It's a reality small consumer brands face as they grow larger: Do you fight for market share as an independent, or do you take on a partner who can provide not just deep pockets, but a distribution channel as well?

Honest Tea, a brand we recently profiled, chose the latter, casting its lot with the biggest beverage player in the world, Coca-Cola, which bought a 40% stake in the company in early 2008.

Now, it's faced with a dilemma, one highlighted in its summer 2010 test of Americans' "honest tea" practices above. How much can it stick to its core values of honesty and transparency (a theme today on brandchannel) without compromising its part-owner?Continue reading...

When your products are aimed at moms and your partner brands have names like Johnson’s Baby and Pampers, you’re in some pretty big company for a startup that’s barely three years old.

But that’s exactly where Tastybaby finds itself after the organic frozen baby-food company became an official partner supporting the release of Focus Features’ upcoming film, Babies.

The Los Angeles-based company has been joined not only by J&J and the Procter & Gamble diaper brand, but also by other major promotional partners including Kodak, Stonyfield Farms’ YoBaby yogurt, and the March of Dimes Foundation.

For a brand that's barely out of the crawling stage, it's running with some pretty big kids these days.Continue reading...