Business Trends

Add this to the "Why didn't I think of that?" column: tear-off labeling for wine bottles. We've all been there, desperately trying to memorize the name and year of the delicious bottle of wine consumed at dinner, only to wake up the next morning with no memory of it whatsoever. South Australia's Oxford Landing has the solution. According to Trend Central, Oxford Landing's Shiraz features a tear-off section on the back of the label, complete with all the pertinent information. It's a great example of taking a traditional product and putting an innovative twist on it--something consumers will appreciate.

First there was Red Mango--or was it Pinkberry? Regardless, ever since those two rock stars of the fro-yo market burst into song, everyone's wanted to sing along to their tune. New stores produce their own renditions of the Red Mango/Pinkberry-style yogurt, with more flavors and toppings while still boasting yogurt's natural health benefits and flavorful taste.

This store, however, offers something new: self-serve fro-yo. For 30 cents an ounce, California-based Yogurtland allows its customers to dispense the flavor or combination of flavors they want directly into a paper cup and scoop the toppings they want atop their mountain of tart and/or sweet frozen yogurt. The long lines show that business is booming and the chain plans to open new stores in San Diego, Honolulu, Las Vegas, and Dallas throughout the year.

And just as quickly as the frozen yogurt trend has grown, Yogurtland's self-serve business strategy has also spread. Yogurtopia and Tutti Frutti Yogurt have adopted a similar "freedom of choice" approach with customers. Tutti Frutti Yogurt has locations in Texas, Georgia, California, and Washington State, while Yogurtopia plans to open its second California location this fall.--Whitney Chen

What happened to the days of laying your head on your desk and drifting off for 20 minutes of bliss? Though most of us haven't enjoyed naptime since elementary school, some scientists say naps aren't just for 6-year-olds. According to this washingtonpost.com article, "sleep scientists have discovered advantages to napping, which they view not just as solace but also as something akin to brain food."

The article cites a 25-year survey conducted by researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel showing that naps, when taken in the workplace, can increase productivity and reduce "general crabbiness." Other experiments echo those findings. For example, Matthew A. Tucker of Harvard Medical School discovered that a 45-minute nap can enhance the ability to perform tasks relying on memory.

As a result, some companies are making nap rooms available to their employees, or encouraging them to relive their elementary school days by resting at their desk. One New York City sleep salon, Yelo, is taking advantage of the trend by offering a place for clients to nap for 20-to-40 minutes at a time.

To read more about the growing acceptance of napping, and to determine if you could use more naps, check out the book Take a Nap! Change Your Life, by Sara Mednick, or utilize her website.

Does your company need a chief blogger? That's the question being asked by this Advertising Age article. Now that the novelty of corporate blogging has passed, blogs are being viewed as a branding voice. Companies like Coca-Cola, Marriott and Kodak have all hired chief bloggers to engage customers and share their stories.

But, as the article points out, a blog voice isn't necessarily right for every brand. Analysts say that companies that want to blog should first identify the reason they want to do so. "They really need to start with reading, following their customers, commenting on communities. Then think about creating something," says Sean Howard, director of strategy and innovation at Lift Communications and blogger for CrapHammer.com.

According to Geoff Livingston, CEO of Livingston Communications and blogger for Buzz Bin, companies need to look beyond the blog. "What [companies] need to focus on are the principles behind social media that make it work, like participating in a larger community works, and not controlling the conversation works," Livingston says.

Leap year day only happens every for years--and companies across the country want to take advantage of it when it arrives this year, on Friday, February 29. From frog-oriented promotions to marketing campaigns playing off the date, leap year day is becoming another day for marketers to integrate into their plans. Some businesses, like Boston Market and Morton's The Steakhouse, are offering free lunches or dinners to those born on February 29. Other promotions, like Papa John's Perfect Pan Pizza, which launches this Friday, play off the name of the day with a tag line like "One Giant Leap for Pankind." According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, there are about 200,000 leap day babies in the U.S.

Before you try to work leap year day into your marketing this week, here's some advice from Allen P. Adamson, director of the New York office of branding firm Landor Associates. "For certain brands, it perks things up," Adamson says. "But it wouldn't fit with anything serious like insurance, financial services or medical things. Using leap year in those instances could really undermine the rest of the message."

It all started when Netflix--the online movie rental giant--began persuading movie junkies to give up weekly Blockbuster runs to try something new.  Now Netflix is providing their service to more than seven million loyal subscribers. Entrepreneurs like Lori Pope are catching on to the popularity of the online rental trend. In October 2007, Pope launched Baby Plays, a web-based online toy rental service based in Houston. A mother of two, she got the idea after becoming frustrated with piles of toys cluttering her house as her infant twin sons lost interest in them. So Pope scoured the internet to find a similar service. When her search showed zero results, she knew she was on to something.

