Private Label Impact Session Update—OfficeMax Joins Our Exclusive Speaker List

Later this month we’re headed to Chicago for the Private Label Impact Conference 2009, October 27-28.

This year we’re pleased to welcome innovators in the private label space representing an array of companies including: A&P, AJES Bread, Blueocean Market Intelligence, Bumble Bee Foods, CBX, Cliffstar Corp, Coca Cola Company, ConAgra Foods, Cott Beverages, Design Resource Center, Dragon Rouge, DuPont, Food Industry News, General Mills, Interbrand, JM Smucker Company, Kraft, My Private Brand, New Hope Natural Media, OfficeMax, PepsiCo Inc, PetSmart, Philadelphia Macaroni Co, Smoker Friendly, Sonoco, Sorrento, Lactalis Inc, St Joseph's University, Supervalu Inc, T. Marzetti Company, T&T Supermarket,The Hartman Group, United, Valero Retail Holdings Inc, Vestcom International Inc, Wallace Church Inc

Will your company be represented?

As a member of our CMSI LinkedIn group, we’re offering to you an exclusive 20% discount off your registration -- join us today!

Private Label Impact 2009: http://bit.ly/2Qqo24

Event Brochure: http://bit.ly/48d8mn

Event Registration: http://bit.ly/3u4mfn

New Session Added: Mike Kitz, Vice-President - OfficeMax Brands, Product Development and Imports, OfficeMax

Retailer Driven Innovation and Branding

Mike will discuss how retailers are getting more sophisticated in creating and driving their own brands. And, in some cases, when manufacturers will not innovate for retailers’ brands, the retailers drive this innovation themselves. Attendees to this session will:

• See examples of OfficeMax using best-in-class processes to innovate, create new premium brands, and bring innovation to the marketplace.

• Discuss ways for manufacturers and retailers to collaborate in innovation and brand building.

See you in Chicago!

Cheers,
Private Label Impact

Are you contracting out production for private label items?

This post in retailwire discusses that the trend for grocery retailing is for merchants to seek out and contract out production for private label items. An exception though to this case is Kroger, they manufactures about half of the 14,400 private label items it sells. Kroger believes that buy manufacturing these items, it is better able to control production decisions and pricing. Is your outsourcing most of its production of private label items or keeping the bulk of it in-house?

Join us for the 2009 Private Label Impact Conference, this month in Chicago!

Private Label Impact 2009 Savings End Tomorrow!

Calling all CPGs, Retailers and Private Label Manufacturers... if there is one event you cant afford to miss, it is this one. Private Label has revolutionized the retail industry and will continue to do so. Join us to discover how this new retail landscape can be a win-win for all parties involved - co-exist profitably. Register by tomorrow with code PL09PBLI to save $100 off your registration.

Event: http://bit.ly/Yfsdp
Brochure: http://bit.ly/ClaeY
Registration: http://bit.ly/17CxfN

Check out some of the great presentations:

“Private Label: Redefining the Meaning of Brand” with Michelle Barry, Ph.D., Co-Author, A Brand Called Hope, SVP, The Hartman Group

Can private label thrive without name brands? The emergence of private lab ease a quality product that can compete with name brand products on an equal basis has changed the dynamics of how consumer products are marketed and sold. This presentation will provide an accurate portrayal of the changing landscape of the private label market and the associated strategic business implications for both retailers and manufacturers of name brand and private label branded products.

Learn more about Michelle Barry, Ph.D.: http://bit.ly/7CKv3

“How Brands and Private Label Can Work Together to Achieve Category Goals” with Thomas Ewing, Director, National Accounts, Private Label & International, T.Marzetti Company

Learn how a category merchant can use the unique strengths of both branded and private label products to build a coherent category merchandising plan. How do you use these strengths to build a merchandising plan to meet the differing objectives? What are the different tiers of private label products?

Download more information on speakers and presentations at this year’s event: http://bit.ly/ClaeY

Private label in the news:

Private-Label Growth in Every Channel
CSPnet.com reports that despite remarkable strides made during the past several years, private-label sales are concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of consumers. The top 50 private-label categories, representing 17% of CPG categories, account for 69% of store brand sales.

Read more: http://bit.ly/1Agney

Amazon's Private Label Goods Continue
The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is quickly and quietly moving into the private label arena. Reporter Geoffrey A. Fowler says that the latest sign: The Seattle-based e-commerce giant, last month received a U.S. design patent for a wooden chopping block.

Read more: http://bit.ly/1ov9zs


See you in Chicago!

Cheers,
Private Label Impact

Amazon's Private Label Goods Continue

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is quickly and quietly moving into the private label arena. Reporter Geoffrey A. Fowler says that the latest sign: The Seattle-based e-commerce giant, last month received a U.S. design patent for a wooden chopping block. Also, in June Amazon launched a new collection of private-label kitchen utensils, designed by Seattle Chef Tom Douglas and sold under his name.

Amazon won't disclose any other patent applications, but says it is always evaluating opportunities to patent the designs it develops for private-label products.

As Amazon expands from a book seller to a certifiable retailer, what other private label avenues do you think they have in the works?

Private Label Impact Conference 2009 Speaker: Michelle Barry, Ph.D., SVP, The Hartman Group

Michelle Barry, Ph.D.

Co-Author, A Brand Called Hope

SVP, The Hartman Group

Michelle is the Senior Vice President of The Hartman Group. Since joining The Hartman Group in 1999, she has managed the ethnographic, retail, trends and innovation consulting divisions of the company and pioneered new ways to leverage professional anthropological analysis and creative fieldwork techniques to help clients' efforts in truly understanding consumer behavior and long-term implications of cultural change.

She currently oversees the Business Development, Marketing & Communications divisions incorporating innovation and analytics into business strategy. Michelle has consulted with food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, pharmaceutical and technology companies across retail channels in developing both strategic and tactical direction in today's marketplace.

Prior to joining The Hartman Group, Michelle owned a design and branding business and has 18 years in the health and wellness arena as both a practitioner and analyst. With a doctorate in sociocultural anthropology and extensive work in communications and consumption, Michelle has co-authored two books with The Hartman Group: Reflections on a Cultural Brand and Marketing in the Soul Age, and has appeared on MSNBC, NPR, Oxygen, as well as in national and industry publications as a thought leader in human behavior and cultural trends.

Michelle's biography courtesy of The Hartman Group

October 27-28, 2009

Chicago Marriott

Chicago, IL