Dean Best's food industry blog - from just-food.com

Private label star waning?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:55:00 GMT

We heard from two players on the US stage today (5 November) - one retailer and one manufacturer - both of whom bore the same message.

According to the management of meat-to-bakery group Sara Lee and supermarket operator Delhaize, the tide could be turning against private label in the US.

Delhaize admitted that increased promotional activity from national brands had slowed the growth of its private label sales in the country.

"When national brands fight for the growth of their top line with some very interesting promotions consumers are interested. We have seen a lesser increase in private label than in 2008 and early 2009," Delhaize CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers said

In addition, the Belgium-based group said that consumers had been trading down within its three-tier private label offering.

Meanwhile, again pointing to increased promotional activity from branded producers, Sara Lee also flagged up the slowed growth of private label.

However, Sara Lee admitted that it has failed to benefit from this trend because it has been slower to invest in lowering prices than a number of its branded competitors.

This is something the group will look to address in the coming months.

Nevertheless, as Barnes cautioned: "The hardest thing to avoid is doing crazy things in the market place... We will not do crazy things to drive that volume up."

Click here to read more Sara Lee's plans to boost volumes, or here to check out Delhaize's take on trends in private label sales.

M&S premieres GBP10m ad campaign

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:33:00 GMT

UK retailer Marks and Spencer will fit mince pies, cashmere jumpers, "big juicy birds" and handbags into a top-dollar Christmas television advertisements over the coming months.

M&S today (4 November) gave journalists a sneak preview of a celebrity-led festive marketing campaign, called "Chistmas wouldn't be Christmas without...".

The nine adverts feature celebrities including Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Saunders, Myleene Klass and Wallace & Gromit.

The campaign, due for screening from 11 November, cost around GBP10m to create, M&S' executive director, marketing, Chris Sharp, revealed at a media briefing in London today.

The marketing spend is roughly equal to last year, when M&S showcased pop group Take That in its Christmas ads.

M&S will be hoping the investment, together with a cold winter snap, will bolster sales for the rest of 2009, with a January 2010 VAT increase lurking in the background.

The company also announced the launch of branded grocery and household products today, coinciding with its interim earnings statement.

M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose said the roll out will not materially change the business of Marks and Spencer, but simply add extra convenience.

A successful trial at 54 Marks and Spencer stores suggests the changes will not be received with the 'love it or hate it' feeling of one of the brands it will stock - Marmite.

However, the retailer will begin by merely dipping its toe into the waters of branded food, opting for "400 rather than 10,000 brands".

"Let's see how it goes, if it doesn't we'd be the first to stop it. If it does work and it works better than our expectations, then we'll have a think about what the implications are. But it's not earth-shattering."

Joe Ayling, just-style

Processed food sours the mood

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:41:00 GMT

We all know that junk food is bad for you. But probably only a few of us realise the affect that scoffing that burger, biscuit or fatty fry-up has could stretch well beyond our waistlines.

According to new research published today (2 November) in the British Journal of Psychiatry, people who have a poor diet that is high in fatty processed foods are "significantly" more likely to suffer from future depression.

Researchers from University College London, who compiled data on 3,500 middle-aged civil servants, found people whose diet is high in processed foods have a 58% greater risk of depression than those who opt for the carrot over the cake. Meanwhile, people who eat the most whole foods are 26% less likely to suffer from depression.

Responding to the report, Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, observed: "The UK population is consuming less nutritious, fresh produce and more saturated fats and sugars. Significant changes in the way food is produced and manufactured have reduced the amounts of essential fats, vitamins and minerals we consume. New substances, such as pesticides, additives and trans-fats have also been introduced to the diet. This imbalance combined with a lack of vitamins and minerals is associated with depression as well as concentration and memory problems."

And, with mental health campaigners joining the ranks pressuring food manufacturers to improve the health profile of their products, this latest piece of research certainly gives the sector some more food for thought.

EFFP sixth annual conference

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:24:00 GMT

Tomorrow (3 November), the English Farming and Food Partnership will hold its sixth annual conference in London headed 'Routes out of Recession'.

