News Briefs

Ferrero North America is now officially manufacturing chocolate outside of Europe. 

The company cut the ribbon on its expanded Bloomington, IL, facility, which included a $214 million investment to produce the Kinder Bueno brand. In doing so, it marks the CPG’s first-ever non-European chocolate factory. 

The expansion was first announced last year, and Michael Lindsey, president and chief business officer of Ferrero North America, said it will increase the company’s momentum and innovations in the U.S. market. 

• See also: Learn how Mondelez wants to scale generative AI in marketing
   

Kinder, which also includes Kinder Joy, Kinder Chocolate, and Kinder seasonal products, has grown to a half billion-dollar brand in the U.S. since it was first introduced in the market in 2017, according to the company. Kinder Bueno tallied more than $214 million in retail sales in the past year. 

Ferrero North America, which is part of Ferrero Group, also has facilities across Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.  

The Coca-Cola Company in Canada is supporting a new way to tackle plastics floating in the Great Lakes region: drones.  

The company is partnering with non-profit Pollution Probe and its Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup initiative, serving as a sponsor for the PixieDrone remote-controlled mobile waste collector. The drone targets floating debris — including plastic, glass, metal, and paper — and can collect about 42 gallons of waste with a six-hour charge.

The drone was tested on Lake Simcoe in Barrie, Ontario, and will be used at other locations across the Great Lakes region starting in the spring of next year. 

• Related: See how Coca-Cola is reducing the weight of its plastic bottles

The Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup initiative currently operates at more than 150 sites across the Great Lakes, and the PixieDrone will join over 135 other plastic capture technologies already deployed. 

Avi Yufest, senior director of public affairs at Coca-Cola, noted that the company recognizes its responsibility to help address the plastic waste crisis: “Projects like this, in addition to packaging innovations and recycling efforts, are one of the ways we are working to help keep our waterways and environment clean from plastic debris."

Qvest is continuing its partnering with NVIDIA to progress on its AI efforts. 

The two are now working together to create advanced AI-driven technology and capabilities that can help increase media companies’ productivity and optimize operations. This includes a generative AI solution that can streamline content management and creation within existing media workflows. 

Capabilities will include automated metadata tagging for audio, text, and vision formats to reduce manual efforts, cutting down on time and costs. Additionally, it will include accelerated content search within the video assets library and content generation for headlines, scripts, and narratives to expedite time to market. 

Also: Learn why Gartner says multimodal intelligence is the future of GenAI

The tech will run on the NVIDIA GenAI microservices platform, which supports computer vision, content generation, audio transcription, and more. Users will be able to host models on the cloud or locally to bolster data security and optimize performance. 

The companies plan to integrate NVIDIA’s Holoscan for Media technology for real-time streaming ingestion and content discovery. 

Unilever is picking up sticks and moving to Hoboken, NJ. 

The CPG, which currently calls Englewood Cliffs, NJ, its North America home, will move into the new digs in spring 2025. It signed a three-year lease for a 111,000-square-foot, three-floor office. 

The company decided to relocate in order to tap into the labor pool of the New York City and metro area while retaining their current employees in Bergen County, according to a statement from Alexander Erdos, SVP, leasing and development at SJP Properties, Unilever’s new landlord. 

Other companies on the property include Newell Brands, Lipton, and Walmart.

• See also: Learn how Unilever is using AI to improve ice cream out-of-stocks

Salesforce CRM partner CloudGaia is accelerating growth in the Americas and Europe, and a new investment from Salesforce Ventures is expected to give it a boost. 

Founded in 2016, CloudGaia leverages agile methodologies to help consumer goods companies maximize their use of Salesforce platforms. Customers include Coca Cola Euro Pacific Partners. 

Salesforce Ventures invests in start-up and early-stage enterprise software companies. CloudGaia CEO Nicolas Orzabal said the funds will enable them to expand their impact. 

“With this investment, CloudGaia is set to expand its presence across the Americas and Europe, growing its team, enhancing service offerings, and deepening relationships with existing and new clients,” he noted in a statement. 

Global apparel company Lolë Brands is expanding its portfolio, acquiring footwear brand Sanuk, which was previously owned by Deckers Brands. Sanuk, which was founded in 1997, will undergo reinvestment in its consumer-centric products and marketing under Lolë Brands’ ownership. 

• Read more: Mars recently announced it would be acquiring Kellanova in one of the industry’s largest food product deals. 

At the helm is Katie Pruitt, a 20-year industry veteran who was hired to lead the brand as VP, general manager. Her focus will be on direct-to-consumer and wholesale customers. 

Operations for Sanuk will move to Los Angeles, California. This is Lolë’s second acquisition over the last year as the company looks to grow its portfolio of environmentally conscious consumer brands.