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Danone sets deal to acquire Happy Family brand.Continue reading...

One of the main reasons for Kraft to split into its new Kraft Foods and Mondelez International units was to free the latter to pursue the beckoning opportunities in the global snacking business without being tied down to the slower-growth, mature North American groceries business, which now alone comprises Kraft Foods.

But in the early going, at least, both newly independent entities are pursuing something of the same strategy to tap into their separate growth opportunities: paring back non-performing, small or relatively insignificant brands, and applying innovation resources and expansion ambitions to brands that have a chance to make the most of them.

Mondelez, for example, already has said that it may divest some products as it seeks to streamline its range. The company will pursue a "simplification agenda," Tom Cofer, head of Europe for Mondelez, confirmed to Bloomberg.Continue reading...

A major part of the logic behind the split-up of Kraft into snacks go-getter (and naming-challenged) Mondelēz International and its more tired North American grocery business is to create a "global snacking powerhouse" — and spur growth in the latter enterprise.

As Forbes noted, Kraft is moving from the New York Stock Exchange to NASDAQ with the move to spin off its North American business and rebrand its corporate parent: "Kraft is keeping its faster-growing global snacks business into a new company named Mondelēz International, ticker MDLZ, while its spun-off North American grocery business will keep the Kraft Foods name but trade under ticker KRFT. Both stocks will list on the Nasdaq when the breakup is complete, and the KFT symbol will be retired."

Now that Kraft Foods Group can begin selling shares with its own listing as an independent company after the market's close on Oct. 1st, it's time for Kraft to fulfill investor expectations as Mondelēz (which will debut on Oct. 3rd, with a defiant macron over its final 'ē') is considered to be the higher growth stock.Continue reading...

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Time to hide the children and batten down the hatches. Kraft Foods is “ready to unleash a global snacking powerhouse,” chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld told investors and analysts in the company's presentation at the Barclays Back to School conference in Boston on Thursday.

The snacks behemoth will officially launch the Mondelez brand for the global marketplace on Oct. 3 and is hoping that consumers in China, India, and Brazil start chowing down more and more on such products as Oreo cookies (a $2 billion brand thanks to glocal versions in China), Cadbury chocolates, and Trident gum. Kraft will maintain another division under the Kraft name that will focus solely on the North American marketplace and features such grocery staples as Velveeta and Oscar Mayer.

While the CPG giant is predicting to have a 2013 profit of $2.60 per share, according to the AP, it is also expecting Mondelez to not come zooming out of the gate.Continue reading...

American consumers have felt a crush of pressure in recent years to lay off consuming so many sugars and work on eating healthier. Smart businesspeople have been happy to jump on the new opportunity, of course. You can now add Kraft's Oscar Mayer to that list.

The 129-year-old deli-meat maker that taught a generation of North Americans how to spell "b-o-l-o-g-n-a" has introduced a new line of products that contain absolutely no artificial preservatives, flavor, or coloring.

"Listening to consumer needs and finding better ways is just the way we do business," stated Heather Buettner, Senior Director New Product Development at Oscar Mayer, in one of two press releases the company issued to promote the launch today. "Our goal is to have 20 percent of our portfolio made with no artificial preservatives by 2015.”Continue reading...

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Chesapeake Energy board crimps CEO's power.Continue reading...

Remember all that stuffy marketing from Kraft brands like Oreo, Trident and Tang? Well, once the newly named Mondelēz unit gets its freedom from Kraft in a spinoff of the company's fast-growing, internationally oriented snacks business, expect the marketing chiefs to push the envelope.

The brands to be deposited into Mondelēz — including the aforementioned Oreo, Trident and Tang — "tend to have a younger, vibrant appeal that allow us to push the edge of the marketing much further than some of the classic, traditional, more Midwestern-focused brands," said Mary Beth West, Kraft's chief marketing officer, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "That's not a value judgment," she insisted.

But West herself does plan to leave "Midwest" parent company Kraft Foods — based in Northfield, Ill. — to join Mondelēz. And she will be taking Dana Anderson, Kraft Foods SVP of marketing strategy and communications to join Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld, who is also decamping to Mondelēz.Continue reading...