An Industry Redefined

Aside from buzz around hot topics like big data, headlines that affect the consumer goods industry as a whole have been few and far between since the Kraft Foods and Sara Lee break ups of 2012. But in the last few weeks, our editorial desk lit up with breaking news: Energizer will split into two, Mondelez and D.E Master Blenders are joining forces, and Hillshire plans to buy Pinnacle. And that’s just a sampling of the recently announced deals that will rock the industry in 2014 and beyond. At CGT, we look forward to following these developing stories, and uncovering the best practices that will shape their future success and alter the competitive CG landscape for years to come. In the meantime, this issue takes a hard look at the people (2014 Visionaries) and consumer/customer-facing trends (2014 Sales & Marketing Report) that are shaping the industry right now.