Shiseido and American makeup brand Bare Escentuals will be unveiling their first jointly-developed product line in the first quarter of 2012 in Asia. Analysts had become skeptical of Shiseido’s $1.7 billion acquisition of the American brand, believing that the 2009 deal had soured, perhaps  because of communication problems, culture variances and contradictory business goals. Shiseido hopes that success with the U.S. unit will lead to more mergers that will offset lagging demand in Japan, with its aging population. Shiseido’s domestic sales have trended downward for five consecutive years. But global sales jumped 21 percent in 2011, because of strong demand in China and other Asian countries.

The 2010 environmentally-inspired ban imposed on dishwasher detergents containing phosphates by several states has caused some controversy, Slate reports. When manufacturers removed phosphates, consumers found that their dishes weren’t getting as clean. Into the market breach came tough competition for stalwart brand Cascade. Finish, a longtime No. 2 contender in the market, touted in its ads – albeit obliquely – the high ratings from Consumer Reports as an effective post-phosphate product. The gambit has paid off – Finish has closed the market share gap with Cascade by 10 percent – but has spurred protests from Consumer Reports, which doesn’t allow tested products to use its ratings in ads.

Though more and more men have been doing the grocery shopping and managing the household for decades, the recession – and the increase in layoffs – seems to have kicked the trend into high gear. The biggest of U.S. food and personal products makers have recognized the sea change and are paying closer attention to men, marketing products and rearranging store layouts to cater to them. Market researchers have noticed that males aged 18 to 50 are content to do the grocery shopping themselves or at least participate. GfK MRI and ESPN report that 31 percent of men nationwide are now the primary household grocery shoppers, more than double the 14 percent in 1985. And a Yahoo! survey of 1,000 fathers found that 51 percent were the primary grocery shoppers in their household.

The Great Place to Work Institute has named SC Johnson Italy a Great Place to Work. The company ranked 19th on a list of small to medium-size companies (50-849 employees) in the country. The rankings are based on a random employee survey coupled with a report on best practices completed by the companies themselves. In October, the company ranked number 10 on the World’s Best Multinational Workplaces, a newly-issued list also from the Great Place to Work Institute. "Despite challenging economic times, the company remains true to its long-term focus on workplace excellence,” said COO Steven Stanbrook.

GlaxoSmithKline announced it has agreed to sell non-core consumer over-the-counter healthcare brands in the U.S. and Canada to Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. for $660 million. The company is also planning to divest brands with 2010 sales of $627 million outside these markets at some point in the future. According to the company, the divestiture is designed to “simplify GSK’s consumer healthcare business and allow it to focus on its priority brands and markets.” Brands being divested include BC, Goody's, Beano, Ecotrin, Fiber Choice and Tagamet, which generated sales of about  $210 million in 2010. The divestments will complete in 2012, subject to regulatory approval, the company said.

Procter & Gamble says it is partnering with mobeam inc. to bring a fully mobile electronic couponing solution to market. Mobeam makes electronic coupons presented on a phone or other mobile device scannable so shoppers can use phones or handhelds at check out instead of paper coupons. Couponing has become a huge business – $3.7 billion in North America alone – as consumers search for greater value and savings. Smartphone coupon use has not been possible, however, because screen barcodes cannot be read by laser scanners. Mobeam technology converts the barcode data into readable light beams. The P&G partnership will test efficient methods for consumers to redeem – and retailers to accept – POS coupons.

U.S. advertising spending in the third quarter slowed to a crawl, though it was slightly higher than during the same period a year ago, according to a report from the Kantar Media unit of WPP. Advertising forecasters had predicted that overall ad spending would decline the third quarter, but it instead increased by 0.4 percent. According to a Kantar analyst, the slowdown in spending was due to a decision by big advertisers to take a cautious approach during the quarter, though medium-size advertisers increased their spending. The combined spending data from the 10 biggest advertisers indicated a drop of 3.3 percent over last year. The biggest reduction was by Procter & Gamble, which cut its ad spend by 11.9 percent. 

L’Oréal says it will build a research and innovation center on Bom Jesus Island in Rio de Janeiro. The L’Oréal Group, which has been operating in Brazil for 50 years, is hiring local specialized talent and scientific partnerships with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro to pursue the work. The company will invest €30 million ($39 million) in building the center, and expects to create 150 direct jobs by 2015. A memorandum of understanding with the city of Rio is to acquire land with a total surface area of over 28,000 square meters. According to the company, the center will serve to accelerate the growth of innovative products tailored for the Brazilian and Latin American markets.

