If innovation is the lifeblood of business, then General Mills will be pumping hard in the new year. The CPG giant released news about more than 100 new products that it will launch in its U.S. retail portfolio alone during its fiscal 2013.

General Mills would like to generate between 4 percent and 5 percent of its sales from new products "and we think we will be very much in that range," CEO Ken Powell told Wall Street analysts during a conference call this week, according to Ad Age. "We want to make sure that we are launching products that are bringing new consumers into [their brand] franchise, and we have steadily improved that number."

The new products range from new varieties of Fiber One products to a Snickerdoodles flavor of Chex Mix Muddy Buddies. And if there are some underlying themes to the whole list, they would be peanut butter and chocolate, along with fiber and protein, according to a General Mills blog post detailing the roster of new products.Continue reading...

AIG pushes plan for independence from U.S. government.

Burger King says that menu and marketing changes have boosted bottom lilne.

Campbell Soup creates limited edition to help food bank.

Chick-fil-A supporters (and Wendy's) show up for "Appreciation Day."

Christina Aguillera lends her voice to a good cause.

Costco experiences strong U.S. sales.

Crocs celebrates milestone a little too exuberantly.

DirecTV sees U.S. subscribers decline for first time.Continue reading...

General Mills and Kellogg have been ruling the cold-cereal market for an eternity. Those two behemoths now own about 60 percent of a $9 billion U.S. market, but that doesn’t mean other companies aren’t finding some success cutting into their market. 

One in particular, the 93-year-old MOM Brands Co., which was recently renamed from Malt-O-Meal, is producing such cereals as Tootie Fruities and Honey Nut Scooters, which bear more than a passing resemblance to Froot Loops and Honey Nut Cheerios.Continue reading...

Are cereal boxes "platforms for content"? So argues Mark Addicks, the chief marketing officer for General Mills, who walks USA Today's Jefferson Graham through the addition of QR codes and augmented reality to the company's cereal brands. Betty Crocker, by the way, is another digital/social platform for the company. "There's never been a time like this," observes Addicks, a 23-year veteran of the company. "Because of the digital technology that resides in people's hands … we can now deliver content that engages and enhances the experience. Before, we had to rely on a 30-second TV ad."Continue reading...

Chex Quest, from General Mills, was the first video game to ever be included in cereal boxes as a prize back in 1996. Fast forward 15 years to Create a Comic, General Mills' latest digital advergame designed to engage kids with the Honey Nut Cheerios cereal brand. 

In that brief span of 15 years, the playbook on marketing to children has been rewritten by all things digital, and marketers are increasingly using games, quizzes and mobile apps to woo kids into a social web where they essentially act as marketers themselves.Continue reading...

Why don't we go back for a minute. Way back. Because everyone else is... including your favorite cereal, your hometown NFL team, and your elected government. But is it finally time to go back to the future?

For several years now design has been obsessed with paying homage to the past. From fashion, where Nike Dunks and Wayfarers rule, to breakfast cereal, where General Mills' Trix and Honey Nut Cheerios and Post's Grape-Nuts have received the time-machine treatment. Sports teams, with the NFL in the lead, have ramped up their promotion of throwback jerseys, creating a whole new market for the fan that has had everything.Continue reading...