Soft drink: Coke adding twist to lineup
Coke's worst-kept secret is now official.
Coca-Cola recently verified that it will introduce Vanilla Coke in May. The U.S. market will be first to get it, then Canada.
The announcement confirms months of speculation and puts Coke on a fast track to deliver the first new version of Coca-Cola in 17 years. No test marketing is planned.
"This is a national launch," said Chris Lowe, senior vice president of worldwide brands and advertising for Coke.
The launch will be a bit different from last year's introduction of Diet Coke with Lemon, which received relatively little marketing support.
Lowe said Vanilla Coke would be accompanied by a marketing blitz that will include TV ads, billboards and radio spots. Steve Hutcherson, vice president for Coke Classic, said research showed teenagers like the product.
The company also plans to tinker with Cherry Coke, and the two brands will be sold in similar packages.
Safety: Many companies regulate phone usage while driving
More companies are telling workers to refrain from using a cell phone while driving on the job.
"The evidence is overwhelming that cell phone usage while driving is hazardous to drivers and those around them," said Vince Sommer, the director of collision management and driver safety programs for Wheels Inc., a Des Plaines, Ill.-based fleet management company.
"That's prompting many companies, particularly those who understand the risks like those in the insurance and telecommunications industries to create policies for their employees' use of phones while driving," he said.
The firm polled 125 companies and found 59 percent of them have a policy regulating the use of cell phones by employees while driving, mostly for liability and safety reasons. Of those companies that don't have policies, more than half said they're in the process of coming up with one.
Motley Fool: Name that company
A private company, I trace my roots back to 1847 and two brothers who invented a lozenge-cutting machine, a sugar-pulverizing machine, and a machine to print letters on candies. Rather progressive, I offered my employees a profit-sharing plan in 1906 and insured all their lives in 1920. My products include Clark bars, Sky bars, candy button strips, Masterpieces chocolates, Sweethearts Conversation Hearts, saltwater taffy, Haviland Thin Mints, Mighty Malts Malted Milk Balls, and my eponymous wafers. In Boston, a water tower is painted like a roll of my wafers. I sell more than 8 million Sweethearts and 4 billion wafers annually. Who am I?
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