Stories from customers can be a powerful and effective tool in providing trustworthy information that other customers will favorably act upon. In separate surveys taken at each end of the decade 1997 to 2007, family, friends and acquaintances kept the top spot in terms of “trusted sources of information.” However, “strangers with experience” moved into the second spot – over the media, bloggers and a company’s own advertising.

The consumer packaged goods industry will see the results of several trends in 2009 that will impact brand marketing, product design and development, packaging design, and merchandising. Here are six important trends:

How much is it worth to develop new products better and faster than competition? Product development success is seen in the delivery of a differentiated product with clear and unique customer benefits—and superior value. But what is that worth? The answer is millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Here’s a case study.

Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (rPET) is rapidly gaining acceptance as a resin for use in packaging containers. Growing environmental concerns among both consumers and governments are creating higher demand for sustainable products. At the same time, rising costs for plastic packaging have forced packaging producers to consider other options. rPET was one of the fastest growing packaging materials in 2008.