McCormick releases 2009 flavor forecast

McCormick releases 2009 flavor forecast

The 10 flavor pairings highlighted in the 2009 McCormick flavor forecast reflect “an appetite for internationally infused tastes, a desire for all-natural foods and a craving for favorite ingredients re-imagined with contemporary whimsy,” the spice company says. The pairings include cayenne and tart cherry, as well as garam masala and pepitas.

More Than Two In Five Toy Purchasers Spending Less on Toys This Holiday Season

Harris Interactive | The Harris Poll – More Than Two In Five Toy Purchasers Spending Less on Toys This Holiday Season

Just under half of Americans (47%) say they will purchase toys as gifts
this holiday season while 41% say they will not. Among households with
children, seven in ten (71%) will purchase toys this holiday season, but one
in five (21%) say they will not;

The Man of the House

The Man of the House

More men than ever are cooking, cleaning and caring for kids — so why aren’t household brands targeting them?

Kimberly-Clark Reaches Out to Moms

Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies and Pull-Ups are the brands behind a company initiative launched this week to cull and celebrate the best of Hispanic parenting and consejos (advice).

Dubbed “De mama a mama” (”Mom to mom”), the program aims to generate parenting tips, traditions and advice from Hispanic mothers that will be shared and passed along to new and expectant Latina mothers via a book of culturally focused parenting advice.

Moms with sage advice to bestow on moms-to-be can share their road-tested tips for good parenting at HuggiesEnEspanol.com and PullUpsEnEspanol.com and view thoughts from fellow contributors.

Twitter From the Cradle

It’s Social Networking for Babies – Twitter From the Cradle – NYTimes.com

Call it convenient. Call it baby overshare. But a host of new sites, including Totspot, Odadeo, Lil’Grams and Kidmondo, now offer parents a chance to forgo the e-mail blasts of, say, their newborn’s first trip home and instead invite friends and family to join and contribute to a network geared to connecting them to the baby in their lives.

Divided We Brand: The U.S.’ GMC/Scion Schism

Divided We Brand: The U.S.’ GMC/Scion Schism

According to data-mining company Axciom, Little Rock, Ark., consumers who describe themselves as “very liberal” are disproportionately likely to buy branded automobile oil filters and cigarettes. The “very conservative” consumers paid more attention to home and garden products, like insecticide and septic tank cleaners.

Gamers Respond to Ads

Study: Gamers Respond to Ads

Considering that more than a third (36%) of gamers actually bought, talked about or sought information about a product after seeing an ad in a videogame, per Nielsen Games, a case can be made that they are very effective.

Consumers Stick to One Medium at Home

MRI: Consumers Stick to One Medium at Home

According to Mediamark Research & Intelligence data, more than half of people’s time spent consuming media at home is often done exclusively with one medium.

Among all adults, 55 percent of their at-home newspaper reading occurs without involvement with other media. With magazine reading, 53.6 percent is exclusive. For the Internet, the figure is 53.8 percent, and for TV and radio, the percentages are 49.4 and 28.3, respectively.

Employers Using SocNets to Research Job Candidates

Employers Using SocNets to Research Job Candidates – MarketingVOX

One in five hiring managers (22 percent) say they use social-networking sites to research job candidates, up from 11 percent in 2006 – and an additional 9 percent say they plan to start doing so – according to a CareerBuilder.com nationwide survey of some 3,100 employers, reports MarketingCharts.

Millennials Prefer Social Networking to Internet Porn

Millennials Prefer Social Networking to Internet Porn – MarketingVOX

Social networking sites are increasingly eclipsing pornography consumption over the ‘net — and underscoring a shift in how people communicate, according to Reuters, drawing from the research of author and GM Bill Tancer of global research at Hitwise.