Brand News
09 May
Mondelēz picks 9 snack startups to disrupt deliciousness
Meet the latest cohort of SnackFutures' CoLab.
Mondelēz CoLab. (Courtesy photo)
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Mondelēz International is taking the wrapper off its latest cohort of startups.
SnackFutures, which is the Ritz and Oreo maker’s innovation and venture hub, announced nine companies that will take part in the latest edition of CoLab. It’s the third cohort of the startup engagement program, which launched in 2021 to help build out a portfolio of up-and-coming brands, as well as increase the venture pipeline.
This year’s cohort focused on innovation in taste. Mondelēz put out a call for startups that “are doing disruptive things to make snacks delicious.”
Participants in the cohort take part in a 12-week curriculum, and get access to Mondelēz International’s experts, global network and a $20,000 grant.
“SnackFutures’ focus is to curate a portfolio of disruptive brands that can give Mondelēz International first-mover advantage on snack innovation, get us even closer to the consumer, and accelerate our financial, reputational, and cultural growth,” said Jackie Haney, head of CoLab. “CoLab is pivotal to that because it allows us to work with, learn from and nurture early-stage brands that have the potential to scale.”
Here’s a look at the full cohort, with descriptions provided by a press release from Mondelēz.
CocoTerra is an entrepreneurial personal chocolate maker. The CocoTerra machine enables chocolate lovers to simply and easily create their own dark, milk and white chocolate right in their own kitchens.
DreamPops was created by ice cream & confection lovers who dreamed of enjoying iconic flavors in simple, non-dairy treats but couldn’t find any that satisfied their standards or sweet tooths. Their aim is for everyone to be able to enjoy plant-based, clean label frozen pops, bites and shelf stable candy crunch.
Freezcake delivers small bites of fresh and creamy cheesecake that can be enjoyed with a cup of coffee or in the car. Crafted by a skilled pastry chef, every batch is prepared from scratch and ultra-dried at the height of its freshness.
Incredible Eats allows consumers to treat themselves just a little longer with edible spoons and straws, which provide an alternative to single-use plastic utensils. They come in sweet and savory options, function for about an hour in cold foods and replace the use of single use plastics and dirty silverware.
Legally Addictivegives consumers a sweet and salty experience all-in-one bite with its cracker-based cookies. The cracker base is topped with chocolate, handmade salted toffee and comes in a variety of flavors.
Mezcla delivers a delightful combination of PUFF-CRISPY texture and plant protein in a crunchy snack bar experience. Each bar contains plant protein in unique flavor profiles.
New Gem aims to make wrapping a serving of fruit/vegetable into your daily routine as easy as making a sandwich wrap or sushi. These plant-based wraps use innovative technology that makes them alternatives to bread, tortillas and seaweed.
Steiner’s Coffee Cake of New York prides itself on bringing fresh ideas to coffee cake – using ingredients that make it so delicious and yet gluten free. Created by a New York grandmother who was diagnosed celiac, Steiner’s still uses its original family recipe.
Whoa Dough is a shelf-stable cookie dough bar created for health-conscious consumers. This ‘on-the-go’ version of the iconic kid bowl-licking experience is plant-based, gluten free and vegan.R&D hub opens
The new cohort arrived just a few days after Mondelēz cut the ribbon on a new R&D facility n Whippany, New Jersey. The $50 million Global Research & Development (R&D) Innovation Center has pilot and scale-up capabilities for cookies, crackers and candy.
“This strategic investment in our new Global Innovation Center will enable us to pilot exciting new snacking breakthroughs and bring about the next generation of innovation for Mondelēz snacks around the world,” said Daniel Ramos, EVP and Chief Research & Development Officer at Mondelēz International, in a statement. “We’re proud to bring together industry-leading talent and capabilities in this facility to create new products, packaging and process developments across our portfolio of beloved snacks.”
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Retail Media
15m
Gopuff moves fast on a new retail media approach: Non-endemic ads
The quick commerce marketplace is partnering with Rokt to expand beyond CPG advertising.
(Photo via Gopuff)
In some ways, retail media campaigns function like promotions in a brick-and-mortar store.
With retail media, brands can reach customers with advertising on the websites where shopping is taking place. This proximity to the point of sale provides an opportunity for brands who are already selling within a marketplace to take advantage of opportunities to elevate their position in search results, and stand out from a crowd of listings. This is the same goal that many brands have when they purchase highly-trafficked space in a store. But instead of checkout aisle and endcap placements, there are now sponsored products in search results.
But that’s not the end of the story.
The fact that retail media is internet-based and powered by first-party data collected at the purchase level is poised to open up new opportunities to reach consumers that go beyond today’s norms.
One such example is the introduction of non-endemic advertising. This allows brands that aren’t directly selling a product within a marketplace to purchase ad space.
Why would a brand want to advertise in a place where they can’t make a direct sale? The thinking goes like this: The marketplaces have the audience, and the data on them that allows for precise targeting. They can be places to learn about a new product, just as much as they can be a place to buy.
One early example of the recognition of the opportunity in non-endemic advertising arrived this month. The quick delivery marketplace Gopuff partnered with ecommerce technology company Rokt to enable brands outside the CPG category to advertise on Gopuff’s app.
Under the hood, the companies are combining machine learning technology from Rokt that is designed to present relevant offers to customers with a Gopuff audience that is made up of Gen Zers and millennials, engaged and curious about trying new brands.
The partnership will enable advertisers to target customer segments by demographic and location. Customers will also receive offers to try new brands, such as Hulu, AdoreMe and Noom.
What sets this advertising approach apart will be the consumer categories where it is focused. Typically, ads on Gopuff are focused around the convenience store items already available on the app. Now, shoppers will see other kinds of products in the mix, and they will click through to checkout pages that are outside Gopuff if they are interested in buying. This also has the potential to change how advertisers approach media spend. It means everyone from a sporting goods brand to a car company can now consider Gopuff as they plan. They must also consider how these channels work together as a whole.
"We are thrilled to partner with Gopuff and enhance its ad business, helping it move beyond the CPG category," said Elizabeth Buchanan, CCO of Rokt, in a statement. "By delivering relevant offers to Gopuff users, Rokt will help Gopuff Ads' brand partners across all categories create more meaningful customer connections and drive incremental sales."
The partnership underscores how retail media networks have three key building blocks for digital advertising: They’re a destination that people visit with an intent to shop, they have the audience that brands want to reach and they have data that can help to reach the right consumers.
It points to how ecommerce marketplaces can not only become the new store, but also emerge as ad networks like Facebook and Google before them. It’s a big reason why retail media networks have exploded over the last year, and why growth is forecast to continue to accelerate.
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