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• Market View: Can You Prove Advertising Sells Anything?

  By John Stanton, Contributing Editor

  One question I am often asked, especially by production people, is “Does advertising really work?” My answer usually is “At what?” They ask whether advertising really “causes” sales or is just entertainment.I remember a Nissan commercial that was the poster child for ads as…

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• New Vendors and Manufacturers at Natural Products Expo West 2019

  By Leslie Herzog of The Understanding & Insight Group

  I got the sense that some vendors and food and beverage manufacturers are using Natural Products Expo West to gauge the strength of a new ideas or flavors. In fact, I think the view cost of exhibiting at NPEW is less than the cost of a taste/consumer test.The following were notable products that…

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• Natural Products Expo West 2019 Just Keeps Growing

  By Leslie Herzog of The Understanding & Insight Group

  Although I allotted four days to cover Natural Products Expo West (March 5-9 in Anaheim, Calif.), up from three days at the show in the previous years, I honestly did not see everything that this amazingly large show had in store.In a presentation, show manager New Hope Media named three…

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• High-Oleic Food Oils Are Getting Noticed

  By Jeanne Turner, Contributing Editor

  Just as the large, golden blooms of a sunflower pivot to follow the sun (a phenomenon called heliotropism), food manufacturers similarly find themselves striving to stay on the sunny side of consumers, who continue to up their demands for healthier, sustainable and traceable ingredients.Recently,…

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• CBD in Foods and Beverages? Not Quite Yet

  By Jeffrey Hamilton of Farella Braun+Martel

  On Oct. 27, 2018, the New York Times ran an article with the headline Why is CBD Everywhere?, noting that products infused with cannabidiol, a compound found in cannabis plants commonly referred to as “CBD,” had gone from being obscure to omnipresent almost overnight.Seemingly within the blink…

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• Batters and Coatings Add Daring Flavors to Varying Textures

  By Carolyn Schierhorn, Contributing Editor

  Consumers today have a penchant for discovery—a zeal to sample foods that are new and different in flavor, texture, appearance and provenance, emphasized Innova Market Insights in its 2019 food trends report. Driven particularly by culinarily intrepid, health-conscious millennials and members of…

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