New Products

The beer category wants its mojo back. After losing share to wine, spirits and small breweries for several years, major brewers are out to win consumers back to the category with new products that are a big departure from their classic offerings.

The success of Bud Light Platinum, with its higher alcohol content and sweeter taste, has sparked a flurry of flavored malt beverages into the beer market. This year alone, Anheuser-Busch InBev is launching nearly 20 new products to the U.S. market.

Higher arch, natural arch or low arch? Full bodied or on the slimmer side? Whatever the shape of one’s brows, the bottom line is that bold brows are on trend and ooze sex appeal.


Attention beauty brands looking to target today’s teens and tweens! The beauty youth market shows signs of stabilization. That’s according to a recent report by market research company the NPD Group, which found that teens’ and tweens’ regular use of beauty products stabilized in 2011, following evidence in 2009 that the youth beauty consumer was becoming less engaged in the beauty category overall.


NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Gummy vitamins are not just for kids anymore. With baby boomers entering their golden years, it won’t be pill phobia that will drive 
supplement-seeking seniors in search of gummy vites as much as it may be pill fatigue. For the 52 weeks ended April 15 across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart), SymphonyIRI Group tracked $3.6 billion in vitamin sales, up 5.2%. So the timing is just right for Pharmavite and its launch of 
Nature Made Adult Gummies, which includes a B-complex, calcium, Co-Q10, multi­-
vitamin and vitamins C and D3 offerings.

SUPPLIER NEWS — Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis is partnering with Clairol Natural Instincts as the brand’s new celebrity ambassador. In her first beauty partnership, the Food Network chef, cookbook author and lifestyle expert will show off her hair color in the brand’s newest campaign supporting the full line of at-home hair color products beginning in July.


COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. — Cirrus Healthcare Products recently added a little pediatric pizzazz to its line of earplugs for swimming and sound protection with two new character licenses — SpongeBob SquarePants and Hello Kitty.


Sales of ear care products were up 3% to $47.2 million across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart) for the 52 weeks ended April 15, according to 
SymphonyIRI Group data.


The ultra soft earplugs employ the same technology as the antimicrobial earplug BioEars — soft silicone earplugs that use ACTIValoe.


With more than half of U.S. online shoppers buying beauty and personal care products online, beauty brands and retailers must embrace multichannel marketing in order to succeed and reach consumers where they are, according to a new study by A.T. Kearney and its Global Consumer Institute.


The study, dubbed “Beauty and the Beast,” examined the shopping behaviors of consumers and the implications of retailers and beauty brands. The findings are based on survey responses from 1,381 participants across 50 U.S. states and Canada.


SUPPLIER NEWS — Biolife in May launched WoundSeal, a hemostat product specifically targeting Americans on a regimen of blood thinners. While hemostat products have been introduced into the first aid set before, this is the first one targeting patients on a specific therapy.