Speakers include Marc Bolland, CEO of Morrisons, Peter Kendall, president of the NFU, Jonathan Warburton, chairman of Warburtons and Bill Bartlett, corporate affairs director of McCain Foods.

Topics expected to be covered include the future of the domestic supply of raw materials, which businesses have been successful in tackling the recession and whether there will be new investment opportunities in farming and food.

Of course just-food will be in attendance bringing you news from the speakers so check back tomorrow for more insight.

Rieber & S�n shines spotlight on Russian strains

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:49:00 GMT

Scandinavia's food companies have a rather pleasing habit of making their CEOs available at the drop of a hat and, this week, we got to speak to the boss of Norwegian food group Rieber & S�n.

After reporting a mixed set of nine-month and third-quarter numbers on Thursday (29 October), Rieber & S�n CEO Patrik Andersson walked us through the group's performance and recent moves to reshape the business.

You can read more of our interview with Andersson here but it was interesting to note his comments on Russia, a market in which Rieber & S�n has a significant presence.

We've discussed Russia's travails on these pages before but Andersson offered some numbers that illustrated just how the downturn over there has hit his business.

"If my calculations are right, I think we are down on volume 25-30% in the quarter," Andersson admitted.

That's a steep drop. But, given the turbulent economic conditions in Russia, Rieber & S�n is unlikely to be alone.

Palm oil in the spotlight

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:34:00 GMT

Today's (28 October) publication of the WWF "palm oil scorecard" has revealed that, while the likes of Sainsbury's, M&S, Unilever and Cadbury are making progress on sustainable sourcing, there are dozens of other companies where a lot more work is needed.

Or, as the green campaigners put it this morning, where some need to "up their game".

The structure of the palm oil supply chain and cost of sustainable sourcing are frequently held up as two obstacles by food manufacturers and retailers that have yet to makes changes to the way they buy palm oil.

However, as Adam Harrison, the WWF's senior policy officer for food and agriculture told just-food this afternoon, cost should not be an insurmountable barrier, while there are ways to resolve supply chain issues - and he pointed to the GreenPalm certificates recently embraced by M&S in the UK.

just-food will be running a full-length interview with Harrison tomorrow. Palm oil is high on the sustainability agenda and, with the annual Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil being held in Malaysia next week, it is an issue that needs to be faced head on by all in the sector.

Industry looks to take palm oil debate in hand

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:40:00 GMT

The use of palm oil in scores of consumers' favourite products is widespread.

From shampoo to chocolate, palm oil is a ubiquitous ingredient in many a shopping basket but, until very recently, one of which consumers were little aware.

That, however, is changing. Environmental campaigners are stepping up their attacks on food companies for their use of palm oil, arguing that sourcing practices destroys rainforests and endangers animals including orang-utans, rhinos and elephants.

And so consumer awareness is growing. Cadbury, for instance, was forced to think again when it suffered a Facebook-led backlash after changing a recipe in New Zealand.

And when consumer awareness starts to grow, so does anxiety in food company boardrooms. There are plenty of executives who want to "do the right thing" - but nothing focuses the mind like the threat of a consumer boycott.

So, in recent weeks, companies have been practically falling over themselves to go public with moves to make their sourcing of palm oil more "sustainable".

UK retailers M&S and Sainsbury's have announced moves of their own, while chocolate giant Ferrero said it had struck a deal to secure "significant" supplies of palm oil.

Now, we have the daddy of them all, Nestle, insisting it will use only "sustainable" palm oil from 2015.

Whether that will be enough to stifle the protests from pressure groups, only time will tell.

We have got wind of one report that claims demand for sustainable palm oil remains too low. But more of that tomorrow.

More to come....

FDA probe leaves Smart Choices smarting

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:01:00 GMT

Here in the UK, we all know just how detailed - and divisive - the debate on how foods are labelled has become.

