Mintel in the Media – this week's highlights

Were you too wrapped up following the DNC last week to pay attention to where Mintel’s name appeared in the news? No worries, here we’ve laid out the latest magazines and websites that featured Mintel data and insight and trend intelligence…

Our press release on low/no/reduced sodium product launches that quoted Mintel experts Chris Brockman and Richard Cope continued to get media attention, appearing this time in MediaPost Marketing Daily, Food Technology, Progressive Grocer, Drug Store News, Food and Beverage Asia, ??? in China, Food Holland and Consudel in the Netherlands just to name a few. Globally, launches of foods with low/no/reduced sodium claims declined 5% over the 2010-2011 period, appearing on just 2% of total food launches in 2011. New product launch figures from our GNPD also appeared in the Grist for a piece about the possibility that the ‘all-natural’ claim on products can be misleading.

Meanwhile, our Mintel Menu Insights data that highlighted the trend of classic cocktails appearing more frequently on restaurant menus was still a hot topic a week later. This time the story was covered by CNBC, Yahoo! Finance and Restaurant Management in the US, while in Asia it appeared in: Yahoo! News Philippines, The Malaysian Insider in Malaysia and Xin Msn in Singapore. Moreover, the story also made a splash in the European press, and it was picked up in: L’Echo Republicaine, Le Populaire, Boursorama in France, and RTL and L’Avenir in Belgium. More on food, our story on the ice cream market received fantastic media attention, including: an interview with Amy Price on CNBC, The Daily Mail, the Express, the Mirror, Metro, The Sun, Food Manufacture, Yahoo! Finance, Progressive Grocer, QSR Magazine, Food Product Design, Convenience Store Decisions and Food Navigator.

More Mintel Menu Insight figures were included in an article on QSR Web in the US and Yahoo! OMG in the Philippines to illustrate the resurgence of chicken items at restaurants.

Additionally, Technology Analyst Billy Hulkower’s interview with Media Life Magazine and Mintel’s belief that online advertising could trump TV ads by 2017 was mentioned by yet another publication, this time in Inc. Magazine, while the Register-Guard quoted extensively from our DIY Retailing report to detail the DIY market’s recovery post-recession.

Also of note, Senior Retail & Apparel analyst Ali Lipson was interviewed by Marketplace Radio where she gave her opinion of retailer’s attempts to lure buyers with changes to their layaway plans. According to Lipson, since layaway was revived during the recession, “it hasn’t had the long-term effect that some retailers may have expected it to.” Mintel’s opinion of the milk market was included in a second Marketplace Radio piece this week as well.

More on retail, this time in the UK, our Director of Retail Research, Richard Perks, commented for The Independent on Tesco’s digital acquisition as it takes aim at Amazon: “No one knows how retailing is going to develop. But it is essential that retailers are alive to the possibilities and gear themselves up to take advantage of the opportunities that arise” he said. “Our data shows that it is the multi-channel retailers who are seeing the strongest online growth, not the pure plays, even Amazon. So any retailer must give the best possible service both on and off-line. That’s where this Mobcast acquisition comes in.” Richard concluded. Richard’s comment also appeared on the high profile business publication International Business Times. Richard continued to showcase his expertise this week in an exclusive interview for The Huffington Post in a piece titled “The Battle of the Department Stores: City Predicts Debenhams Will Benefit as M&S Stumbles” and was also interviewed on Channel Five News on the same subject. We also featured a second time in The Huffington Post this week, but this time our Senior Travel Analyst, Tom Rees, was asked to give his opinion on FastJet plans to expand passenger numbers by the addition of Airbus. The addition of an Airbus was an indication of FastJet’s intention to expand passenger numbers, Tom explained and added that while some may believe EasyGroup’s success with low-cost airline EasyJet would mean FastJet will look to expand into Europe, it was more likely that FastJet would focus on growing in Africa first.

Other great press included an article in Prevention Magazine that referenced our yogurt consumption figures while The New York Times and MediaPost Marketing Daily both used our soup sales and consumption data for profiles of Campbell’s revived Chunky Soup ad campaign that featured NFL players and their mothers.

On to beauty, Happi Magazine used insight from Mintel Beauty & Personal Care to show the growing popularity of face care products that provide UV protection. And The Times quoted our data on the market for foundation, bronzers, concealers and blushers worth £497million in the UK, while The Financial Times quoted our Head of Beauty and Personal Care Research, Vivienne Rudd on male beauty.

Rounding out the coverage, Fox Business used Mintel Comperemedia cash rewards figures for an informative piece that outlined five easy ways to make extra money, while we were also mentioned in three Natural Foods Merchandiser stories on cheese, chocolate bars and tea.