Market researcher Euromonitor is forecasting strong growth in the skin care category in Africa and the Middle East through 2015. Driving the growth are efforts by international giants like Beiersdorf, Procter & Gamble and Unilever to boost market share. Euromonitor says the trend will be especially strong in the large and robust markets of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran and South Arica. The current CAGR of skin care sales between 2005 and 2010 is 12 percent, much healthier than the global market, which expanded by only seven percent. Key drivers in these markets: an expanding economy in South Africa, more female workers – and higher spending – in Saudi Arabia, aggressive marketing/advertising of skin care products in Iran, and the dominance of facial care products in the UAE.

In a move that is likely to boost L’Oreal’s innovation capacity in cosmetic devices, the company announced the acquisition of sonic skin care device maker Pacific Bioscience Laboratories Inc. The acquisition gives L'Oréal access to the patented sonic skin care technology of  Clarisonic, “enabling the company to acquire strategic positions in the quickly emerging skin care devices category.” Clarisonic, which is available mainly in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Mexico, Canada and the Far East, is sold through a distribution network that includes dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons, spas, prestige retail, e-tail, television shopping and clarisonic.com. Clarisonic sales were $105 million in fiscal 2010. L’Oreal plans to roll out the Clarisonic product internationally.

With so-called “super lice” becoming more resistant to traditional treatments, parents have turned to such new herbal products as Rosemary Repel shampoo and conditioner, which the maker claims prevents lice from nesting in children’s hair. Other new products include Zippity Doo's Styling Gel for Children (with lemongrass, Tea Tree oil and other plant-based ingredients); Fairy Tales Rosemary Repel, sold at salons; and Lice Shield shampoo and conditioner (containing extracts of citronella, eucalyptus, rosemary and lemongrass). Sales of prescription lice removal treatments rose to $73.8 million last year, a 15 percent increase from 2006, according to market research. Sales of over-the-counter lice prevention and removal treatments are up 11 percent over the past five years to $78.9 million.

Avon Products has decided to split the jobs of chairman and chief executive officer. Current chairman and CEO Andrea Jung will become executive chairman, but will continue as chairman and CEO until a directors committee hires a CEO. Jung said it was the right time to separate the two roles because over the past 12 years the company has transformed from a decentralized group of local operating entities to a globally-managed business in over 100 countries “with global brands and a global operating model.” She said revenues and sales reps have doubled in that time, but the business model will stay the same. A new CEO “will provide a fresh lens and additional operational and executive leadership."

Henkel announced that 16-year-company veteran Carsten Knobel will succeed Lothar Steinebach as chief financial officer effective July 1, 1012. Knobel, 42, is currently corporate senior vice president and financial director of Henkel´s cosmetics/toiletries business and is responsible for corporate controlling. Steinebach is retiring in June 2012 after more than 30 years with Henkel. Knobel started his career with Henkel in 1995 in R&D. From 1998 onwards, he held several management positions in finance/controlling and international marketing.

In partnership with NHPIL Limited, Procter & Gamble Nigeria has begun manufacturing the anti-bacterial soap Safeguard at NHPIL’s facility in Lagos. According to company officials, the partnership with NHPIL represents a long-term investment by P&G in Nigeria that has already resulted in creation of 70 jobs. P&G Nigeria is the company’s business hub in West and Central Africa, and NHPIL hopes to expand its relationship with P&G in the years ahead. “We are looking forward to taking our partnership with P&G from good to great,” said Deeprak Kacher, managing director of NHPIL, which also has operations in Ghana, Dubai, Spain, Singapore, India and the U.K.

Irresolvable environmental problems have led to the breakdown of talks between Kimberly-Clark and Atlas Holdings Inc. over the sale of a pulp and paper mill in Everett, Wash., on Puget Sound. According to Kimberly-Clark, the mill will be operated by a skeleton crew until its closing in the first quarter of 2012. About 750 employees will lose their jobs. The company says the facilities will then be torn down and the property sold for development. The  main issue that could not be resolved involved environmental issues relating to the area's East Waterway, according to the company.

Higher costs associated with increased oil prices, among other factors, are shrinking the profit margins of big personal care companies, leading them to trim marketing and advertising spending, rather than cut packaging or ingredient expenses, according to a new report from the Kline Group. But another factor in the declining ad spend is the fact that marketing budgets are increasingly being diverted into new media channels, such as e-commerce platforms and promotions using social media like Twitter and Facebook.

