Kraft's Oreo turned 100 today, although it's celebrating all year long. On Facebook, the iconic cookie is promoting celebratory Oreo cookiegrams, charging $3.99 per "greeting" — a package of limited-edition birthday Oreo cookies, redeemable exclusively at Target. Below, watch its U.S. tribute video and check out how Canadians celebrated at an event in Toronto.Continue reading...

Oreo is turning 100 on March 6th, and Kraft Foods is pulling out apart all the stops to honor its iconic cookie.

A special website (oreo.com/birthday) invites fans to virtually "share in the moment" all year long, there's a limited-edition Birthday Cake Oreo flavor, and Oreo's first integrated global campaign that plays up its brand essence: creating shared moments and memories to celebrate "the kid inside".Continue reading...

North Americans may grow up loving Oreo cookies, so Kraft was dismayed when Chinese consumers didn't take to the iconic cream-filled biscuit and sales in the market proved disappointing.

Rather than pull the product, Kraft decided to study the problem. Lorna Davis, head of the global biscuit division at Kraft, tells NPR that market research showed locals liked the contrast between the bitter cookie and the sugary cream, but "they said it was a little bit too sweet and a little bit too bitter."

The solution: Kraft retooled the Oreo for China, making the cookie "more chocolatey" and the cream filling "less cloying." Kraft's China division is also experimenting with new fillings such as green tea, "double fruit magic," ice-cream flavor, mini versions promoted by Yao Ming, and an orange-hued cream with shades of mango (watch some of the brand's China spots below).

Kraft is even going so far as to dispense with its traditional round cookie with a Pocky-like straw-shaped wafer. The upshot of its willingness to reinvent the brand to local tastes: by 2006 it was the best-selling cookie in China. Click here to listen to NPR's report.Continue reading...