Joining other major companies and brands such as Unilever, Nike, PepsiCo, Lexus, BMW and AT&T in spurring mobile innovation around its brands, Mondelez International is investing in mobile startups in the hopes that they'll bring the kind of game-changing innovations to the company that often are hard to come by at corporate stalwarts such as the global-snacks operation that used to be part of Kraft Foods.

That said, it was Kraft that spearheaded the mobile incubator program that Mondelez is now running with. Mondelez just announced nine startups to participate in an ambitious new mobile-technology initiative aimed at drivng more impulse purchases and better in-store marketing. Called Mobile Futures, the program kicked off in October with a call for new ideas that drew 126 applications. Twenty-two startups survived the first cut, then were narrowed to nine after a two-day pitch event last month.

Mondelez hopes to launch one or two mobile-focused tech companies out of the process as well as garner new applications specifically for its business. It's one important way in which the spinoff — which owns megabrands such as Oreo, Trident, Stride and Cadbury — is attempting to do business differently, more dynamically, than in its old incarnation paired with what has now become Kraft's North American grocery business.Continue reading...

Mondelez International is stepping up its investments and innovation in marketing and product development. The Kraft global-snacks spinoff may have stumbled a bit since its Oct. 1st debut as a new company on the world stage. But give it time.

Today it's hosting a Mobile Futures conference (follow on Twitter at #MobileFutures), taking pitches from "SoLoMo, mobile at retail, and social TV" startups as part of its commitment, under digital strategist Bonin Bough, to invest in mobile startups.

The company aso is crowdsourcing ideas for creating a new chocolate bar "that would deliver a fresh and unique experience to the chocolate lover" through its Cadbury, Milka and other confectionery brands. "Of particular interest are cutting-edge product concepts that expand upon the special qualities that make the chocolate bar so wonderful, comforting and fun to eat," a Mondelez press release put it.Continue reading...

Ad Age honors China's women to watch.

AT&T faced with technicians' class action suit; promotes anti-texting campaign.

Axe brand releases music track.

Ben & Jerry's gets a boost on Robert Pattinson's The Daily Show segment.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports next-generation toilets.

Condoleeza Rice and Serena Williams endorse new NFL women's clothing line.

Facebook tests promoted newsfeed posts for non-fans.Continue reading...

When Luke Dunphy began eating an amalgamation of Oreos as if it were corn on the cob in an episode of ABC's Modern Family last week week, it put a cap on a frenetic and impactful season of marketing for Kraft and its assorted brands.

Having the kid character pig out on Oreo cream was a winning bit of TV-sitcom placement befitting the 100th anniversary of the iconic cookie introduced by Nabisco, which later was acquired by Kraft. But Kraft also has been getting more aggressive about promoting other and some newer brands as well, ranging from the new BelVita Breakfast Biscuits to a line extension of its Mio drink-mix-in brand to the launch for its Planters Peanut Butter.

What's going on here? For one thing, the venerable company likely is trying to juice the performance of many of these reliable brands before it divides them between a North American grocery business and a global snacks firm by the end of this year, to try to create better financial results for the whole.Continue reading...

Kraft brand executives didn't believe their new BelVita Breakfast Biscuits were quite worth investing $3.5 million or more for a TV ad during the Super Bowl. The next best thing: introduce this healthful slow release breakfast concept to America during a pre-game ad — and then really hit launch marketing hard on the next day, February 6th.

Like most other Game Day spots, the commercial uses humor to make its point: that BelVita is a new breakfast brand and concept that deserves a chance.Continue reading...

It's tough to run a multinational CPG brand these days. There's tepid consumer spending in the U.S., Europe and even Asia, on top of that "new normal" thing that came out of the Great Recession. Regulators are pursuing food and beverage companies that aren't getting on the better-for-you train fast enough. And commodity prices and currency-exchange rates vacillate wildly.

In its just-released list of new products planned for 2012, Kraft Foods reflects many of these pressures — but also reveals a determination to use the strengths of the brand and the company to take advantage of developing opportunities. General Mills likewise provided a sampling of its new-product forays for the new year, in a conference call this week.

Whether it's transfering successful product ideas from one national market to another, or doggedly trying new ideas in nutritional products, Kraft has laid out an ambitious schedule of 70 new items for the new year.Continue reading...