Unilever's recent sale of its Skippy peanut butter brand in North America was just one indication of how slow-growing food businesses have begun to weigh down the global CPG giant.

Today's earnings report underscored that difficulty for Unilever: Fourth-quarter sales of Ben & Jerry's, Knorr soups and other Unilever food brands rose only 1.3 percent as consumers in debt-laden U.S. and Western Europe markets continue to pare back their supermarket purchases.

On the other hand, Unilever's business in Asia, Africa and Latin America demonstrated enough strength that the company was able to report an overall 5.4 percent rise in net profit for the period. In those markets, its revenues accelerated in home and personal-care items such as surface cleaners, soap and deodorant.Continue reading...

Yahoo! is trying to define its brand, with newly appointed CEO, former PayPal president Scott Thompson, and a visible position one of the official sponsors of the Short Film Program at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, aspiring to be the go-to online hub for this event and positioned as a media company.

Even if you're not lucky enough to be in Park City, Utah, this week, the general public will have free streaming access to nine short independent films via a co-branded microsite, sundance.yahoo.com, providing the first ever opportunity for non-attendees to vote for their favorite, as well as exclusive behind-the-scenes access including news updates and coverage of celebrities in attendance.Continue reading...

The annual indie-film extravaganza known as the Sundance Film Festival got underway Thursday night in Park City, Utah, and the New York Times noticed something there that had been missing at recent fests: many corporate sponsors.

Eight brands are officially sponsoring this year's festival, which launched as an offshoot of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute in 1978: Adobe, GE, Sprint, Yahoo!, Bertolli, Grey Goose, Time Warner, and Hilton. Last year, the festival had two — Honda and Trident — and neither of them are back.Continue reading...

For some, the very term "climate change" is open to debate — witness the comments on our Coca-Cola scrapped polar bear white can blog post — but a just-issued report card by Climate Counts suggests major corporations are taking their impact on climate very seriously.

Climate Counts, a nonprofit collaborative effort to bring consumers and companies together in the fight against global climate change, scores the world's largest companies on their climate impact each year to spur corporate climate responsibility and conscious consumption.

This year's Scorecard, the organization's fifth annual report, is particularly encouraging because 13 companies scored 80 points or higher (out of a maximum of 100 points), representing more than triple the number of companies to achieve that threshold in 2010. "Of the twenty largest companies scored," says Mike Bellamente, Climate Counts Project Director, "seventeen are scoring at the highest level."Continue reading...

In keeping with James Franco and Anne Hathaway's winking debut on Sunday night as the younger, hipper hosts of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, brands that will be advertising during Sunday night's Super Bowl of cinema will also reach out to younger, digitally savvy audiences.

The biggest tactic, of course: incorporating social media into their campaigns. It makes sense: in terms of ratings, reach, buzz and impact, including watercooler chatter the morning after, the Oscars is still one of the biggest TV and cultural events of the year. And many of those viewers will be plugged-in while watching — even more so than during the Super Bowl.Continue reading...

New media specialists would have brand marketers believe that online video is the only way to go. Who needs television?

But now, writes Stuart Elliott in The New York Times, media usage seems to be coming full circle. He's noticed that marketers who use Web videos "are increasingly doing so along with – rather than in place of – television." He cites such recent examples as Jim Beam bourbon, Bertolli, and the Principal Financial Group.

Typically, a marketer institutes a series of web videos, and then cross-promotes it via television commercials. Elliott says "The pairings of Web video and television reflect a school of thought that the old and new media can coexist and perhaps even benefit from each other." Another media cross-over, says Elliott, is the fact that social media like Facebook and Twitter enable television viewers "to discuss together what they are watching separately."Continue reading...

When it comes to advertising, The Academy Awards can't compete with the Super Bowl. However, a slew of brands paid more than a million dollars per spot for some serious exposure during last night's ceremony. Some wasted their money. Some didn't. A couple really stood out.

American Express and Hershey's went the Good Samaritan route, linking their brands to charitable works. Specifically, AmEx promoted its Takepart.com site while Hershey's raised awareness for its Milton Hershey School. The latter was impactful, employing the line "Every Hershey's product you've enjoy supports the Milton Hershey School."Continue reading...

Stop, drop the pizza. Bertolli wants consumers to swap a slice for a frozen Italian meal.
 
Launching on Oscar night, the Unilever-owned company is airing a 30-second spot to promote its 12-minute meals and drive traffic to “Into the Heart of Italy,” a mini web series starring Marisa Tomei, Rocco DiSpirito, and Dan Cortese. It is the largest advertising investment by Bertolli, ever. The trio travels to the Italian heartland to experience how the other half eats, with passion and quality ingredients.Continue reading...