Late on Friday, after the UK had packed away for the weekend, came news that a similar debate is heating up on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Smart Choices Program, a set of nutrition labels backed by the likes of Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, ConAgra Foods and Unilever, and launched to much fanfare this summer, has hit a roadblock. And that roadblock comes in the shape of the US Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is examining the nutrition claims made on labels under Smart Choices amid concerns that the labels were being slapped on foods with high amounts of sugar - and on foods with up to 80% of a consumer's recommended daily intake of fat.

And, on Friday, came news that Smart Choices had "voluntarily" decided to stop rolling out the labels while the US regulators investigate.

The halt to Smart Choices merely adds to the consumer confusion around the labels on the foods they buy. The UK debate over traffic lights or GDAs is nothing compared to the amount of different labels developed in the US.

In the last couple of years, retailers like Hannaford and Supervalu Inc have launched their own separate labelling schemes. Then there is the NuVal scoring system used by grocers like Price Chopper and Hy-Vee.

Some consumer advocates have long argued for a mandatory, nationwide system to come into force in the US. The obstacles to such a scheme, given competitive interests, are manifold.

However, with Smart Choices smarting amid an FDA probe, calls for a unified system are likely to continue to grow.

So, where exactly is still in recession?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:11:00 GMT

Today's (23 October) headlines in the UK are all about our "record" recession.

The figures for the third quarter of 2009 show that that the UK economy contracted by 0.4% between July and September - meaning we have now posted six consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

Or, in other words, the longest consecutive fall since the UK started recording the data in 1955.

After this week's news that growth in China's economy accelerated in the third quarter and, as we highlighted on our pages this week, amid the continuing gloom over Russia's economy, it got us thinking: who is in (and out of recession)?

Fortunately, the UK's Daily Telegraph must have been thinking along similar lines and this morning published a story on the recent performance of the world's other major economies.

If you think we had it bad, look at the figures the Telegraph quotes for Spain. Unemployment there is running at 18% and the Spanish economy is set to remain gloomy well into 2010.

Naturally, food manufacturers in Spain could reasonably expect to be among the more resilient businesses in the country.

However, some have either cut (or are rumoured to be cutting) their operations down there.

Sara Lee has scaled back its bakery business in Spain, while the signs are that the US food group is less than enamoured with its international bakery operations full stop.

There have been rumours that French retail group Les Mousquetaires, the company behind the Intermarch� chain is looking to quit the Spanish market. Nothing has been officially announced but a spokesperson told us over the summer that that the retailer's president had ordered the company to keep quiet.

And further more, Spanish food group Ebro Puleva saw its revenues slide during the first half of the year.

As a BMI report on the outlook for the Spanish food and drink sector says: "The market will therefore continue to be a very difficult place to do business for major brand builders such as Sara Lee, and BMI expects such firms to continue to look for ways to cut costs and create efficiencies so as to maximise their chances of maintaining sales in what is now a highly price-sensitive environment."

Russia is the weakest of the BRICs

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:04:00 GMT

Cadbury's insistence today (21 October) that signs of recovery in markets in Asia - particularly in India and China - tallied with what some of the other confectioners told just-food this week at a global travel retail event in Cannes.

Todd Stitzer, Cadbury's CEO, also highlighted growth in key Latin American markets. Stitzer claimed that the region had been less affected by the global economic downturn and that, thanks to the "export-driven" nature of its economies, it was seeing growth sooner than other parts of the world.

So, there appears to be some solidity among three of the BRIC markets. But, while Brazil, India and China are gaining strength, as this piece by our deputy editor Katy Humphries highlights, there remains some concern over the economic outlook for Russia.

As the piece says:

'According to the latest World Bank figures, unemployment in Russia is expected to rise to 13% by the end of the year. And, significantly for retailers, Russia's middle class is likely to shrink by about 10%, to 51.2%. In real terms, this means 6.2m people will have dropped out the higher-spending "middle class" social bracket.

Last week, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development cut its forecast for Russia's gross domestic product this year to a contraction of 8.5%, down from an earlier forecast of a 7.5% contraction.

