Soccer’s quadrennial World Cup is the world’s most-watched sporting event, but there is another event held annually that packs a heftier long-term punch for 500 kids from around the world.

Since 2000, France’s Groupe Danone—the makers of such products as Evian, Naya and Volvic water along with Brown Cow, Stonyfield and Dannon yogurt, among other products—has sponsored 40 youth soccer teams from across the globe to come play in the Danone Nations Cup, essentially a World Cup for the 10- to 12-year-old set. Since 2003, the event has been supported by former French soccer great Zinedine Zidane, who gracelessly ended his career at the 2006 World Cup by getting kicked out of the game for headbutting an Italian player. 

After nine championships in France and two in South Africa, the Cup Final has been played in Spain and Poland in the last two years. Word has finally come this week that the world’s youth soccer elite will be heading to London’s Wembley Stadium for this year’s final on Sept. 7. The American team will be decided after the U.S. final to be held on May 27.Continue reading...

Groupe Danone purchased Happy Family brands for its expertise in organic baby food, for sure. But another, less-appreciated target in the transaction announced today was the American startup's command of the mommy-blogger market.

Happy Family and its parent Nurture "are very linked to moms," Agnes Danthonay, spokeswoman for the Paris-based parent of Dannon USA and the world's largest yogurt maker, told brandchannel. ''They have the biggest network of [mommy bloggers] within the United States, and that's something we really looked at: How can we better use social networks to gain proximity with consumers?"

Danone signed a deal for a 92 percent stake in Happy Family mainly because of its strong position as one of the originators of mainstream organic baby food in the US market. Happy Family nearly quadrupled its revenues over the last three years, to $62 million last year, in part by extending its product line and brands to include squeezable pouches of fruit purees that are even meant for adults.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola posts lower net and unveils U.S.-bottler deal.

JCPenney buys time with credit line.

Twitter seeks deals with NBC and Viacom for high-quality video content.

A&W plans to move upscale and test fast-casual concept.

Amazon targets older consumers with new store.

Apple dominates in best-paid executives as board retains Jobs deputies.

BMW will debut EV brand Zinoro in China in early 2014.Continue reading...

Amazon buys publisher of romance and mystery books and cools down its warehouses.

Bona Film Group of China talks with Hollywood outfits.

Coca-Cola's Australian JV says cheers to beer.

Cosi tries for dramatic turnaround under new CEO.

Disney to restrict junk-food advertising on its shows.

EA offers much of new Star Wars game for free.

Goldman Sachs outlook dims.

Google buys Meebo to bolster Google+ as its battle with Apple expands to mobile maps.

Groupe Danone fails Chinese entry inspection for Evian water.Continue reading...

A123 Systems hit with recall of batteries for electric cars.

Apple plans to make greater investment in China as CEO Tim Cook meets with Chinese officials.

AT&T and Verizon threatened by freebie services fueled by Clearwire.

BMW tabs 1.3 million cars in massive recall.

Chipotle recycles old billboards for Earth Day.

Coca-Cola supports Michigan tourism campaign.

Corona evolves beach campaign.

Enterprise Products and Enbridge plan rival pipelines to Keystone XL.

Google warms to advertising its new services.Continue reading...

Airbus and Boeing compete for major deal from AMR.

Albertsons ends self-checkouts.

Apple loses “app store” battle with Amazon, picks new target.

Arby’s launches “casting call” contest.

Audi to build cars in North America, reports record first-half global sales.

Campbell Soup needs immediate help from new CEO.

Citigroup leverages digital to engage Asian consumers.Continue reading...

Nutricia, a Groupe Danone-owned baby food brand in the Netherlands, launched Baby Connection, an innovative app in the iTunes store on April 2nd, that aims to unite and engage moms-to-be and dads-to-be in the pregnancy journey.

When the parents' smartphones are placed side-by-side, for instance, the "duo-app" acts as one screen — but how to get men interested in tracking their baby's progress too? The brand's marketers came up with the "Instant Pregnancy Experience" for men (above). See the app in action below.Continue reading...

Touting the nutritional and health benefits of foods and beverages has fallen into a bit of disfavor recently in the western world, with both U.S. and European health-claims regulators getting tougher about what CPG manufacturers can say.

But with a nod to Jamie Lee Curtis, we are what we eat. And there’s no doubt that consumers around the world are looking more and more for “better-for-you” foods. So Nestle figures it’s time to place a bigger bet on the ultimate goal: development of truly “medical foods” that could be counted on to address human ills in a proactive and effective way, much as drugs do.

The Swiss dairy and confection giant, long considered one of the best-managed global food companies, is acquiring CM&D Pharma, a U.K.-based pharmaceutical startup that has developed a chewing gum (sold under the brand name of Fostrap) for kidney-disease sufferers.Continue reading...