As Kraft Foods prepares to split its North American grocery and international snacks businesses in 2012, the company will roll out some 70 products in the first quarter, including several new brands and expansion of product lines launched earlier this year.
Among the biggest introductions, the Northfield, Ill.-based company will add two lines of dinner kits, energy and "mocktail" versions of its water enhancers, two brands imported from Europe and the retail launch of its Gevalia direct-mail coffee brand.
The product barrage continues a strategy Kraft launched last year to tout its innovation credentials timed to coincide with the retailer's annual stock resets. "Our operating cycle is to have a flow of really strong innovation timed in sync with our retail partners," Barry Calpino, VP-breakthrough innovation for Kraft Foods, said in an interview. "This is how Kraft goes to market."
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