"It is clear that the social costs of the global economic crisis are only likely to be felt in earnest next year, when corporate bankruptcies and unemployment will continue to rise," EBRD chief economist Erik Berglo warns.'

These turbulent economic conditions are also proving disturbing for food manufacturers selling into Russia.

Yesterday (20 October), research by the UK's Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said the country's food and soft drink exports were up by more than 10% in the first half of 2009.

However, amid rising shipments to scores of countries, the FDF said a "sharp drop" in exports to Russia had "dragged down" shipments to Eastern Europe as a whole.

The weak Russian economy has provided opportunities for some local retailers and today we reported on moves from Magnit, the country's largest retailer by number of outlets, to continue its expansion drive through a share offer.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Russia remains the weakest of the BRICs.

Bumpy landing for travel retail

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:54:00 GMT

Cannes in October. You'd expect it to be sunnier than the UK - and you'd be right.

There is, however, a bit of a chill in the air this morning (19 October) here in the south of France. And, for those heading to the annual TFWA duty-free and travel-retail exhibition, today came UK passenger numbers that will cool any budding optimism among attendees.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the number of business passengers at Heathrow slid by 5% in 2008 as the economic downturn started to take hold in the last quarter of the year.

As all in duty free and travel retail know, lower levels of business passengers means falling revenues for the airlines and lower sales going through the tills at airports.

Confectionery, seen as more affordable than other categories like wine, spirits and luxury goods, has been less affected by the weak civil aviation environment.

However, looking at the latest data from industry analyst Generation shows that duty-free and travel-retail confectionery sales tumbled by more than 9% in the first quarter of 2009.

What's more the CAA numbers are for 2008; the depth of the downturn since the turn of the year suggests 2009's numbers will be worse.

Coke hopes Sainsbury's bid goes flat

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:03:00 GMT

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola is not the proverbial 'happy bunny'.

According to reports that emerged this week, the global brand powerhouse was decidedly unimpressed that the London Olympics committee is said to be in talks with UK supermarkets, including Sainsbury's, over sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics.

Coca-Cola is supposedly concerned that, if such a deal were to go through, said retailers would be able to use the Olympic logo in promotional activity - including that linked to own label colas, juices and waters.

In a complaint submitted to the International Olympic Committee, Coca-Cola has argued that any agreement to this effect would damage its own promotional activity in the run up to the Olympics.

Coca Cola's worries highlight the almost schizophrenic relationship between retailers and suppliers, who interact as both business partners and competitors. And the duel nature of their relationship means that this battle is one that will take place behind closed doors.

When contacted by just-food, Sainsbury's remained totally silent on Coca-Cola's move, while for its part the cola giant simply insisted that it remained committed to ensuring the success of the 2012 Olympics.

"As a Worldwide sponsor of the Olympics, The Coca-Cola Company has through the IOC supported the success of the Olympic Games for more than 80 years. We are working closely with LOCOG and the IOC to ensure London 2012 is a success, in line with our long-term sponsorship agreement," a spokesperson guardedly revealed.

With its long relationship with the Olympics - having been a sponsor of the Games since 1928 - and its estimated GBP20m (US$32.5) a year payout for promotional rights, it seems likely that Coca-Cola will win out over its retail rivals. If a sponsorship deal with a retailer is reached, it will most likely include restrictions to prevent any infringements on Coca-Cola's turf.

Katy Humphries, deputy editor

There is logic to Kellogg's would-be lasers

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:33:00 GMT

Kellogg's proposed use of lasers to - literally - brand its cornflakes with the company's logo is somewhat bizarre. But there is some kind of logic to Kellogg's would-be lasers.

The cereal giant said today (14 October) that it would test a batch before putting the system into wider practice but the move - if it reaches the market - would mean another battle in the war between brands and own label.

Kellogg claimed the lasering would "guarantee the cereal's origins and protect against imitation products" - and we are not talking about counterfeir products here.

Helen Lyons, lead food technologist at the company, spelt it out when she pointed to "an increase in the number of own brands trying to capitalise on the popularity of Kellogg's corn flakes".