The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for gay and bisexual Americans, has awarded household products manufacturer SC Johnson a score of 90 (out of a possible 100) on its Corporate Equality Index that rates fair treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. The Corporate Equality Index for 2011 includes ratings of 636 companies. SC Johnson was included in five main categories: non-discriminatory/equal employment opportunity policy, spousal and partner benefits, transgender inclusive benefits, organizational LGBT competency, and public engagement.

Procter & Gamble’s Safeguard brand is battling for market share in the African antibacterial hand soap segment with Reckitt Benckeiser’s Dettol and Unilever’s Lifebuoy. The competition has spread to schools, where hand washing campaigns in countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania are in full swing. P&G has positioned Safeguard as a product available in convenient, affordable sizes, including an 80 g economy size targeting budget-conscious shoppers. Victoria Kieti, brand manager of Safeguard, said the strategy is to appeal to mothers “with the aim of trying to get children to embrace the hand washing habit," and also to build brand loyalty among future consumers.

Bulldog is offering “something new” for the German male skin care market, which has mainly relied on traditionally female-oriented brands such as L’Oreal and Nivea. The company hopes to fill a gap in the German market with a simple masculine grooming brand based on natural formulations. The Bulldog product line includes moisturizers, shave balm, face wash and shave cream. Expansion into the German market will entail changes in packaging: the labeling will be in German – a first for Bulldog – and cultural references to poets, for example, will switch from British to German. According to market analyst Euromonitor, the German male grooming market is worth €1.5 billion and is expected to achieve a CAGR of four percent through 2015.

Marketing Week provides numerous examples of how companies are applying interactive technology to outdoor marketing campaigns to boost and extend consumer awareness of brands through “experiential” activity. Smart outdoor media lengthens “dwell time” for brands such as Heineken, Lynx, Green Giant and British Airways by persuading consumers to interact with, for example, digital out-of-home (OOH) screens and other displays. According to Marketing Week, revenues tied to digital OOH reached £101 million ($156 million) in 2010. About 16 percent of the outdoor marketing expenditures last year were focused on OOH. A growing number of consumers – 60 percent according to a recent survey – want more interaction with digital OOH screens. Forty-seven percent are eager to download discount vouchers from OOH screens to their mobile phones.

Unilever’s Ireland unit lost €9.8 million in 2010, mainly because of restructuring costs totaling €7.1 million, which included severance payments, according to a report filed with the Irish Companies Office. The report noted that sales in the country dipped slightly in 2010 to €247.7 million from €248.4 million in 2009. The company’s pre-tax loss of €9.8 million was slightly better than the €10.6 million figure recorded in 2009. According to company directors, Unilever Ireland “saw decline in underlying turnover for the third consecutive year” and “In order to ensure the future success of the business, we announced a significant restructure.” The number of employees dropped to 210 from 238, and staff costs decreased by 10 percent, after “significant redundancies across all functions” were found.

Procter & Gamble Company said it is recruiting Israeli doctoral students in engineering and science to beef up two R&D programs within its innovation division. P&G runs an innovation center in Israel and another in Germany. Applicants may register on P&G Israel’s Web site through November 30 and will undergo a multi-stage screening process. 

Johnson & Johnson announced that it will continue work toward removing traces of two unsafe chemicals from its baby products. The announcement reportedly comes after two years of pressure from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, an international coalition of consumer and environmental groups, to remove two potentially carcinogenic ingredients from Johnson's Baby Shampoo. J&J recently said it had removed the potential carcinogen 1,4-dioxane and quaternium-15, a chemical that releases the preservative formaldehyde from products in several countries, including the U.K., Scandinavia and South Africa. The campaign is pushing J&J to remove the chemicals from products sold in the U.S., China and elsewhere. J&J told The Associated Press that all quarternium-15 will be gone from its baby products within two years, and sooner for baby shampoo.

Henkel reported third quarter profits that were slightly less than market forecasts. The German consumer goods company called it a solid but “not great” quarter, and said cost cutting will be stepped up to protect profit margins in an era of global economic slowdown. Its profitable adhesives division experienced a slowdown, contributing to a drop in gross profit margin of 1.3 percent to 45.7 percent, largely because of higher costs of raw materials. The company said sales in its laundry and home care business grew 3.8 percent in the quarter, but the increase was entirely due to price hikes.

