Bad For You Sandwiches...

Meatball Marinara Sandwich from Subway 1,160 Calories

If you needed any more information about bad lunch choices, this piece on Yahoo! is interesting. If for no other reason but for the trivia value of discovering whose sandwich is 1,930 calories...

How Much Sugar in Mountain Dew Throwback?

Mountain Dew has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, so I was intrigued to taste some made with cane sugar. Then I noticed the amount of sugar in the product...


There are 73 grams of sugar in a 20oz single serve bottle.

Innovation Slowing

Unsurprisingly, Mintel is reporting that the rate of rate of innovation of food and beverages is slowing, with 30% fewer new product entries in 2009 over 2008. After a decade of massive growth from innovation retailer's category management, a reduction corporate resources and the focus on value is taking its toll.

Its That Most Wondeful Time of the Year...

Well maybe for statistical geeks like me. It is that time when annual numbers for 2009 are solidified and we start to get a better picture of the American consumer and the retail marketplace.

Today we have been provided data on consumer use of coupons. With the recession, it was likely that coupon use would be up - but the results are jaw dropping. Coupon use is +27% worth over $35B in retail sales.

A quick quote from the article...

“There has been a noticeable increase in page count over the past year,” said News America Marketing EVP of Marketing, Jesse Aversano. “Manufacturers understand that in a tough economy, coupons are an effective and efficient way to spend their advertising dollar.”

“Brands saw coupons as a key to maintaining brand strength,” adds Matthew Tilley, Director of Marketing for Inmar’s promotion services division. “If they reduced their promotional presence, they stood to lose sales to lower priced competitors and store brands – so they doubled down hoping to create brand loyalty once the economic dust settles.”

Hmm. Coupons as a source of brand building? Sorry, nice try. Coupons have become a way to keep retailer prices high (ie not give back the hard won price increases of 2007) but still give price motivated consumers a promotional reason to buy their product. Coupons have become the path of least resistance and greatest motivation in a market place full of easily duplicated products.

I could buy that these are tactics to gain share, but in 2009 these were tactics of survival - and not cunning plans for brand domination.

90s Are Back

At least in waist-lines.

Apparently the combination of eating out less and fewer dollars to spend has reduced American obesity to the levels of 1999. See the Wall Street Journal for info.

The Next Decade...

I was recently asked by an industry group to provide a perspective on successful beverage innovation and the future of beverages... Here is the paper I gave.

Envisioning The Future Of Beverages

View more documents from Neil Kimberley.

Getting The Holiday Spirit...

Any excuse to use this picture

The issue of alcohol (and more precisely beer) pricing in take home channels in the UK has been under debate for a while. From a pub culture where most alcohol was consumed away from home, Britain is now buying alcohol cheap at the local supermarket and drinking at home.

While this is good in that it keeps drunk drivers off the narrow and icy streets at this time of year, it has also created a bulge for cheap booze at the bottom end of the market.

The Times has some interesting coverage of this issue, now saying that "Beer is Cheaper than Water", but read a little more closely and you will see that the comparison is between the cheapest beer and "brand name" mineral water. If you went into just about any store in the US and compared PBR to Fiji Water on a $/oz basis you would see the same thing.

From my perspective, it is interesting to see that the government is considering a price floor for alcohol, something Canada already does. Also it may have implications for the future of sugared soft drinks here in the USA. Currently we are seeing an influx of promotional dollars into take home channels that are driving branded soft drinks to almost Private Label levels.

Price floors for our beverages? Due to sugar for CSDs, alcohol for beer and plastic for bottled water? Stranger things have happened...