Cranberry Stressline

July 7 - 14

Ocean Spray to present at major conference on change management

7/13/99 Ocean Spray will join, among others, Texas Instruments, Monsanto, Federal Express, Compaq Computers and even the Central Intelligence Agency in presenting  at a conference entitled Change Management: Enabling and Leveraging Organizational and Technological Change - Developing a Change-Ready Workforce to Capitalize on New Technologies, Changing Business Conditions, and Improved Processes. The Ocean Spray is presentation is entitled Redesigning the organization and building capability to achieve strategic change objectives.

From the conference description: "Successful organizations know that change is inevitable. They know that they need to put strategies, processes, and plans into place to not only manage change, but also to capitalize on it and make it work effectively within their businesses for competitive advantage. This conference is a quick way to uncover, analyze, and adopt the best practices to ensure that your change management initiative is a success."

The conference is sponsored by the International Quality and Productivity Center, and will be held July 26-28, 1999 at the Allertown Crowne Plaza in Chicago, Ill. Web site: information and agenda


Company Press Release

Farmbid.com Creates First Global Market for Farm Equipment and Products
On-Line Auction Site Provides New Opportunities for Farmers

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(PR NEWSWIRE)--July 13, 1999--Once, the most important piece of farm equipment was a tractor.

Today, it may be a laptop and a link to the World Wide Web. With profit margins decreasing and expenses increasing, farmers are looking for ways to grow their businesses. With the debut of Farmbid.com, farmers have a new source for buying and selling agricultural equipment, supplies and merchandise. Continued


Press releases:

Grocery Manufacturing Industry Faces Challenge of Generating Long-Term Growth

New Report Shows Top Performers Focus on Acquisitions, New Consumer Trends, Brand Building
SOURCE: Grocery Manufacturers of America

WASHINGTON, July 8 /1999-- Despite low inflation and increased consolidation, top performers in the grocery manufacturing industry made headway in 1998 by seeking strategic acquisitions, capitalizing on booming health and convenience trends, and building strong brand equity. The findings were reported in the newly released ``1999 Financial Performance of the Grocery Manufacturing Industry'' report, a joint project by the Grocery Manufacturers of America and Swander Pace & Company. Continued

MINUTE MAID TO INVEST $50 MILLION
TO EXPAND JUICE PRODUCTION IN EUROPE

Signes, France, July 9, 1999 - The Minute Maid Company announced today that it would invest $50 million to redesign and re-equip an existing Coca-Cola facility in Southern France for production of finished juice products for Europe. Continued

AFBF Unveils AgRecovery Action Plan
To Boost U.S. Farmers

7/9/99 PARK RIDGE, Ill.,  The American Farm Bureau Federation today (7/8/99) unveiled its proposal for an emergency farm assistance package. Farm Bureau leaders from across the nation will take the organization’s AgRecovery Action Plan to the nation’s capital next week in their quest to secure emergency financial help for America’s farm and ranch families caught in the throes of today's farm economic crisis.
Continued

Northland Cranberries, Inc. Reports Financial Results for Third Quarter of Fiscal 1999; Announces Accelerated Media/ trade Spending; Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

7/8/99 Wisconsin Rapids, WI -- Northland Cranberries, Inc. (Nasdaq:CBRYA), manufacturer of Northland brand 100% juice cranberry blends and Seneca brand fruit juice products, today reported financial results for its fiscal 1999 third quarter.

For the three-month period ended May 31, 1999, the company reported net income of $1.8 million, or $0.09 per share. Revenues for the period totaled $70.9 million. Continued

 


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Cranberry juice wars:

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Apple & Eve goes on the attack with 100% juice cranberry beverage

7/13/99 Apple & Eve has followed in the footsteps of Northland Cranberries as it airs an ad on television comparing its 100% juice cranberry cocktail with Ocean Spray's 27% juice product. The advertisements start with a picture of the Apple & Eve bottle, then cut to a close-up of an Ocean Spray bottle slowly rotating to reveal the damning words "27% Fruit Juice" nearly filling the screen, then cut back to visuals of Apple and Eve bottles.

One wonders about the rationale for this advertising strategy since Ocean Spray will be launching its own 100% fruit juice line shortly.

Below: See related  article about cranberry juice companies competing with each other.

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The aisle wars:

Carbonated sodas going flat?
Source: CBS News Market Watch

7/13/99 The next aisle over, traditional Coke and Pepsi hold sway and earn billions satisfying consumers' need for soda (pop in the Midwest). But people just aren't drinking as much cola as they used to.  Coca-cola and Pepsico stock is languishing. People aren't going to give up cola, but according to to Ann Gurkin at Davenport and Co. in Richmond, Va., interviewed by Colleen Bazdarich in CBS Market Watch, juice and fruit flavored beverages may be where market growth will be headed.