Hindustan Unilever reported that profit before interest and tax (PBIT) was up 30.1 percent; net profit was Rs. 689 crore (US$140.9 million), up 21.7 percent, during the fiscal quarter that ended September 30. The company said its domestic consumer business grew 18.5 percent with strong underlying volume growth of 9.8 percent. “Growth has been broad based, and ahead of market,” the company said. “All segments have delivered double digit growth for the third consecutive quarter.” Other quarter highlights: soaps and detergents grew by 21.8 percent; personal products grew 18.2 percent; beverages grew 14.6 percent, with all brands delivering double digit growth; and inflation and commodity costs continued high. The company said higher costs were managed through “aggressive savings programs coupled with judicious pricing.”

Natural and organic products producer Hain Celestial Group reported a 13.3 percent increase over last year’s first quarter net sales to $292.4 million. GAAP net income rose 28.5 percent (11.7 million), compared to $9.1 million in the first quarter last year, with adjusted net income up 19.9 percent. The company reconfirmed its annual guidance for fiscal year 2012, which it raised last month in connection with its recent acquisitions of Daniels Group and the Europe's Best brand. Total net sales are expected to be $1.455 billion to $1.480 billion, and earnings per share will range between $1.63 to $1.73. CEO Irwin D. Simon said consumption trends improved year-over-year “driven by consumers seeking out our natural and organic products.”

The American Advertising Federation has awarded Procter & Gamble its Corporate Leader Award for Diversity, an annual award that recognizes people or organizations that show leadership in promoting diversity in their advertising and in their industry. According to P&G, the award recognized the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace as well as multicultural marketing efforts. Examples of P&G’s multicultural marketing outreach initiatives include Orgullosa, a bilingual online program that celebrates Hispanic women, and My Black Is Beautiful, which encourages African-American women to define and promote their own beauty standard.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation said its third quarter 2011 adjusted earnings per share were $1.26, up 11 percent over the same period a year ago, and net sales set an all-time record of $5.4 billion, an eight percent increase. The company said the stronger profit performance was due mainly to sales growth, cost savings, a lower share count and a reduced effective tax rate. These were partially offset by significant input cost inflation and lower net income from equity companies. The company said its adjusted net income per share for the fiscal year will be in the range of $4.80 to $4.90. CEO Thomas J. Falk said he expects the company to “continue to focus on delivering cost savings, reducing overhead spending and generating significant cash flow.”

Kimberly Clark de Mexico posted a 3rd quarter slide in profit of 23 percent, thanks to higher raw material costs and depreciation of the peso. Mexico's leading paper products company, a unit of U.S.-based Kimberly-Clark Corp., earned 742 million pesos ($53.4 million) in the quarter, down from 961 million pesos in the same period a year ago. Kimber said revenues rose in the quarter by three percent, but so did advertising spending. Kimber’s brands include Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues.

Cause marketing – which otherwise offers many benefits – can sometimes backfire on a company when it fails to recognize that its performance can sometimes seem inconsistent with the message of the cause, according to Saj-Nicole Joni writing in the Forbes Blog. That inconsistency gets noticed by consumers who are not afraid to express their sentiments in social media. A classic example is Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” of 2005, a huge success at first, driving a 20 percent increase in Dove sales. The campaign urged people to look deeper within for real beauty But competitors noticed that ad messages from other brands in the Unilever product line conflicted with the Dove emphasis on real beauty. Dove sales sagged, and the campaign was eventually scrapped.

Personal care company Shiseido announced it has established a joint venture with Turkish cosmetics import and sales distributor Vesco Kosmetik Ürünleri Paz. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. (Vesco). Operations of Shiseido Kozmetik Anonim Şirketi (Shiseido Turkey) will begin in January 2012. Because Shiseido holds a majority equity stake, the joint venture will become a subsidiary of Shiseido, which entered the Turkish market in1998 through a distribution agreement with Vesco. Shiseido recently established overseas operations in Russia, Vietnam, Switzerland and Greece.

