The 2010 Taurus sedan that hits showrooms around Aug. 1 is the most important Ford since the original 1986 Taurus, James R. Healey reports, and CEO Alan Mulally knows it. Taurus "is very important, a statement about Ford," he says. "The challenge we have is (convincing car shoppers) that 'We're back' in cars, with a full family" of models. There are several other reasons besides the obvious financial ones that the Taurus is critical for Ford's future. It's new territory for Ford's product line, design and marketing with a radically new body, interior and suspension. It also sets the tone …

Brink's is changing its name to Broadview Security, a moniker created by Landor & Associates following a corporate spin-off, at a time when "consumer paranoia brought on by the recession and a series of chilling ads" has arguably put awareness of the brand at an all-time high, Natalie Zmuda writes.

Can you imagine a world without a surfeit of advertising cajoling you to change your mobile phone service? Could you have imagined a world without a surfeit of ads cajoling you to change your landline long-distance service? Well, the days when Ma Bell's pitchman Cliff Robertson wooed customers back from Sprint and MCI are dead air now. No more telemarketing either, and even online marketing is decidedly low key. "On AT&T's Web site you'll be hard-pressed to figure out the company even offers long-distance telephone service," reports Jeff Brady. Analyst Jeff Kagan says the demise began after the Telecommunications …

It's that time of year when the fancies of wannabe specialty food purveyors turn to the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, where more than 24,000 supermarket representatives, catering companies, gift-bag makers and other gourmet goods buyers cruise the aisles in search of the next big savory treat. This year, about 25 of the littlest guys and gals have comparable footing with more-established brands at the largest marketplace for specialty foods and beverages in North America, Laura Petrecca reports, thanks to a new program by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, which runs the convention. …

Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, and his buddy, Tom Brokaw, dropped by Fast Company to chat about a number of topics, from green marketing in general to Wal-Mart's model of sustainability, in particular. But perhaps the most instructive video clip from this interview for product marketers deals with underwear. When Chouinard told his product design team to lose the plastic and cardboard packaging on the underwear, he initially encountered a lot of resistance. They'd be competing with fancy underwear that came in soup cans. They'd alienate Europeans, who would not buy underwear that someone else had touched. They'd …

A panel assembled by the Food and Drug Administration voted 20 to 17 to advise the FDA to remove from the market drugs such as Vicodin and Percocet that combine acetaminophen with narcotics. It also advised the FDA to lower the maximum daily dose of acetaminophen in over-the-counter and prescription medications, and to address the formulations and dosing recommendations for children, Saundra Young and Taylor Gandossy report. Acetaminophen is one of the most commonly used drugs for treating pain and fever, but overdoses have been linked to 56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations and 458 deaths during …