This is the April 2009 edition of the Luckie & Company produced Snacking Trend Tracker newsletter. It is a quick topical snapshot of general trends, social media and traditional advertising in the snacking marketplace for April. For more information or back issues, visit www.luckie.com

2. Snickers has introduced a major new campaign centered on a make-
believe language called Snacklish. The initial launch phase includes
outdoor ads and content on the Snickers Web site as well as Facebook.
TV commercials will follow with more content on snickers.com in the
spring, including a way to translate regular language into the Snickers
lingo.
Snacklish is a humorous way of speaking that revises everyday words
and phrases for a Snickers-centric world. To underscore their origin,
they are printed in the typeface and colors of the Snickers brand logo.
Examples include a Snickers taxi, or snaxi; peanutarium, for
planetarium; and chompensation, for compensation. And the Sigma Nu
fraternity is transformed into Sigma Nougat, after a Snickers ingredient.
The possibilities are endless. You could someday, perhaps, read a
Snacklish version of this article that quotes Caramel Walker, written by
Chewart Elliott for The Nougat York Times.
Source: The New York Times
2

3. What’s a 21-letter name for delicious? Cheez-It Scrabble Junior.
Kellogg’s launched the new variety of the cheesy cracker in
January 2009 and is slowly rolling them out nationwide.
While the Cheez-It flavor remains intact, the crackers now look like
traditional Scrabble tiles with letters imprinted in the center.
Why the Junior? Some are speculating that it is meant to connote
the childish fun of playing with your food, while others guess that
it’s because the Qs and Xs are missing, making it easier to spell
common words.
Snacking is often all about fun, so combining snacks with games
makes perfect sense. The key is making it relevant — the product
and brand need to be able to support the level of fun (and the
actual play, if that’s expected), or consumers will cry foul.
Source: Iconoculture
3

4. ’
Kellogg’s is testing a shorter, greener box for its breakfast cereals.
The new packaging holds the same amount of cereal, but uses 8%
less material and takes up 5% less shelf space, reducing
production and shipping costs.
The reductions are being touted to customers as a cupboard-
friendly bonus.
Source: Sustainableisgood.com
4

5. Campbell Soup Co. has created a new Web site, called Campbell’s
Ideas for Innovation, where scientists, entrepreneurs and inventors can
easily submit their ideas for evaluation.
The consumer packaged goods company wants to generate ideas in
the areas of new products, packaging innovation, product-line
extensions, environmental sustainability, business processes and
marketing, and is also interested in new technologies connected with
sodium reduction, vegetable nutrition and healthier fats and oils.
“Campbell has had a solid track record for innovation in the categories
in which we compete: soup and simple meals, baked snacks, and
healthy beverages,” said Carl Johnson, Campbell’s chief strategy
officer. “We are committed to improving our innovation results, and a
key element in this improvement requires us to be open to ideas from
both inside and outside the company. The Ideas for Innovation Web
site is one of the ways we are accessing innovation from outside
sources.
Source: Brandweek.com
5

6. Wondering what’s for dinner? General Mills’ Betty Crocker brand has
launched an iPhone application to help answer that question.
The iPhone application is a mobile version of the Betty Crocker Cookbook.
It is free and includes 4,000 tried-and-true recipes.
“General Mills’ strategy is to make our content available in places and
devices where our consumers can benefit from the information,” said Mike
Bettison, Web site manager at General Mills.
Consumers can type in what type of food they have in their pantry and the
tool delivers recipe ideas based on that information.
The mobile cookbook also gives step-by-step instructions and full
nutritional information for every recipe.
Source: MobileMarketer.com
6

7. 7-Eleven has launched a new online “experience” to promote
its Slurpee beverages.
The BrainFreeze Laboratory encourages visitors to upload their
picture to see how drinking a Slurpee beverage will change the
color of their complexion, and then to send pictures along to
friends.
“We chose to go viral with this campaign because we wanted
to drive traffic to Slurpee.com,” said a 7-Eleven spokesperson.
The campaign is expected to run through July, and is being
cross-promoted through banner ads, the Slurpee Web site, and
promotional emails.
Source: OnlineMediaDaily.com
7

8. Mars is prepping its first new candy brand since Twix nearly 20 years ago: a low-
calorie chocolate bar dubbed “Fling,” aimed at women. The candy is positioned as
“Naughty, but not that naughty.”
Mars representative Ryan Bowling said the concept for Fling was to develop a
“permissive indulgence” for women. At 170 calories a bar, and at a recession-friendly
price point of 79 cents a pack, Fling will retail in stores and online at
flingchocolate.com.
Fling comes with (excessively) girly touches, such as a hot-pink foil wrapper and
shimmering pink “mica” dust on each candy bar.
A TV spot shows a woman who appears to enter a dressing room occupied by a man,
with the two then getting undressed and proceeding to act naughty. But then the
camera pans over the top of the fitting rooms, revealing they are actually in two
separate dressing rooms, as he struggles with his clothes and she secretly nibbles on
a Fling.
Print work for the brand declares “It’s not cheating if you don’t feel guilty,” “Your
boyfriend doesn’t need to know” and “Pleasure yourself.”
Source: Adage.com
8

9. “ ”
PepsiCo is testing greener vending machines, a move that helps the soft-drink maker reduce its environmental footprint and
gives businesses a little relief on their electric bills. The test involving 30 machines in the Washington, D.C., area has just
begun. Pepsi hopes to begin rolling them out worldwide over the next several years.
The new machines use 5.08 kilowatt-hours of energy per day, down about 15% from a nationwide average of 6 kilowatt-
hours used by current machines. Current machines already use 44% less energy on average than the machines used six
years ago.
The new machines also emit about 12% less greenhouse gas, in part by keeping the drinks cool with carbon dioxide instead
of the usual hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which scientists say contribute to global warming.
The green machines, which have won the praise of Greenpeace, are the latest step PepsiCo is taking to promote its more
environmentally friendly ways.
Source: Reuters.com
9

10. ’
The Obamas’ edible garden is the first presidential garden since
Eleanor Roosevelt’s World War II-era victory garden. As the entire
country is looking at the Obamas as trendsetters, some companies
are picking up on this trend and are already incorporating it into
their marketing strategies.
For the first time in its 100+ year history Campbell’s Soup is
making the seeds used for their soup tomatoes available to the
public for free (with proof of purchase) at a dedicated Web site.
Campbell’s is spearheading an initiative to grow more than one
billion tomatoes across the country.
Source: Trendcentral.com
10

11. Previous editions of this newsletter can be found at
www.luckie.com
If you wish to be added to the monthly distribution list for this
newsletter, please send an e-mail to dstutts@luckie.net
11