Manufacturing

Unilever has signed an agreement for the sale of its Soft & Beautiful, TCB and Pro-Line Comb-Thru brands to Strength of Nature for an undisclosed amount.

It's no secret that consumer programs aimed at the digital shopper represent a huge opportunity for brands to engage consumers and improve marketing efficiencies. That's one reason why Kellogg Company recently enhanced its consumer loyalty program.

With the advent of personalized digital marketing, social and mobile engagement, and rich consumer insights, brands now have an unprecedented ability to engage directly with consumers, shifting the balance of power between manufacturers and retailers. This month, we asked Cassandra Moren, senior director, CG & Retail Solutions Industry Marketing, Oracle, to weigh in on this unstoppable trend.

As much as reputation leaders (most frequently the senior communicator, chief marketing officer or the head of business strategy) would like to be able to tell CEOs and board members that everything is under control, the fact is when it comes to stakeholder relationship management, everything is not under control. Although most companies agree that reputation management is important, relatively few have figured out what to do about it.

McCormick's new digital service, FlavorPrint, is a testament to the role that collaboration (both internal and external) plays when it comes to delivering meaningful consumer experiences both online and off.

In order to grow market share, the company embarked on a mobile solution strategy in March 2007 that would abandon its 100 percent paper-based retail execution system.

Mobile commerce will grow exponentially during the 2013 holiday season with consumers buying at home and in store via their phone. In fact, mobility will drive e-commerce sales gains of between 13 percent and 15 percent. Today's sales and marketing strategies, therefore, need to acknowledge the mobile device not as a "channel" but rather as gateway to multiple channels.

CGT partners with AFS Technologies to look at trends in TPM adoption and drivers, and it seems we may have finally turned the corner as TPM systems are being utilized by companies of all sizes, while the number of failed projects continues to decrease.