Cheddar's Kristen Scholer sits down with Pam Kaufman, Chief Marketing Officer at Nickelodeon, at the Ad Council's Annual Public Service Award dinner to discuss the network's strategy for its digital content. Kaufman talks about being equally focused on traditional TV and digital, as well as product. Nickelodeon is also targeting live content, and making it a huge priority in 2018.
Future Nickelodeon projects are also getting a warm reception from parent company Viacom after a year-long road of leadership changes. Nickelodeon just launched a 5-star family hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in hopes of catering to what Kaufman calls "velcro" families. Velcro families are families who like to spend a lot of time together as a group.
Kaufman also talks about the '90s nostalgia boom, and how Nickelodeon is capitalizing on the trend. She reveals the network will start teasing a reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in fall of 2018. Spongebob Square Pants is also making a comeback: the curtain goes up on a live Broadway production of the cartoon hit this December 4th.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
