Client Newswrap: Marmite spreads across Facebook and Tesco could become an ‘estate agent’

Brands
Nestlé is looking to grow its business in 2010 after reporting profit of £6.2bn and a 4% rise in sales over the past year. The Kit Kat owner said it had performed well in the petcare sector, which grew by nearly 8%, and confectionery, where sales rose by 4.3%.

GlaxoSmithKline is mounting a marketing push for energy drink brand Lucozade‘s sub-brands to capitalise on growth in the sector. For a three-month period, the Alert, Sport and Energy brand extensions will carry a competition to win an adventure holiday. The promotion forms part of a £10m investment in Lucozade Energy.

Marmite has become the first UK brand to use social networking site Facebook’s ad units to allow users to sample a new product. The iconic Unilever brand is using the ads to give fans of the spread a chance to try its new cereal bars. Facebook’s ad units, launched last June, allow users to become a fan of a page or reply within the ad unit itself.

Ribena has launched a new brand offshoot, Ribena Juiced Up, which has a higher juice content than regular Ribena and will be marketed to school catering groups. Brand owner GlaxoSmithKline said Juiced Up, which is made from 85% natural fruit juices, meets government guidelines for school food. The juice will be packed in 180ml Tetra wedge cartons.

Conservative Party leader David Cameron has pledged his party will ban communications agencies found guilty of “inappropriate” marketing to children from bidding for Government advertising contracts for three years, if his party wins the forthcoming general election. The move is part of the Tory leader’s plan to protect children against “inappropriate sexualitsation”, especially through online marketing.

Tea brand Tetley has secured certification from the Rainforest Alliance. The brand will begin sourcing its tea from alliance-certified farms later this year, and all of its tea will be certified by the alliance by 2016. Last month, rival tea brands Twinings and Clipper boosted their green image with moves to source more tea from Fairtrade farmers.

Bread maker Warburtons has set its sights on the bagged snacks market, and will launch its ChippidyDooDa pitta chips and SnackaDoodle wholegrain snacks to retailers next month, according to The Grocer. The firm has invested in £2m of new equipment to make the lines.

Retailers
Tesco could be set to sell property after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) yesterday called for an end to excessive estate agents’ fees. Tesco was forced to close its property website, which would have allowed customers to sell their homes for a flat £199 fee, due to legal restrictions last year. But now the OFT has said people should be able to sell their homes via such websites, paving the way for companies such as Tesco to move into the property market.

Asda chief executive Andy Bond has said that he remains “nervous” about consumer spending in 2010 as families face rising costs and higher taxes. He made the comments as Asda yesterday revealed a like-for-like sales rise of 6% for the past year.

A new analysis of supermarket pricing policies has slammed retailers’ “cynical manipulation of the language of value” as it found the majority of price cuts in Christmas price wars between Adsa and Tesco were just 1p. According to the Guardian, independent expert and former head of the OFT John Bridgeman said the retailers were not really cutting prices, rather “flexing” them. “All they are doing is introducing so much volatility no one can tell whether prices are going up or down,” he said.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has said sales have fallen in its home market and that US conditions remained “challenging”. Overall sales, however, including the firm’s overseas business, rose 4.6% to $112.8bn (£72.4bn), while net profit rose 22% to $4.63bn.

Cash and carry firm Makro has announced plans to cut costs by £12m this year, The Grocer has reported. The firm made cost savings of £6m last year, which involved the closure of three depots, and this year it plans to double the amount by scrutinising prices, renegotiating contracts and looking closely at expenses.

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