News Briefs For April 27, 2011
April 27, 2011• Foster’s shareholders will meet in Melbourne on Friday to vote on the proposed demerger of the drinks group’s international wine and domestic beer businesses. Recommended unanimously by Foster’s board, the demerger is expected to pass with the necessary 50% of Foster’s shareholders by number and 75% of company stock value, paving the way for the wine and beer units, which will be known as Treasury Wine Estates and Foster’s respectively, to become separate listed companies. If approved by shareholders, the split could take effect as soon as May 9th. David Dearie and John Pollaers have been tapped to lead the separated wine and beer units respectively.
• Brown-Forman Corp has selected the Boston-based ad agency Arnold Worldwide to spearhead the U.S. launch campaign for its Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey brand. A blend of Jack Daniel’s whiskey and a proprietary honey liqueur, Tennessee Honey is rolling out nationwide this month. The new offshoot is currently backed by Arnold’s “King Bee” campaign, which targets LDA men and women under 30 and features TV, social media and digital ad components. According to Carmen D’Ascendis, director of global marketing for Jack Daniel’s, Arnold “understands the brand, its consumers and the ways in which both connect.” In addition to Jack Daniel’s, the ad firm also handles B-F’s Southern Comfort liqueur.
• California’s Senate has passed a new bill aiming to ban alcoholic energy drinks, following the enactment of similar bans in Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Utah and Washington. Backed by state senator Alex Padilla, the bill—entitled SB39—will now be passed on to the California Assembly for approval. Several caffeinated alcoholic RTDs—most notably Phusion Projects’ Four Loko—have received health concern warnings from the FDA over the past year. Last November, however, Phusion voluntarily reformulated Four Loko, removing caffeine, guarana and taurine and achieving approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
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