The classic men’s fragrances of the 1950s and 1960s not only continue to have an impact on the development of today’s fragrances, they are selling fairly well themselves, though admittedly are only a “fraction of the overall market,” according to The New York Times. Brands such as Eau Sauvage and Pour Monsieur are “like benchmarks” for developers of modern men’s fragrances, says perfume expert Grant Osborne. Chanel Pour Monsieur (1955), Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage (1966), and Guerlain Vetiver (1961) still generate modern versions such as Grey Vetiver by Tom Ford. Classic 1960s scents redolent of  musk, oak moss, sandalwood and leather, may “seem leaden” to younger noses. But sweet, unisex aquatics of recent years are nevertheless losing some market share to fragrances with the scent of woods and spices.

Henkel appears for the first time on Newsweek's Green Rankings, ranked at 65 and scoring 61.7 percent on the Global 500 list of leading companies. Henkel ranked fifth among consumer goods companies. Newsweek's Green Rankings assess the environmental performance of the world's largest publicly traded companies. The rankings are based on a company's actual environmental footprint, management of that footprint, and sustainability communications. The rankings, which provide a cross-industry framework for comparing environmental commitment and performance, were developed with the help of two environmental research organizations, Trucost and Sustainalytics.

New research finds that using color cosmetics significantly changes the way women are perceived by other people at first glance and over time. A Harvard University researcher partnered with Procter & Gamble Beauty & Grooming to conduct the published studies in which 100 photos of 25 women’s faces were judged without makeup and with three different applied makeup looks, for a brief period of time and for an unlimited amount of time. The looks were informally classified as “natural,” “professional” and “glamorous.” When viewed very briefly, all three makeup looks increased ratings of attractiveness, competence, likability and trust compared to faces without makeup. Viewed without any time restriction, the natural and professional makeup looks received high ratings for attractiveness, competence, likability and trust.

Market analyst Euromonitor reports that the Japanese beauty and personal care market is enduring stagnant sales, even among traditionally downturn-resistant skin care products, thanks to the recession that began in 2008. Sales of cosmetics and personal care products in Japan dropped by one percent in 2010, compared to a two percent slide in 2009. Job insecurity and a dismal economic outlook have instilled a sensitivity to price, causing a swing toward cheaper mass products. And consumers willing to pay a premium for high-end cosmetics are looking for quality products that deliver value. The trend toward price-consciousness will probably push manufacturers to trot out products that will appeal to the mass market, intensifying competition. Also, greater interest in effective anti-aging solutions will likely force manufacturers to back efficacy claims with scientific evidence.

P&G CEO Bob McDonald told a Chamber of Commerce luncheon that the Cincinnati, Ohio, area lags in business start-ups and patents issued on a per capita basis and needs to ramp up spending on innovation. Business, financial and economic growth depends on investment in innovation by businesses and organizations, he said, and there’s no better time to invest than during economic downturns. He suggested several ways the region could foster innovation, including: speeding up start-up activity at research institutions, supporting collaborations with “pillar” companies, working together to strengthen support infrastructure, recruiting new talent, aligning public policy with an industry cluster strategy, and boosting investment in local start-ups. “It’s time to make Greater Cincinnati a leader … when it comes to innovation,” he said.

To encourage risk taking and innovation some companies are moving to reward failure where they see ideas that failed but that had potential. The advertising agency Grey, for instance, has a "Heroic Failure” award that is given to an employee who demonstrated edgy risk. Companies are also trying to create cultures more conducive to innovation and experimentation. P&G has set up a separate division called FutureWorks to partner with vendors in an atmosphere supposedly that will encourage bolder innovation; Grey New York has a "no meeting zone" every Thursday morning; others have mediation or nap rooms. As author Judy Estrin says "Failure, and how companies deal with failure, is a very big part of innovation."

Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald told investors recently that listless personal care product sales in the U.S., Europe and Japan can be somewhat offset by expanding product offerings in emerging economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. Sales in those countries strengthened over the last year and a half when the company doubled product categories being marketed from an average of eight to 20. According to an AP report, McDonald told the Barclays Capital conference in Boston that expanding product categories in those countries has "driven strong historical top-line growth even higher." The company expects a five to nine percent rise in its $82.6 billion in annual sales, driven by double-digit growth in big emerging markets.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index has listed German home care and personal care company Henkel as a sustainability leader for the fifth straight year in the nondurable household products category. The assessment is based on an analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, tracking issues such as corporate governance, risk management, branding, climate change mitigation, supply chain standards and labor practices. Henkel said it is the only company in its sector to be represented in both the World Index (DJSI World) and the Europe Index (DJSI Europe). The indices list corporations that follow the principles of sustainable development in their business operations.