Much time, energy and money is spent on fighting for market share. Ocean Spray battles Tropicana when it isn't distracted by Northland. Now (see above) Apple & Eve is mimicking Northland's award winning 100% juice advertising campaign by attacking Ocean Spray in their ads. Ocean Spray's Nantucket Nectars and   Pepsi's Snapple try to forge unique product identities. They have pretty much vanquished Coke's Fruitopia, a product which proved that no amount of in-your-face promotion will sell a beverage that rated mostly D's and F's on BevNet. Both are probably are keeping an eye on SoBe. Similar battles go on between in the frozen and refrigerated aisles.

I have little doubt that Coke and Pepsi   would like nothing better than to fight for domination of all four beverage aisles. And more power to them if they can do it. but if those juice manufacturers that are still solely in the fruit business would concentrate more on fighting for the taste buds rather than each other, I believe that cranberry growers, and all involved in the fruit beverage industry, would be well served.


Juice Guys Score with new lemonade

7/13/99 BevNet has not only given an A rating to Nantucket Nectars' Mango Lemonade, but it is the featured review for 7/12/99. All the Nectars' lemonades have been rated either A or the rarely earned A+.


New Coke shelf stable juice line
predicted in Sept. 1998,
and how things have changed.

Source:
Ad Age

7/8/99 Industry insiders were predicting just ten months ago that Coca-Cola was going to develop a shelf stable line of trendy beverages to go head to head with Ocean Spray on the juice aisle, possibly under the Minute Maid brand name. An executive knowledgeable about the plans said the idea was for Coke to compete with Ocean Spray the way it does with Pepsi.

How things have changed in the beverage industry and Ocean Spray since last fall. Back then Ocean Spray was characterized by the managing director of Reach Marketing, Burt Flickinger, as a force to be reckoned with on the juice aisle, even for the Big Two:

"Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo dwarf Ocean Spray in size and marketing dollars. But privately held Ocean Spray, with sales of $1.4 billion last year, is an unusually aggressive competitor. I haven't seen another company defend its franchise as aggressively and as well as Ocean Spray has whenever there is a major intrusion in one of its core categories."

An Ocean Spray spokesman said the cooperative would "continue to defend (our) franchise and do what we do, which is make top-quality healthful products that answer consumer needs." He recognized the might and influence Coke would have as a competitor on the juice aisle and added "I think the whole juice arena is going to heat up because of Pepsi's purchase of Tropicana."

An analyst for Salomon Brothers, Jennifer Solomon, noted that was logical for Coke to develop a competitive line on the juice aisle, and referring to the highly competitive beverage business, said of Coca-Cola: "You have got to get your growth where you can, I think Coke's all about share-of-stomach."

If Coke is intent on expanding in a big way onto the juice aisle (their Hi-C is only a minor player), it remains to be seen whether they will develop a brand new product line or acquire an established "name brand" like Ocean Spray. If they don't, and Pepsi or Cadbury Schweppes, or a multi-product giant like Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, or Unilever does, Coke will be at a severe disadvantage competing against both Pepsico's Tropicana and a newly capitalized Ocean Spray. Article in Ad Age


Sex on the bogs:

Score one for science

7/8/99 The public is notorious for not understanding how the food they eat somehow appears in the supermarkets, fast food chains, convenience stores and restaurants. How many people even know what pheromones are? And of those who may have had their interest in them aroused by the prefix "sex", I doubt many realize that they are a major innovation in the fight to naturally control pests. The Associated Press has an article on how sex pheromones are used to control two cranberry pests, the malicious Sparganothis fruitworm in Massachusetts and the blackheaded fireworm in Wisconsin.  Alluding to the romantic ardor of the fruitworm moth frustrated by the heady aroma of the phantom female, Jeffrey LaFleur, executive director on the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association is quoted as saying ''Moths are going to have to take lots of cold showers.''  Read the entire article here.

 


 

CORRECTION p-opinion.gif (1055 bytes)CORRECTION

7/10/99 In a story that prompted a Cranberry Stressline editorial, below, The Associated Press reported on July 6 that Nestle and Unilever had announced they would no longer make food products from genetically modified farm commodities. The two largest food companies in the world say have no such policy. They said decisions on whether to sell food using genetically modified ingredients are made by their local managers on a country to country basis. Cranberry Stressline regrets the erroneous assumptions made in the editorial below and offers its sincere apology to Unilever and Nestle. Source

Science vs. Public opinion:

Nestle and Unilever back away from scientific agriculture

7/7/99 In an unusual move, the world's two largest food companies, Switzerland based Nestle and Unilever which has home offices in the Netherlands and Great Britain, will no longer use ingredients that are grown from genetically altered seeds. Apparently succumbing to irrational European fears of genetic engineering the companies are moving backward instead of forward. Crops scientifically altered to resist pests, to be immune to certain herbicides, and to require less irrigation during drought, have increased production. Because of new grain varieties, less pesticides are required for certain crops.

While initially only a few American crops will be effected (corn, soybean and cottonseed), this major public relations move trades short term gain for long term loss. As cranberry growers well know, scientific agriculture, from IPM to best management practices, is often misunderstood.   The public needs to be educated. This move by Unilever and Nestle is a regressive, rather than a progressive, step. HB

Read AP story here

July 1- 7, 1999