During my supermarket visits, I mainly go straight to the freezer because this is the category I am mainly interested to check first. Today when i was in the Northern part of Cyprus, and during the usual tour, I was surprised to find the below product in the freezer, frozen dog & cat frozen food.
This is the first time I ever see such a product and not really sure what is inside.

cy-petfood.jpg

Coca-Cola was also exhibiting in Foodapest, and they were really focusing on the look of their new bottle, shown below on the right, and they had this displayed in real size bottles, so I had the chance to ask getting one, I have it in my luggage, once back home, I will shoot it and post the picture.

I stumbled across this feed called Hello! Drinks from Brand Infection through my feed readers yesterday night and I was so eager to discover what is this all about, as myself I am always excited when it comes to new products launching and business ventures. I discovered it to be a smoothie brand.

A smoothie is a blended non-alcoholic beverage made from natural ingredients, usually fruits and juices but sometimes other natural flavors such as chocolate or even green tea. Smoothies and juice bars started becoming popular throughout the United States in the 90’s where Jamba Juice is the largest smoothie bar franchise, with 533 stores and sales reaching $345 million in 2005.

After visiting their blog I found the following initial posting by Jürgen Alker the creator of this new brand:

After working all the years in the communication and marketing business and a lot of brand builing experience I want to start my own brand. I have had dozens of business ideas in the last years. Now I have chosen one that I want to implement. I needed something simple, something that does not require hundred thousands to start.I always liked fresh juice and asked myself why there is only all this crap in german stores. In February I visited London and was amazed by a juice brand. To be precise a smoothie brand. I heard about them already 2 years ago. But didn´t expect them to taste that good. This was what was missing: the final “hint” for me to start something. This was it.

A smoothie brand. Product development is not too complicated. And I know how to do all the marketing. So why wait?

So I wish you all the luck and success in your new venture, hoping we will see it growing globally soon !But I would like to comment on two issues after visiting their website:

1- The Website: I went through it and i got trapped into Deutsch language all over, even the front page shows some english words (i.e. check out our blog, stop, order here) while their blog is in full english.
After going deeply through the blog, I understood that at the launching stage they will cover only the german market, I fully understand this issue, but the internet No.1 language is English, so please consider having your website in English from day one, so surfers don’t let you behind after their first visit.

Another issue regarding the site, well you can not see any logo refering that you landed safely in the page you want except that bottle showing the brand name, while I visited their competitors: Fruchtbar, Grand Choice, b2b smoothies (listed in their blog) to discover more comprehensive and eye-catching design websites, but unfortunately also in German, all of them.

2- The Logo Design: I like the name, it can go global easily one day, but oops … have not we seen this somewhere before?


Next time I am in Germany, I will try to catch one of your smoothie.
By the way, you are now on my blogroll.
Hello! Happy Drinking !

For 40 years, shaving technology stayed about the same. Then, in the 1970s, wet shaving advanced again with the creation of the twin-blade cartridge.Also in the same year 1970, development on the three blades started, but it did not succeed as they caused irritation.In 1998 the solution to this problem appeared.
The Gillette Mach 3 shaving system from Gillette used three blades. The addition of lubricating strips, a flow-through blade design and other innovations made this the system to beat.Schick rose to the challenge by introducing the Quattro, a four-blade shaving system. And Gillette rose to that challenge with the Gillette Fusion, at five blades.
It would seem that this would mark the logical extreme in the evolution of multi-blade designs. Surely, if you can’t get a close shave with 5 blades, the incremental improvement on a sixth blade is not going to help you much. The Gillette Fusion is also available in a power version and features a micro-chip that regulates the voltage and blade action. Other high-tech features include a low battery indicator light and a safety switch that shuts the razor down after eight minutes of continuous operation.The Gillette 14-blade razor goes online on August 4th, 2100.

Schick vs. Gillette is one of the longest running consumer-product rivalries– going back nearly 100 years.

And the Schick-Gillette rivalry is not just in razors – battery maker Energizer Holdings bought Schick in 2003 for $930 million. While Gillette owns Duracell – the maker of the famous “copper top” line of batteries.

In 2005 Procter & Gamble acquired 100% of The Gillette Company for approximately $57 billion making it the largest acquisition in P&G history.


Procter & Gamble
Energizer Holdings

There’s a new drink in town, and it’s created quite a buzz. Literally.

Red Bull’s high caffeine content, combined with other ingredients, gives people who drink the beverage quite the kick.

But Red Bull has been flagged by some health regulators as a potential danger.

Red Bull is an energy drink that’s suddenly everywhere. Last year, people in 120 countries guzzled close to two billion cans of the trendy brew. Developed in Austria, Red Bull’s marketing campaign promises the beverage “gives you wings.”

A drink that gives you wings? That sounds pretty powerful. So what exactly is Red Bull? The makers call it an “energy drink.” People describes it as “stimulating” and “addictive” .

The label on a can of Red Bull boasts caffeine, vitamins, a carbohydrate (glucuronolactone), an amino acid (taurine), and about five teaspoons of sugar.

Countries like Norway, Denmark and France are so nervous about the can’s contents, they’ve banned the sale of Red Bull.

“There are various side effects for each one of the three included substances, which vary in degrees of severity. And they can also interact with each other.” Says French nutritionist Isabelle Vanrullen, who works with the country’s food safety agency.Other countries, like Sweden and Iceland, are also concerned about Red Bull’s stampede onto the market.
Part of the concern is that Red Bull is an energy drink, but it doesn’t replenish the body after physical exertion (like sports drinks such as Gatorade).
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