Big brand-owners like Kellogg have been able to still invest in advertising and NPD throughout the recession so the company is not down to its last corn flake just yet.

That said, all brands have been in the firing line from some serious investment in own label from retailers - think Tesco's Discounter brands, Asda's stock 'rationalisation' and Sainsbury's Switch & Save campaign - into which it breathed fresh life just a couple of weeks ago.

A year ago, Kellogg used the signature of its founder - W.K. Kellogg - in brand campaign.

Whether Kellogg really does use the lasers remains to be seen but, although the weapon would be hi-tech, the target would remain the same.

Tesco, Unilever eye innovation for place on the podium

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:32:00 GMT

One of Britain's most celebrated Olympians is currently addressing the IGD Convention in London.

Lord Coe, double Olympic gold medallist, is recalling, with some humour, his athletics career, as well as outlining his current role as chairman of London's 2012 Olympics preparations.

His apperance today (13 October) is no doubt designed to motivate the delegates into thinking about how they can beat off the competition in what is perhaps the toughest race they have run in their business lives - the current economic downturn.

Lord Coe's turn comes after a morning in which Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy and Unilever boss Paul Polman urged the audience to remember the importance of innovation in a recession.

As well as Sir Terry's unexpected attack on UK schools (which drew a smattering of applause in the conference room and grabbed front page headlines in London's evening newspaper), he touched on the subject of innovation.

"Recessions are a good time in which to innovate because - candidly - management is looking for answers. People coming up through the organisation would get a better hearing," Sir Terry said.

Tesco's chief also claimed that innovation costs less in a recession. "Entry costs are on the whole lower; assets are more reasonably priced; consumers find it more diffocult to defend their turf," he said.

"It's a particularly good time to innovate if you can anticipate after the recession what the 'new normal' will like."

Polman claimed Unilever's rising expenditure on R&D and marketing was "an exception" in the industry, while he also pointed to recession-fuelled NPD like the company's Knorr Stock Pots.

Like a long-distance run, investing in innovation represents a gamble; a gamble of knowing when to break clear of the field and kick on for the tape.

However, as Leahy and Polman suggested this morning, investing in innovation now can lead to a place on the podium when the economy recovers.

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Co-op to Casino: food retail on both sides of the Channel

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:38:00 GMT

Look away from last week's much-hyped "row" between the chief executives of UK retailers Tesco and Sainsbury's. A much more significant development is gathering steam in the country's grocery sector - the rise of The Co-operative Group.

The retailer's buoyant half-year numbers - issued this morning (12 October) and including "market-beating" like-for-like sales growth of 7.3% - adds further support to those who see the UK food retail landscape as housing a Big Five rather than a Big Four.

According to the most recent figures from TNS, the Co-op accounts for 5.5% of UK grocery retail sales. Including sales from stores still under the Somerfield banner takes the Co-op's market share to 8.2%, with Morrisons, the UK's number four food retailer, generating 11.3% of the country's grocery sales.

The Co-op is still busy integrating the Somerfield stores into its business some 15 months after it announced the GBP1.6bn (US$2.53bn) takeover. However, to achieve such robust sales - and a 17% rise in underlying profits - while incorporating a national food retailer into a business is no mean feat. It seems that amid the integration, the Co-op, led by chief executive and amateur drummer Peter Marks, is still striking the right note with consumers.

Across the Channel, however, a couple of France's leading food retailers seem to be struggling with a lacklustre domestic market. Later this week, Carrefour and Casino both publish their latest quarterly numbers and analysts have predicted that weakness at home will offset stronger performances overseas.

Both retailers are expected to see domestic sales fall on the back of falling food inflation and still low consumer confidence in France. And analysts believe problems at home will mask both Carrefour and Casino's relative strength overseas.

That said, both retailers have found their non-French businesses in the news in recent days. Last week, Carrefour, normally so loathe to make public statements outside of M&A or results, issued a short statement in a bid to quash speculation that it could be looking to quit emerging markets like China or Brazil.

