BYDOU GDESJARDINS healthy products, such as chicken meal, soybean
meal and rice. Purina also has a line of dog food
The pet food recall in March 2007 was the largest called Naturally Complete with Vitamins and
ever and—though short-lived—it produced major Minerals that targets the same consumer.
changes in the pet food business, making pet owners Even pet treats, once manufactured with rendered
more aware of the food they give their material, are part of the business. CVS
pets and kick-starting an already emerg- recently began carrying Zen Puppy
ing trend of healthy food and treats. “holistic dog treats.” The treats are made
The all-natural trend that’s been part of in the United States with all-natural
the grocery business for years is driving ingredients and contain omega- 3 fatty
pet food sales, and it’s a lucrative catego- acids and glucosamine.
ry, given the fact sales continue to rise each Another popular line is from Blue Dog
year. According to the American Pet Bakery, which makes all-natural dog
Product Manufacturers Association, pet treats that are also low in fat. Its product
food sales generated $16.2 billion in 2007 lineup is in such mass merchants as Wal-
and are expected to increase 4. 2 percent to Mart and Albertson’s–Sav-on food-drug
$16.9 billion in 2008. Zen Puppy treats contain combo stores.
all-natural ingredients, as
And while the APPMA and other well as omega- 3 fatty acids The trend also is driving the pet acces-
groups find it hard to track the percentage and glucosamine. sories business. The APPMAexpects sales
of sales generated by healthy foods—since of pet accessories to increase 5. 5 percent
there’s no clear guidelines for defining a natural or to $10.3 billion in 2008, and one of the fastest-growing
healthy product—they’re definitely on the increase. areas in the business is products made from recycled
The number of pet foods with packaging using the or natural materials. According to Packaged Facts,
words “healthy” and “natural” has jumped notice- sales of sustainable pet products could generate up to
ably during the past year in drug stores due to a $1 billion in 2009.
number of new brands from major suppliers just get- Most products in the category are made of materi-
ting into the business. al that is either recycled or nontoxic, such as dog beds
Iams has been a top brand among healthy foods in from Earthdoggy.com that are manufactured with
pet aisles for years, but now Purina is grabbing a larg- recycled material and low-impact dyes. BMB Pet has
er share of the market with its new Naturals line. Its just released a line of all-natural pet collars and leads
Naturals Plus Vitamins and Minerals Cat Chow, now in Wal-Mart and other retailers that are made of bam-
carried by such chains as CVS and Rite Aid, contains boo and cork, and are colored with organic dye.
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Kodak now is selling its Kodak Digital Picture Frames with picture cards preloaded with up to 100 favorite photos.
The frames can be ordered on the Kodak Gallery online photo service where buyers can select the photos they want loaded on to a card and have the frame shipped to themselves or friends and family members as a gift.
“These new preloaded frames make great gifts, and with the preloaded Kodak picture card, you can continue to send new pictures anytime,” said Madhav Mehra, general manager of Kodak Gallery.
BIC is launching a new line of lighters this summer with an updated look. The new line will be called BIC Symbols special edition series and will feature 17 designs, including a rose, a frog and a pair of dice.
BIC also is unveiling new lighters in its established brand of lighters, including Geometrics special edition series, Flick my BIC special edition series and Outdoors special edition series.
“One of the keys to profitability for retailers is to offer consumers a wide variety of designs to meet their preferences,” said Adam Blu-menthal, brand manager for pocket lighters for BIC consumer products. “This new lineup of designs certainly offers consumers the variety they look for when choosing a lighter.”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 166 considered for a card actually make it into print.
“The image is what often attracts a consumer, but the inside of the greeting card has to offer that exclamation point,” said American Greetings assistant product manager Mindy Johnson. “Our editorial team creates copy that is short, sharp and at the same time, reflects the occasion that is being celebrated.”
American Greetings is going to announce the winner in June, and the winning cards will arrive in stores this summer. Hallmark also is recruiting customers to help them create cards. It debuted a new line with user-generated content called the Your Pets collection on June 16.
Hallmark asked fans to submit pictures of their pets with a title and funny caption and received more than 7,000 entries. From those, it selected the 67 it felt were the best. Your Pets was the second contest in an ongoing competition Hallmark launched last fall.
“For years, Hallmark consumers have approached us with incredible ideas for greeting cards,” said Ingerlene Embry, editorial director at Hallmark. “We want to encourage that passion.”
With Your Pets wrapped up, the company has launched a new program called Your Funnyness that asks consumers to contribute humorous cards in its quest to find “the funniest card creator in the country.” The winners will be featured in a card line due to arrive in stores this fall.
Hallmark is giving sound cards
a new twist with its Recordable Cards with Music. The first-of-its-kind card allows the sender to record a 10 second personal message on a sound chip. That message is followed by a prechosen song clip, and both the message and music play whenever the card is opened.
The cards were introduced on Mother’s Day, and a second round was released this month for Father’s Day. Hallmark said it plans to release recordable cards for each holiday this year, given the success of its first wave.
“We knew we had a great product, but we were really amazed by the [sales] numbers we saw from the Mother’s Day line,” said Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg-Kolell. “So we plan on having new recordable card lines for key holidays going forward.”
Fujifilm hosted a two-day digital printing seminar in May that included 38 companies from 17 states and featured demonstrations of digital printing production from the Xerox DocuColor 242 and the Xerox Phaser 7760.
“With this workshop, our goal was to educate our customers and prospective customers on the business of digital printing in the photo specialty printing market,” said David Murray, national sales manager for photo specialty printing for FujiFilm.
Trading card supplier Inkworks has just debuted a new line of trading cards with characters from the DreamWorks Animation theatrical release “Kung Fu Panda.”
The 50-card collection tells the movie’s story with such characters as Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Monkey and the obese kung fu master Po the Panda. The collection also features randomly inserted bonus cards, including six die-cut true warriors cards, eight lenticular-zoom masters of kung fu cards and nine different sparkly sticker cards. Packs will each contain six cards and retail for $1.99.
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