Baby Plays currently offers about 200 toys for newborns through preschoolers. Like Netflix, customers build a wish list of the toys they'd like to rent, and Pope's staff sends parents four or six toys in the mail every month. Pope makes an effort to stock sturdy and easy-to-clean toys with parts that are easily replaced. Rates range from $28.99 to $35.99 a month based on the length of the term. When children are done with them, the toys can be shipped back in the same box they were sent in, with a postage-paid return label provided by the company. New toys are shipped out when the old ones are received.

So far, Pope has invested $250,000 of her own money, and continues to put in $12,000 more each month. Parents have spread the word, and Pope’s concept is catching on. Though Baby Plays started with 10 customers, Pope says she now has about 200 customers nationwide. Thanks to the popularity of her idea, Pope predicts she'll turn a profit by this fall.

DailyCandy has announced the winners of its Sweetest Things 2007. The site asked readers to vote for their favorite nominees in the realms of fashion, food, beauty, arts and culture. You can view the winners in your city or winners from across the country. Some of our favorites include:

• Sound category: Bedtime Beats, created by Cindy Bressler and Lisa Mercurio
• Smell category: Cure Custom Aromas, created by Ann Reed
• Taste category: Holey Donuts, created by Frank Dilullo

Rising gas prices are having a widespread effect on consumers across the U.S. That's according to a new Nielsen Company study, mentioned in this MediaPostPublications article. According to the study, 49 percent of U.S. consumers are reducing their spending because of high gas prices. As a result, 70 percent of consumers are making car trips count by combining shopping trips and errands. 41 percent are eating out less and 30 percent say they're staying home more often. "Manufacturers and retailers need to be alert to the fact that consumers are looking to save by altering where they shop, how they shop and what products and brands they buy," said Todd Hale, senior VP of Consumer Shopping & Insights. "Value, convenience and competitive pricing will be more important than ever in the year ahead."

Specifically, Hale said manufacturers and retailers should look for growth in at-home meal solutions and at-work meals. Also, Hale says research shows a jump in online shopping. According to Hale, manufacturers and retailers should "step up to their 'direct-to-consumer' efforts and utilize the internet to communicate directly with consumers in 2008."

Today's under-10-year-old crowd makes up one-third of digital music player users. According to Advertising Age, that means there's a new market for specialized players and other products, in addition to a growing demand for kid-appropriate video and music content. "By third grade, half of the kid population in grade school has an MP3 player," said Paul Metz, senior VP at C&R Research. Their player of choice? The iPod Nano.

So far, accessory makers haven't flooded the market yet with cartoon-themed iPod cases, despite an estimate from the Consumer Electronics Association that the market will top $1 billion this year, increasing 45 percent from 2007. Forrester analyst James McQuivey believes marketers may be hesitant to push products to young children. But, he suggests they take a different approach--marketing with a positive parenting angle. "Smaller headphones with limits on audio [volume] for children could be beneficial, as well as things like packaging appropriate music for children. I would expect that we'll see more things like that by next holiday," said McQuivey. Don't forget about what goes inside those iPods--children will also be on the lookout for more kid-themed content, from videos to podcasts.

According to  a MediaPost Publications article, internet advertising is skyrocketing. In fact, Yankee Group predicts that advertising will more than double from $21.7 billion last year to $50.3 billion in 2011. Currently, the research firm estimates that the internet is responsible for about 20 percent of overall media consumption, but only 7.5 percent of ad budgets.

The group forecasts increasing investments in new online media formats like video, gaming and virtual worlds. Yankee recommends that advertisers double online advertising budgets each year to take advantage of video and mobile ad opportunities. "The reality is it takes time, and this market is just about reaching adolescence now," said Daniel Taylor, senior analyst at Yankee Group.

Last month, Entrepreneur  predicted that specialty and gourmet foods would continue prospering in 2008. So far, it looks like that prediction is holding up. According to this article from SignOnSanDiego.com, despite the slowdown in the economy, specialty foods continue being gobbled up. Here's some food for thought: The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade found that while overall food sales have increased about 4 percent over the past two years, the specialty food sector has grown 17 percent. "Historically, if the economy is bad, when disaster strikes, people buy food," said Lynne Barra, president of Paradigm Foodworks. Barra agreed with other foodies who say that while people may cut down on cars, boats or jewelry, chances are good that gourmet food will still be a must-have.