Casino, meanwhile, seems all the more likely to be able to quit a market that has caused problems for the business. The race for Dutch retailer Super de Boer - in which Casino owns a 57% stake - is hotting up, with two rival camps jostling for the business. Casino is currently in talks with Dutch supermarket Jumbo, one of the lead bidders, but the French retailer looks set to win, whoever prevails in the takeover battle. As one analyst told us last week: "Casino are relieved that someone is going to take that off their hands."

Why Tesco remains better bet than Sainsbury's

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:09:00 GMT

Certain sections of the media are making a meal out of the so-called "war of words" between the CEOs of UK retail rivals Tesco and Sainsbury's.

In recent months, as we know, Tesco has seen its market share eroded as near rivals Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons enjoyed buoyant like-for-like sales.

However, on Tuesday (6 October), as Tesco unveiled its half-year numbers, CEO Sir Terry Leahy said the UK's largest retailer had recovered some of that lost ground.

"We're not lagging behind. We're actually ahead of our main competitors. We're growing share in volume and value terms," he insisted.

A day later, Sainsbury's, the UK's third-largest retailer, published its latest sales figures.

While Tesco's and Sainsbury's numbers were not over exactly the same time-frame, Sainsbury's did publish faster growth over its second quarter, prompting its boss Justin King to say he "did not recognise" the assertions made by his Tesco counterpart.

Indeed, a study of Sainsbury's and Tesco's respective performances in recent months suggests that King has had the march on Tesco's knight in most aspects of strategy.

The Sainsbury's business has been revitalised under King, which has managed to maintain his company's stance on values (think Fairtrade bananas) while convincing shoppers it can offer them value.

Tesco, meanwhile, has largely been reacting to rather than leading trends in the market, although, in fairness, its recent heavy investment in Clubcard did prompt Sainsbury's to promote its own loyalty offer.

No, while the media-fuelled "war of words" raises the eyebrows of some, we would do well to remember that Tesco and Sainsbury's are fundamentally two different businesses.

And, given Tesco's ever-expanding international ambitions, it provides the better long-term bet for investors.

Salt remains high on agenda

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:02:00 GMT

Salt is again at the top of the UK food industry's menu today (5 October) as the country's food watchdog launches its latest bid to make us all aware of the salt we consume.

The Food Standards Agency is repeating its calls for shoppers to take control of the salt
in their diet, which is linked to the UK's biggest killer - heart disease.

The FSA has again urged the UK food industry to do more in reducing the levels of salt in the foods they sell. Manufacturers justly point out that they have worked hard to cut salt levels but it is clear that more needs to be done.

Take the free-from aisle. Even in foods marketed as being able to help shoppers battle certain ailments, the levels of salt can be eye-wateringly high.

The industry has made strides in slashing salt levels but when the UK wakes up to hear that the level of salt in a bowl of its favourite cereals remains high, it is likely to choke on its breakfast.

On the continent, EFSA, Europe's food watchdog, revealed last week that many of the food makers keen to promote their products as beneficial to health have so far failed to put forward a convincing scientific arguments for their claims.

Even in recession, demand for healthy products has stayed strong. The resilience of the category means health will become an even more crucial - and lucrative battleground - for Europe's food companies operating in what are generally stagnant markets across the continent.

Alongside health, sustainability remains a key issue for food manufacturers and retailers of all colours. Last week, we launched Sustainability Watch, a series of monthly interviews with industry, government and NGO stakeholders rooted in that field.

We spoke to Richard Doyle, president of the International Dairy Federation, about that sector's plans to reduce its impact on the environment. The issue of dairy and sustainability has often been, erm, clouded by the methane emitted by cows but, as our chat with Doyle demonstrated, the dairy sector's plans are anything but hot air.

Smoke, mirrors or transparency?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:40:00 GMT

The news yesterday that Asda is attempting to turn itself into the paragon of transparency is well-timed.

