http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/ "HartBeat" is The Hartman Group's FREE online newsletter, providing insight, analysis, information and strategy to give business leaders the knowledge and vision to build sustainable brands. en-us Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:10:27 GMT http://www.hartman-group.com http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-10-08 What happened to the so-called British Invasion? You know the one where Tesco’s Fresh and Easy small-format food stores were going to sweep across America and turn this country’s food retailing industry on its head. The end of October will see the one-year anniversary of Fresh and Easy’s first... Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-10-08 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-10-01 “Fresh produce for retail consumption is a thing of the past.” — E. W. Williams, Quick Frozen Foods, 1954. “… plan ahead, keep menus simple, and use lots of canned, packaged, and frozen foods.” — L. Chapman, Good Housekeeping, 1950 From WW II on, convenience foods have transformed... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-10-01 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-09-24 If any one cultural practice could be picked from the horn of plenty symbolizing American food culture, we would say that the complex intersection between healthy eating and wellness would be a defining characteristic of our ever-aspirational population. Such aspirations, rooted in healthy eating, are... Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-09-24 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-09-17 Environmental issues may be forcing grocery stores and other retailers to rethink and replace one type of plastic (the plastic bag), while plastic of another kind, the prepaid gift card, is quickly supplanting “paper” as the gift of choice for a majority of American consumers. The gift card market... Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-09-17 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-09-03 Americans have traveled far with their taste preferences in a short amount of time. Noting this distance, companies today are chasing after the youth of America, with a keen focus on their eating habits. What are they eating? Where are they choosing to dine? How can be lured? What will be the next... Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-09-03 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-30 Obesity is a grave health problem in this country. It is an issue that has been hotly debated for the past several years. It has prompted action on many fronts, not the least of which has been legislative and food manufacturing and marketing. The latest update by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)... Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-30 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-23 In 1997, The Hartman Group published its first strategic analysis of the rapidly changing organic market with the aptly titled report The Evolving Organic Marketplace. The report accurately predicted not only a fast-changing corporate game board within a vibrant subset of consumer packaged goods (where... Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-23 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-16 The consumer pursuit of portable hydration combined with an ever-increasing equation between “good” water, fashion and wellness has driven consumption of bottled water to dizzying levels: According to Beverage World’s “2008 State of the Industry” report, Americans drank 8.8 billion gallons... Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-16 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-09 Trends revolve entirely around consumers — and their patterns of behavior. As cultural anthropologists, sociologists and marketers, we find people fascinating. Much of what you need to know about the future you can learn by observing and studying consumers in their native environment. Of course, this... Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-09 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-02 Trends emerge and hang around; fads come and go. That’s one of the cool things about consumer culture, its ability to keep industry experts, analysts and pundits guessing as to what’s on the horizon worth watching or what’s falling from view. Since we’ve done our share of trends prognosticating... Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-07-02 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-06-25 New Orleans, Louisiana, a city with as unique a food culture as any in the world. It’s home to an array of world-renown culinary delights: Creole, Cajun, muffuletta, crawfish, café au lait, beignets, gumbo, red rice and beans and so much more. New Orleans attracts and inspires chefs and would-be chefs... Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-06-25 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-06-18 If 20 years ago, Procter and Gamble had reduced the size of its iconic Tide brand liquid detergent, consumers would have felt cheated: “Why am I paying the same price for a smaller quantity?” In today’s sustainability-heightened marketplace, while the average consumer is still unlikely to equate... Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-06-18 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-06-04 The view on the marketplace is much different from the client side of the desk. This is precisely the vantage point Alison Worthington had for 20 years as a marketing executive at Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Colgate-Palmolive. “I was fortunate enough to work on such exciting innovation throughout my career... Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-06-04 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-05-21 White Paper Download Voting with Dollars: The Power and Penance of Responsible Purchasing PDF Format1.31MBMay 2008 » Click to proceed to download form A purchase is not just a purchase when consumers believe they are “voting” with their dollars. Consumers describe power in every purchase... Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-05-21 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-05-14 From the average consumer’s perspective, these certainly are not the best of times. Pretty much everywhere you turn the economic news is pretty grim; consumers are faced with rising costs in nearly all directions: at the gas pump, the grocery store checkout, healthcare and home energy statements, prices... Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-05-14