Debbie Phillips-DonaldsonDebbie Phillips-Donaldson is editor-in-chief of Petfood Industry magazine and Petfood Forum.From the Author - Page 72Pet Food MarketSustainability: not just for huge multinationalsA new report shows retailer Walmart and Nestle, parent company of Nestle Purina, ranking among the top corporate sustainability leaders worldwide, according to GreenBiz.com. Based on a survey of "industry experts and professionals" by GlobeScan Inc. and SustainAbility Ltd., the report names 13 such leaders, with Unilever at the very top.Pet Food MarketTaking the claim 'human grade' literallyIt's not uncommon for media and others to see certain marketing terms and trends with petfood -- such as humanization -- and interpret them literally. Yet recently, BloombergBusinessweek took the concept to a whole new level.Pet Food MarketGet your new product development questions answeredEverything you've ever wanted to know about new product development but were afraid (or didn't know whom) to ask ... That's what you'll find at Petfood Workshop: New Product Development, April 4-5 at the Renaissance Schaumburg near Chicago, Illinois, USA.Pet Food MarketRecord corn crop in US (find out what that means at Petfood Forum)Two sources -- the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) -- are predicting a record corn harvest for the US this year, according to WattAgnet.com. FAPRI, a think tank based at the University of Missouri, puts the crop number at 13.916 billion bushels, reports a Reuters article, a 6% increase over the previous record set in 2009 (and based on the second largest plantings since World War II).Pet Food LabelingWhat is the petfood industry’s role in fighting pet obesity?Karen Wedekind, PhD, a researcher in pet nutrition with Novus Nutrition Brands, has made it a cause of sorts to educate our industry about the importance of balanced pet diets and avoiding excesses of nutrients such as minerals, protein and others (download a webinar on the topic). Whether you agree with Dr. Wedekind’s analysis, most industry professionals would concede that many pets, especially in developed markets, are receiving too much food overall.Pet Food MarketReport on Global Pet Expo 2012Last week was the largest Global Pet Expo ever -- at least according to the organizer, the American Pet Products Association. A few people I talked with on the show floor seemed skeptical of that claim; nevertheless, APPA president Bob Vetere said this year's show had the most booths, exhibitors, retailers and media.Pet Food MarketPetfood Forum Asia highlights global strength of petfood industryConsidering that the worldwide economy is still shaky -- with unemployment remaining high and consumer confidence low in many regions, and industries like petfood still coping with issues like volatility in ingredient availability and pricing -- it would not be a surprise for members of our industry to worry about the near future. But I believe most people who attended Petfood Forum Asia 2012 last week in Bangkok, Thailand, walked away with a "glass half full" view of our industry.Pet Food MarketWhy Petfood Industry has Apps (and your brand should be mobile, too)In January we released a Petfood Industry App for Android smartphones, joining the Apps available for a year now for iPhones and iPads. Considering our readership is global (nearly 50% of our audience is outside North America), we want readers to be able to access current and back issues of the magazine as well as our website -- all the Apps include links to the latest news and products -- in as many digital formats as possible. That holds true for all readers, no matter where they're located, because in today's busy world, mobile is becoming a key way to reach people.HomeDo you have a mobile and social marketing strategy for your petfood brand?More than 300,000 mobile Apps have been developed in the past three years, according to MobiThinking.com, and they’ve been downloaded 10.9 billion times. Another tech source, Flurry Blog, puts the number of App downloads at 40 billion.Pet Food MarketExtrusion short course highlights strengths of global petfood marketIf you are new to the petfood industry -- or work in another function besides dry petfood production and need to learn much more on that subject -- one of the best ways by attending the annual Feeds and Petfood Extrusion Short Course at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, USA. The course, just concluding its 22nd edition, offers a nearly week-long immersion into grinding, mixing, extruding, drying, cooling and coating dry petfoods and feeds, combining classroom sessions by industry experts with live demonstrations on machines designed to do all those petfood production steps.Pet Food MarketWho's posting what about your products or brand online?Earlier this year, comScore, an online and digital tracking firm, released a report showing nearly everyone in the US who is online -- a whopping 98% -- uses social media. That usage equates to US females spending an average 7.9 hours a month on social media and US males spending six hours.Pet Food MarketIdeas to ramp up your cause marketing this yearCause marketing -- promoting a brand, product or company through donations or other giving to charitable causes -- is growing worldwide. In the US alone, spending on causes reached US$1.68 billion in 2011, according to IEG, a branding and sponsorship support firm (and reported by Matt Carmichael on AdAge.com).Previous PagePage 72 of 82Next Page
