MARKET UPDATE 1994-04-04

Healthy Choice Tests Magazine

going to supermarket shelves to try to hook subscribers for a new quarterly magazine targeted at purchasers of its Healthy Choice food products.

Materials for an in-store, near-pack subscription program were shipped to stores in four unnamed test markets on March 25. The magazine, called Choices for Happier Healthier Living, is targeted at Healthy Choice consumers, who can receive a free subscription with three proofs of purchase.

Subscriptions will also be available from on-package offers on Healthy Choice deli thin cold cuts, boxes of cream cheese, and some frozen meals inserts, as well as through direct mail.

Choices will be published by Time Inc. Ventures Custom Publishing, a division of Time Warner.

Valassis Acquires Emarc Assets

LIVONIA, Mich. -- Valassis Communications here has added an in-store component to its core direct-mail and newspaper advertising businesses by acquiring the assets of Emarc, based in Greenwich, Conn. Terms were not disclosed.

Emarc, formerly ISA (In-Store Advertising), operates a computerized network of electronic signs that display customized promotional messages in 5,000 supermarkets in the United States.

David A. Brandon, president and chief executive officer of Valassis, called the acquisition, "a platform to expand our promotion expertise into the growing area of in-store vehicles." The company is in the process of renaming Emarc as Valassis In-Store Marketing.

David Venghaus, formerly president and chief executive of Emarc, continues as divisional vice president of Valassis In-Store Marketing.

Philip Morris Sues ABC

WASHINGTON -- A televised report aired on ABC's "Day One" news program, which alleged that the tobacco industry adds nicotine to cigarettes to make them more addictive, has resulted in a $10 billion libel suit filed against the broadcaster. Philip Morris Cos. filed the suit against American Broadcasting Cos. on March 24.

"ABC News stands by its reporting on this issue," said Gary Morgenstein, a spokesman for the program. He offered no other comment on the lawsuit. ABC is a unit of Capital Cities/ABC Inc., which also owns Fairchild Publications, publisher of Brand Marketing and Supermarket News.

Sunflower Buys ProSource

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Sunflower Group, a diversified marketing services company based here, has acquired ProSource Promotion Resources, a promotional execution company based in Plymouth, Minn. Terms were not disclosed.

As part of the merger, Kenneth W. Kroslak, formerly president of ProSource, joined Sunflower Group as director of sales, the company said.

ProSource is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Sunflower Group. Last September the company bought controlling interest in a national in-store marketing company, Sunflower MarketPlace Solutions, L.L.C., based in Des Plaines, Ill. Earlier last year it acquired controlling interest in MarketSmart, L.L.C., a value-added provider of consumer targeting information to retailers and brand marketers.

Country-of-Origin Label Postponed

WASHINGTON -- Manufacturers of frozen food containing imported produce ingredients have won the first round in a lawsuit challenging a U.S. Customs ruling requiring country-of-origin markings on their packaging.

On March 17, attorneys for Customs and the U.S. Department of the Treasury agreed to suspend the May 8 compliance deadline until Jan. 1, 1995. A hearing on the merits of the case is scheduled for April 21.

Attorneys representing the American Frozen Food Institute, Green Giant and J.R. Simplot filed the suit before the U.S. Court of International Trade in February. They argued that Customs did not publish adequate notice prior to enacting the rule and challenged some of its specific requirements.