Few can blame the business for trying to leverage some trust, given the general public's dissatisfaction with its major corporations, who we continue to bail out because of their own greed; its politicians, who still ask us to vote for them, despite their greed; and our sportsmen, who will even crash a Formula 1 car into a barrier at 100 mph in the pursuit of their greed.

So why then has the announcement by Asda's CEO Andy Bond been received so flatly.

"Forget online Britney Spears clips: Asda wants you to switch to a live webcam of workers at its carrot factory. It's part of the grocer's desire to boost confidence in its supply chain. Laudable enough, but don't people have better things to do with their time than watch carrot chopping?" the Independent asked today. And it was not alone.

Are we all being far too cynical? Perhaps the events of the last year have persuaded us to look for the spin doctor's hand in every announcement by a major business. Bond himself says: "Events over the past year mean that faith in big businesses is lower than it's ever been - because people have stopped trusting what's going on behind closed doors. So, from today, there is no 'behind the scenes' at Asda.

"Our aim is to be a truly open, accessible and transparent business so that we can rebuild trust, and drive customer loyalty. I firmly believe that customer loyalty cannot be bought with plastic points or discount vouchers. It has to be earned."

But that is exactly the point. Trust does have to be earned, and a few pictures of carrots being chopped up are not going to be enough.

In Bond's defence, this is only the beginning of the project, and he claims that the supermarket will give its consumers a glimpse into the areas of the business they want to see. Furthermore, plans for a "truly transparent" store, in South Wales "where glass walls will replace brick walls, giving a unique window into areas normally out of view", are a nice touch.

However, any skeletons - if there are any - in Asda's closets are not going to be found at the carrot factory, but in the boardrooms at HQ, in the details of the contracts with its suppliers and in the third world factories that produce its clothing ranges. No competitive business, particularly one owned by the secretive Wal-Mart is going to release a warts and all expose on that side of its operations. Yet, unless it does, Asda's claims of transparency fall short.

Galaxy Probiotic? A lose-lose strategy?

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:04:00 GMT

One of the more baffling product launches crossed our desks this week with the news that Mars, the chocolate giant, has developed a probiotic drink under its Galaxy brand.

First, for Mars to want to invest cash and resources into a stagnant category raised eyebrows. To use Galaxy, a brand which Mars has heavily promoted as indulgent chocolate, to move into probiotics only served to confuse us further.

Will consumers really buy into a probiotic drink pushed under one of the chocolate sector's more indulgent brands?

After several prods, Mars got back to us to try to convince us that a Galaxy probiotic will "revitalise" the category in the UK.

"The sales growth in the probiotics drinks market is starting to wane as consumers look at alternative products through which to consume probiotics. If you don't like the taste of fruit or yoghurt then you won't currently be a probiotics drink purchaser," Mars UK trade relations manager Bep Sandhu tells us. "The launch of the Galaxy probiotic drink will encourage chocolate lovers to re-look at the category."

Hmmm. The scepticism over the launch reaches far outside Aroq Towers.

"To me it looks like a rather muddled positioning," says industry consultant James Amoroso.

"Galaxy is an out-and-out indulgence brand but Mars is trying to give it health credentials thinking that this will help offset health concerns. Instead it merely detracts from the brand's core indulgence positioning. A lose-lose strategy."

Behold: the United States of McDonald's

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:06:00 GMT

A picture, so we are told, tells a thousand words. It also, however, brings spectacularly to life things which, although many may know are true, sometimes really need a visual twist to hammer them home.

Take the below, a map of the US, filled with fiery orange dots to illuminate the concentration of McDonald's restaurants in the country.

Its creator, Stephen von Worley, wanted to map the march of "generic convenience" across the US.

"As I hurtled down the highway, a pair of golden arches crept over the horizon, and the proverbial lightbulb smacked me in the forehead. To gauge the creep of cookie-cutter commercialism, there's no better barometer than McDonald's - ubiquitous fast food chain and inaugural megacorporate colonizer of small towns nationwide," von Worley wrote on his website at weathersealed.com.

The map may illustrate a fact we knew - or at least had considered - but the map really does raise eyebrows.