Research Topic

The Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) will unveil the results of its 2nd Annual Shopper Marketing Study May 6 at its Shopper Marketing Summit, which will be held at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas.

MyCoupons.com last week launched its Coupon Syndication Program, which was designed to enable Web sites, social networks and affiliates to customize the MyCoupons.com coupon content.

Oprah embarrassed herself on it with a stuck-caps lock. That guy from “Punk’d” competed with “the most trusted name in news” for audience. A befuddled Jon Stewart shook his fist at it in anger.

BLUE TAGG, a dedicated private label consultancy for major retailers has opened an office in Chicago, its first in the United States.

Fewer new products are showing up on supermarket shelves this year as companies cope with the changing economy. New data from the Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD) shows total food and drink product launches have been cut in half since last year (a 51 percent decline from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009).

Things are finally looking up for the battered peanut butter industry, which suffered through a massive recall earlier this year after salmonella was linked to a single peanut-processing company and maker of peanut butter for bulk distribution to institutions, foodservice industries and private label food companies, the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA).

Costco last week agreed to settle a lawsuit over the sale of "hot gasoline,” -- gasoline above 60 degrees Fahrenheit that expands but is not accounted for at the pumps, resulting in consumers receiving less gasoline than they pay for.

In observance of National Alcohol Awareness Month, a coalition of public interest groups this week requested that Congress and the Obama administration issue regulation to require standardized labeling information on beer, wine and distilled spirits products, and provide the resources to address such issues as underage drinking, binge drinking and drunk driving.