The Pulse --September 2004

Digital View Goes Direct to Consumer
A new product offering from Digital View Group called Viewstream delivers promotional and advertising messages directly to consumers via at-shelf video units placed at the point of purchase. Viewstream's four-inch footprint provides a plug-and-play means to help elevate brand communications and drive incremental sales for brands with an interactive experience. The units can be installed on almost any surface, helping space-conscious retailers maximize marketing exposure in the aisles. In addition, audio interactivity and proximity sensors will trigger audio and video communications when a consumer nears.

Searching for RFID Truth
The RFID user, supplier, technology and international communities will gather together to address facts that are frequently overlooked or mistated within the media "hype" surrounding RFID at an AIDC (Auto ID Center) 100-sponsored forum titled "Truth in Technologies 2004: RFID & Bar Codes". This forum was designed to help early adopters understand RFID technology, and how it fits into existing bar code infrastructures and provides expanded capabilities to new information systems. A panel that touts high-level representatives from the Department of Defense, Hospira (formerly Hospital Products Division, Abbot Laboratories) Energizer Holdings and Intermec will mull over core issues such as the possible replacement of the bar code with RFID technology and personal privacy issues surrounding the technology.

The event will be held on October 20, 2004 at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. For more information, please visit: http://aidc100.org/fileadmin/Truth_in_Technologies/July_26_Truth_in_Technologies.doc.

Kids Still Sweet on Strawberry Shortcake
More than 20 years after its initial toy-store debut, Strawberry Shortcake proves to have staying power amongst a new generation of girls. DIC Entertainment, the exclusive worldwide licensing agency for Strawberry Shortcake, and American Greetings, creator/owner of the property, updated the toy's look before re-introducing the doll last year to children of young mothers who first played with the original. Major retailers and industry-leading licensees such as Bandai America, Penguin Putnam and Fox Home Entertainment helped catapult 2004 revenues to nearly $500 million; more than doubling last year's re-launch sales of $220 million. "These mothers made Strawberry Shortcake a billion dollar business twenty years ago -- and they appear to be doing it again," says a press release issued by DIC and American Greetings.

P&G Prized for Innovation
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), along with its partner Universal Solutions Inc. (USI), was honored with the Unsaleables Innovation Award, presented by the Joint Industry Unsaleables Steering Committee at the 2004 Unsaleables Conference. Companies such as P&G were noted for operational and supply chain efforts to reduce damages in consumer packaged goods. P&G and USI beat out the competition with a collaborative program called, "Load Stabilization/Stretch Wrap University", designed to address problems associated with inaccurate equipment setting, improper film selection and application of stretch wrap to eliminate in-transit moving and shifting of loads during shipment. Results such as a 50 percent reduction on internal P&G quality incidents and a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in load retention translate into several million dollars worth of savings from reduction in damages for P&G.

Philip Morris Burns Global Competition
Philip Morris International (PMI), a leading tobacco company and an operating company of Altria Group Inc., selects Agile Software Corporation's PLM solution as the core of its Global Integrated Packaging System. PMI affiliates manufacture, market, sell and distribute high-quality cigarettes in more than180 countries and territories worldwide. To compete effectively, PMI must launch successful new products and brands quickly, while leveraging external partners, including globally dispersed packaging and artwork partners. Agile will help PMI to build brand equity as well as increase success rates and rapidly deploy product introductions within the strict margin, quality and regulatory compliance constraints of the consumer goods industry.

On the web
"We all know that effective Product Innovation is critical to drive revenue growth in consumer products," says Rich Kauffeld, BearingPoint. "Successful efforts to create new product platforms, increase product differentiation and improve speed to market -- while managing resources effectively -- will inevitably require alignment of innovation strategies, phased processes to manage a broad portfolio of ideas/ concepts/ projects, and systems that enable effective integration of these activities. The leading CPG companies will all be implementing or enhancing PLM capabilities."

Have you implemented PLM Software to help get products to market faster?

Yes 21%
No 58%
Planning 21%

From consumergoods.com