News Briefs

Charlotte’s Web Holdings announced plans to unveil a product line catering to the sports vertical. The products are currently undergoing the sport certification process with third-party organization, NSF.

The company said its tinctures and gummies have been used by elite and everyday athletes since its founding, and it was named the official CBD partner of Angel City Football Club, marking the company’s first partnership with a sports team.

“Focus, recovery and sleep are critical areas of optimization for athletes that our sports products can support,” said Jacques Tortoroli, CEO of Charlotte’s Web. “An NSF Certified for Sport line can assure sports leagues and their players that ingredients are safe and certifies that there are no banned substances. We believe our products, upon meeting NSF certification, will make a positive impact on the lives of professional, amateur athletes and fans alike.”

Charlotte’s Web NSF Certified for Sport THC-Free products will include tinctures, topicals, gummies and more. The first products planned for launch are an NSF-certified tincture and gummy followed by a sport portfolio planned for release in the first half of 2023.

Each product in the Charlotte’s Web Sports portfolio pipeline will undergo NSF’s certification for sport to meet the content quality, transparency and safety requirements of many leagues, teams and players, the company said. NSF Certified for Sport products must have less than 9 mcg of THC per serving. With the majority of Charlotte’s Web’s current product portfolio containing full-spectrum products, the broad-spectrum sports portfolio will target a different consumer segment than most of its current product lines.

Charlotte’s Web said the final NSF Certified for Sport product certification process is currently underway.

Dan Mack, founder and managing director of Mack Elevation, announced the publication of his second book, “Look Closer: Ideas on reexamining and eliminating personal, relational, and organizational blind spots.” 

Mack also is the author of “Dark Horse: How Challenger Companies Rise to Prominence.” 

“We all know we have roadblocks and blind spots hindering our leadership success, but we may not know exactly what they are,”  Mack said. “I have compiled life-altering ideas from over 10 years of primary research. The insights chronicled in this book grew from leadership discussions attended by top executives from some of the best companies in the world.”

Mack also noted that this project is a compilation of everything he has learned moderating industry leadership forums, and reflections from 1-on-1 coaching curated over the last decade.

The book is divided into three sections:

• Part 1: Personal blind spots. A summary of the individual biases, misbeliefs or misconceptions hindering personal effectiveness and insights into how to expand your self-awareness, mindset and results.
• Part 2: Relational blind spots. An outline of the 1-on-1 communication dynamics that often disrupt healthy relationships and ideas on how to improve your personal impact with others.
• Part 3: Organizational blind spots. An assessment and interpretation of the blind spots hindering group cohesion, and strategies on how to improve team health and holistic momentum.

“Take a moment to ponder the following questions and reflect on the personal implications,” Mack said.

Each question will be answered in various chapters throughout the book:

• How do I affect others and what must I learn, relearn or unlearn to be effective?
• What blind spots negatively affect my relationships, self-awareness and personal impact?
• Am I as relevant to my customers and associates as I think?
• Am I present, transparent and vulnerable, embracing the moment with others?
• Am I effective at sharing my personal story and embracing other’s stories?
• What are the mindsets, behaviors and strategies of high-performing teams and organizations?
• What is the psychology and mindset of top performers in all facets of life?
• What are the lies, biases or roadblocks that can hinder my own personal plan?

There also is a thoughtful intro by Bryan Gildenberg, senior vice president of commerce at the Omnicom Commerce Group.

To order Mack's book, visit the Amazon book site.

Kellogg’s cereal unit is continuing its ongoing seasonal partnership with The Elf on the Shelf by debuting a product for the upcoming holiday season.

Kellogg’s The Elf on the Shelf North Pole Snow Creme Cereal is a limited-edition breakfast item that contains a mix of flurry or frosted star pieces and mini marshmallows.

The company said that each spoonful is formulated to give off notes of creamy, sweet vanilla ice cream via a special slow-release flavor ingredient.

“The Elf on the Shelf and Scout Elves have joined our families and hearts as a beloved holiday tradition, igniting creativity and sparking holiday joy for the entire season,” said Sadie Garcia, director of brand marketing at Kellogg. “With this new cooling cereal, we’ve dreamt up one more way families can bring the wonder of the season home, this time with a cereal that's just as delicious as it is magical.”

Consumers can find Kellogg’s The Elf on the Shelf North Pole Snow Creme Cereal exclusively at Walmart beginning in October in a 12.2-oz. box that retails for $5.29.

Online retail product discovery and purchasing platform RangeMe said health trends dominated online searches in the second quarter of 2022. Among the top search terms was “CBD.”

RangeMe analyzes user data from more than 15,000 retail buyers and 200,000 suppliers to help report the latest trends, and searches in Q2 imply that consumer health trends are being heard by retailers. 

“Mushroom was one of the top searches in Q2 as it’s not only a tasty product used in increasing amounts of plant-based products, but mushrooms offer many health benefits as consumers continue to prioritize health,” the company said. In addition, an increase in pet ownership over the course of the pandemic has led to growing demand for quality pet food and products, so “cat food” made it on the top searches list. 

Continuing the health trend, searches for “organic skin care” have seen an increase along with a rise in “CBD” related products in the United States in particular, the company said.

Overall, the most popular buyer collection this quarter was sustainability. “Retailers left and right are implementing sustainability initiatives and declaring war on plastic and harmful ingredients by banning them from their stores completely,” the company said. “And on the brand side, sustainable products are beating their less eco-friendly competitors onto retail shelves time and time again.”

St. Ives is continuing to put skin care at the forefront with two new product launches.

The new innovations from the brand include:

• Deep Cleanse Daily Astringent: Made with 100% natural mint extract, this astringent helps keep clogged pores and oils at bay without drying the skin. Featuring a formula that clarifies down into pores to remove dirt, oil and makeup, it also refines them to help shrink their appearance; and
• Supersize Apricot Scrub: A larger 9-oz. version of the iconic scrub that contains the same quality formula to help deeply exfoliate the skin and leave behind a glowing and soft appearance.

The Deep Cleanse Daily Astringent retails for $5.99 at Target.com and the Supersize Apricot Scrub retails for $6.49 at RiteAid.com. 

Jerry Garcia Wellness is a new CBD-centric business that evokes the “vision and values” of Jerry Garcia, the late founder of rock band The Grateful Dead.

The brand said Garcia was an early proponent of cannabis legalization and believed in its natural benefits decades before it became widely recognized as an effective aid to health and wellness.

Officially licensed as a partner of the Garcia family, the new CBD wellness brand will offer a full line of CBD products that pay homage to the Jerry Garcia legacy. Products include a collection of tinctures, a full array of topicals and custom-molded rose-shaped gummies inspired by Garcia’s love of roses. “Each product elicits its own unique vibe, and all are centered on caring for the mind, body and soul, as well as our planet,” the company said.

Jerry Garcia Wellness has tapped Cameron Keluche, founder of KelSie Biotech, to head up its product development and ensure that the quality and efficacy are second to none. The company said KelSie Biotech is known in the industry as a developer of some of the most highly effective CBD products and brands.

“It is an honor to work on this 100% organic and plastic-free CBD project initiated by Jerry Garcia Wellness,” said Keelin Garcia, Jerry’s daughter and president of Jerry Garcia Music Arts. “We appreciate how dedicated the company has been to ensure that every aspect of the project is in line with what father believed in and supported,” she said. “We’re excited to be able to honor him on his 80th birthday by sharing this natural wellness CBD program with his fans.”