The WildTangent games service and Unilever’s Degree brand antiperspirant are partnering to provide free access to premium games on the channel for a limited time. WildTangent targets male hardcore gamers who like fast-paced, adrenaline-charged games. The Unilever campaign will deliver French and English versions of games to Canadian consumers who engage with a Degree Adrenaline Series video commercial. Players will be able to enjoy free unlimited, uninterrupted play during the campaign courtesy of Degree Men Adrenaline Series. WildTangent’s BrandBoost platform allows brands such as Degree to dynamically target video advertising to Canadian users via “contextually relevant games.”

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) supplier Unilever says it has achieved its goal of becoming a "zero to landfill" manufacturer in the U.K. because none of its factories send non-hazardous waste to landfills. The company achieved its target by contracting with waste supplier Veolia to recycle 97 percent of its waste. The remaining three percent will be converted into usable energy.  The arrangement also helps Unilever meet its waste-to-landfill targets beyond the U.K., because the company’s 11 manufacturing sites produce about 25 per cent of its overall European waste. The company says it has reduced its total waste in manufacturing per ton of production by 77 percent since 1995.

A national survey of 300,000 mothers of teenagers conducted by Tremor, the Procter & Gamble marketing division that focuses on social engagement, found that eight of ten will be sending their kids back to school with a monthly cash allowance of at least $100. About 45 percent acknowledged giving their teens spending money once a week. But the survey also found that 61 percent admitted not having a serious conversation with their kids about money – only a casual one over dinner. And when asked how financially knowledgeable their kids were, 40 percent confessed they weren't sure. The survey was conducted with BillMyParents, which offers a reloadable prepaid card.

Procter & Gamble’s Venus Goddess Fund for Education, launched by Gillette Venus razors in February 2011 with spokesperson Jennifer Lopez, is launching a scholarship program for young Latinas. With a goal of empowering Hispanic women through education, Venus is offering  $40,000 in scholarships to Houston, Texas-area students who apply and share their experiences on what motivates them to pursue their goals. The scholarships are open to all Latina students residing in the Houston metro area who are planning to enter college to pursue a two- or four-year degree and have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. P&G says Latinos have the lowest high school and college completion rates of any racial or ethnic group.

Software and IT services firm Solarsoft Business Systems announced that Unilever is extending implementation of Solarsoft’s manufacturing intelligence solutions to all Unilever manufacturing sites in the Americas. Informance software tracks real-time performance in manufacturing environments. Unilever says it has been using the solutions to accelerate and enhance its total productive maintenance (TPM) program in ten ice cream plants in North America and will install the software in 35 additional factories in 13 countries in 2011. The company says the software installed at the ten ice cream plants where it was tested brought “real-time actionable insights.”

L’Oreal posted an 11.6 percent rise in profit for the first six months of its fiscal year, thanks to healthy sales in luxury products and in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. The company earned €1.5 billion ($2.2 billion) in the first half of the year on sales of €10.1 billion ($14.6 billion). Profit was up from €1.3 billion ($1.9 billion) in the same period last year; sales increased five percent. Drivers of the sales and profit growth were L’Oreal’s luxury product lines, which include Lancome’s cosmetics and perfumes, Yves Saint Laurent Beaute and Kiehl’s skincare products. Asian sales were up 13.5 percent, while in Latin America they rose an impressive 18 percent.

With the U.N. declaring countries in the so-called Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, etc.) in a state of crisis or emergency because of severe drought and famine, Unilever says it is working with disaster and emergency relief partners to determine how to boost relief efforts. East African countries are enduring the worst drought in six decades, according to the U.N. About 2.8 million people need immediate life-saving assistance; 450,000 are affected by the famine. The company says its local businesses in Kenya and South Africa have been donating cash and food products; the Unilever global business has pledged €500,000 in cash and food products through UNICEF, Save the Children, Oxfam, Population Services International (PSI) and WFP.

Eco-friendly household and personal care products maker Seventh Generation has named  consumer products branding specialist Joey Bergstein as its new chief marketing officer. Bergstein most recently was senior VP of Diageo, where he built the Captain Morgan rum brand, and has been a VP at Canadian brewer Molson. Bergstein is explicit about his mission at Seventh Generation, a company with a great team and a brand with untapped potential. Seventh Generation, he says, lacks “innovative brand strategies and new marketing programs that will drive the kind of exponential growth its products are more than capable of achieving.”