The twitterverse and tech blogs are abuzz: as of today, one million apps have been launched via Apple’s App Store. While gaming apps tend to have the highest number of downloads (shout out to Angry Birds), there are a number of food, photo, news, and music apps worth checking out. […]
In 2008, flax was all the rage among health-conscious consumers. Declarations of its near-magical powers significantly boosted consumer recognition of this cancer-preventing, menopause-easing superfood. Cooking shows made classic baked goods healthier with the incorporation of flaxseed. Magazines urged consumers to sprinkle it on their cereal and yogurt for an added […]
The moment is fleeting. You’d love for time to stop, but it doesn’t. You want the experience to linger, but you can’t hold it. You can, however, click it. And it takes only an instant. How many of your friends and acquaintances use a still camera to record their lives? […]
From day one, MarketPlace has championed an undisputed fact of food marketing: a successful product sells into the unique desires and ever-changing tastes of the end-consumer. If droves of consumers start tweeting about their love for earthworm flavor or gym-sock aroma, food and beverage R&D teams will be working hard […]
Last year, my (former) physician sent me from his office with a prescription for “eat more bran.” Bran didn’t help. Bran, it turns out, was one of the reasons I had to see the doctor in the first place. As I would learn through self-diagnosis a few weeks later, I […]
If you were of drinking age in the 80’s and 90’s, you probably know that a beer drinker had few options back then (in America, at least, and especially in the AB-dominated Midwest). There certainly weren’t many imports at that time, the craft beer movement had barely taken root, and […]
Typically, I pay more notice to my VHS collection of MacGyver episodes than to political conventions, but in 2004, even I cared about politics, as a handful of bloggers was issued press credentials for the Democratic and Republican conventions. This small act of validation signaled a large-scale shift in the […]
Store brands, over the last two years, have protected or increased their market share in 75% of the top 100 consumer packaged goods categories* For over a decade, private label brands have outpaced national brand favorites in several categories. The economy, to a significant degree, has driven consumers to explore […]
I love this word: “Particibrands.” Trendwatching.com (an entity I have a strong affection for) defines the Particibrands trend as “to remain relevant, brands have no choice but to follow, adapt to, but most importantly participate in consumer culture, in all its joyous chaos and excitement.” So what does this mean […]
Every Winter I miss the smell of fresh cut grass and the sunny weekends spent down at the creek and find myself wondering, “Why do I live in a part of the country where there are four distinct seasons?” But this Winter, I managed to break that cycle. A friend […]