Another reason specialty foods continue their upward path is attributed to more consumers seeking out healthy products at stores like Whole Foods. "The specialty business is coming of age," said Russ Bruhn, president of Carlsbad Gourmet, referring to the many consumers concerned about high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats.

The second-largest paper-wasting holiday is on the horizon: Valentine's Day. If your company wants to spread the love this holiday minus the waste, one company has the solution. ReProduct offers reusable greeting cards made out of a plastic material. Here's how it works: Once your card is received, the recipient inserts it back into the return-addressed, postage-paid envelope made of the same material, and it's sent to Shaw Industries, where 100 percent of the card is "ReProducted" into new carpet tiles. The greeting card line also includes invitations, announcement and other stationery items.

The product is already being used by Brad Pitt's Make it Right organization, and Mattel will be producing its annual reports for 2008 using ReProduct technologies. Mattel also recently announced that ReProduct reusable greeting cards are now carried by the Mattel corporate store.

Go to ReProduct's website to order custom or pre-printed cards.

Last week, we told you about a good wrap-up of the Consumer Electronics Show on the TrendCentral website. Now we have more insight into CES from Entrepreneur's own assistant technology editor, Amanda C. Kooser. In general, Kooser discovered many incremental improvements to existing products. For instance, take GPS. She says many companies are jumping on this hot technology, including Hewlett-Packard. New features she noticed include more advanced voice commands, online route planning and sharing, and real-time updates that go beyond traffic warnings. In addition, HDTVs continue improving and are increasingly being used for home offices, meeting rooms and executive desks. More affordable HD video cameras are also coming on the market, as are digital video cameras that record to flash memory. Another new tech toy to watch out for is 3D TVs; Kooser says they're out, but don't have much content available yet.

As for trends to watch for, Kooser says recycling and reclamation are the name of the game. From the beginning stages of product design to packaging, watch for more green initiatives. Lastly, Kooser says design is becoming more important. For example, Lenovo has introduced a line of very slick-looking laptops, and HP has added some subtle imprint designs to some of their products as well.

They're best known for Happy Meals and Big Macs. But now, McDonald's hopes to entice customers to come to the golden arches for something other than fast-food. The company has decided to add coffee bars into their almost 14,000 U.S. locations starting this year. The specialty coffee selections will include cappuccinos, lattes, mochas and the Frappe, similar to the ice-blended Frappuccino from Starbucks. According to internal documents from McDonald's, the program will add $1 billion to the company's $21.6 billion in annual sales. The coffee beverages will range in price from $1.99 to $3.29, and McDonald's is telling customers the drinks are between 60 and 80 cents cheaper than their competitors. The beverage expansion will also include smoothies and bottled beverages, in addition to a soda fountain with flavor shots.

According to WSJ.com, McDonald's latest move is an example of the growing overlap between the fast-food chain and Starbucks. While McDonald's has upgraded its drip coffee and the interiors of its locations, Starbucks has added drive-thru windows and hot breakfast sandwiches. As the article points out, this confrontation between the two demonstrates just how vital a component convenience has become in the fast-food industry.

Just as news rolled out about McDonald's latest venture, Starbucks Corp. announced that it's returning its chairman, Howard Schultz, to the CEO position in order to lead a major restructuring initiative. Over the past year, Starbucks has seen its stock drop 50 percent.

CES is among us. And we're fully immersed in the sites, sounds, companies and entrepreneurs that will be bringing us the latest and greatest technology in 2008.

The annual, four-day Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was put into full swing last night at the Pre-Show Keynote Address by Bill Gates, who delivered his last keynote address for CES, announcing his plan to step down as chairman of Microsoft and focus full time on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates also announced media partnerships with MSN and Xbox, and discussed his visions for the "next digital decade," including expanding HD capabilities and offerings, and more user-centric PCs and other devices.

Early this morning, Consumer Electronics Association president and CEO, Gary Shapiro, and Panasonic president, Toshihiro Sakamoto, opened the gates with their State of the Industry Address, and three of us from Entrepreneur dove head first into a sea of 140,000 attendees and 2,700 exhibitors from 140 countries. From Netgear and Magellan to D-Link and HP, we've been on the scoop to ultimately bring the technology back to you.

Tonight is the keynote featuring Intel, followed by ShowStoppers--our exclusive peak at some of the hottest products in consumer electronics and business technology. So stay tuned this week for the inside scoop on fellow tech entrepreneurs and hot tech products you should know about.--Lindsay Holloway